330 



From Sikhim, Mr. Gammie writes : " At page 178 of ' Nests 

 and Eggs of Indian Birds ' (Kough Draft), Captain T. Hutton's 

 description of the nest aud eggs of Hemipus picatus is given, and 

 at page 179 that of Mr. W. Davison. The two descriptions differ 

 so radically that, as there remarked, one of the two must be in 

 error. Permit me to record my limited experience of the nesting 

 of this bird. 



" Common as it is in Sikhim I have but once taken its nest, and 

 that in the first week of May, at 4000 feet elevation. The nest, 

 which is well described by Mr. Davison, is made of black, fibry 

 roots, sparingly lined with fine grass-stalks, and covered outwardly 

 with small pieces of lichens bound to the sides with cobwebs. It- 

 is a very neat diminutive cup, measuring externally 1*9 inch 

 across by an inch deep; internally 1'5 by half an inch. 



" The whole nest, although quite a substantially built structure, 

 is barely the eighth part of an ounce in weight. It was placed on 

 the upper side of a horizontal branch close to its broken end, 

 about fifteen feet from the ground, and contained two fresh eggs. 

 I send you the nest and an egg, both of which will, I think, be 

 found on comparison to agree exactly with those taken by Mr. 

 Davison." 



Mr. Mandelli has sent me two nests of this species, found on 

 the 15th August above Naintchu in Native Sikhim. They were 

 placed about two feet from each other, each in a small fork of the 

 branches of a small tree which was situated in heavy forest. 

 Each contained two fresh eggs. The nests are very similar, 

 but one is rather larger and less tidily finished-off than the other. 

 Both are shallow cups, miniatures of some of the nests of Dicmnis, 

 composed of excessively fine grass-stems, coated exteriorly all 

 round the sides with cobwebs, and, in the case of one of them, 

 plastered exteriorly with tiny films of bark and dry leaves like 

 some of the nests of the Pericrocoti. Both have a little soft silky 

 vegetable down at the bottom of the cavity. The one nest is 

 about two inches, the other about two and a half inches in diameter 

 exteriorly, and both are a little less than three quarters of an inch 

 high outside. The cavity in the one is about an inch and a half, 

 in the other about an inch and three quarters in diameter, and 

 both are about half an inch deep. 



Eggs received from Sikhim are broad ovals, glossless, with 

 greenish-white grounds, profusely speckled and mottled with 

 slightly varying shades of brown, here and there intermingled with 

 dull, pale inky purple. The markings are densest generally round 

 the broadest part of the egg. They measured from 0-61 to 0-7 in 

 length, and from 0'51 to 0'55 in breadth. 



486. Tephrodornis pelvicus (Hodgs.). The Nepal Wood-Shrike. 

 Tephrodorms pelvica (Hodgs.}, Jerd. B. Int. i, p. 409 ; Hume, Cat. 



The Nepal Wood-Shrike is a permanent resident throughout 



