356 OEIOLID^E. 



Capt. Hutton records that " this is a common bird in the Dhoon, 

 and arrives at Jerripanee, elevation 4500 feet, in the summer 

 months to breed. Its beautiful cradle-like nest was taken in the 

 Dhoon on the 29th of May, at which time it contained three 

 pure white eggs, sparingly sprinkled over with variously sized spots 

 of deep purplish-brown, giving the egg the appearance of having 

 been splashed with dark mud. The spots are chiefly at the larger 

 end, but there is no indication of a ring. The nest is a slight, 

 somewhat cup-shaped cradle, rather longer than wide, and is so 

 placed, between the fork of a thin branch, as to be suspended be- 

 tween the limbs by having the materials of the two sides bound 

 round them. It is composed of fine dry grasses, both blade and 

 stalk, intermixed with silky and cottony seed-down, especially at 

 that part where the materials are wound round the two supporting 

 twigs ; and in the specimen before me there are several small 

 silky cocoons of a diminutive Bombyoc attached to the outside, the 

 silk of which has been interwoven with the fibres of the external 

 nest. It is so slightly constructed as to be seen through, and 

 it appears quite surprising that so large a bird, to say nothing of 

 the weight of the three or four young ones, does not entirely 

 destroy it." 



From Futtehgurh, the late Mr. A. Anderson remarked : " The 

 nest and eggs of this bird so closely resemble those of its European 

 congener (0. galbula) that little or no description is necessary. 

 The Mango-bird lays throughout the rains, July being the principal 

 month. One very beautifully constructed nest was taken by me on 

 the 9th July, 1872, containing four eggs, which, according to my 

 experience, is in excess of the number usually laid. I have fre- 

 quently taken only a pair of well-incubated eggs. 



" Two of the four eggs above alluded to were quite fresh, while 

 the other two were tolerably well incubated. The nest is fitted 

 outwardly with tow, which I have never before seen. One of the 

 pieces of cloth used in the construction of this nest was 6 inches 

 long." 



" At Lucknow," writes Mr. E. M. Adam, " I found this species 

 on the 20th May building a nest in a neem-tree, and on the 24th 

 I took two eggs from the nest. On the 10th June I saw another 

 pair, only making love, so they probably did not lay till the end of 

 that month." 



> Dr. Jerdon notes that he " procured a nest at Saugor from a 

 high branch of a banian tree in cantonments. It was situated 

 between the forks of a branch, made of fine roots and grass, with 

 some hair and a feather or two internally, and suspended by a long 

 roll of cloth about three quarters of an inch wide, which it must 

 have pilfered from a neighbouring verandah where a tailor worked. 

 This strip was wound round each limb of the fork, then passed 

 round the nest beneath, fixed to the other limb, and again brought 

 round the nest to the opposite side ; there were four or five of 

 these supports on either side. It was indeed a most curious nest, 



