ETTLABETIIXS:. 363 



resemble those of 0. melanocephalus. In shape they are regular 

 moderately elongated ovals ; the shell is strong, firm, and moderately 

 glossy. The ground is white with a creamy or brownish-pink 

 tinge ; the markings are blackish-brown spots and specks, almost 

 confined to a zone about the large end, where they are all more or 

 less enveloped in a brownish- red haze or nimbus. In length they 

 measure 1-12 by 0-82, and 1-14 by 0-83. 



Family EULABETID^E. 



523. Eulabes religiosa (Linn.). The Southern Grackle. 



Eulabes religiosa (Linn.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 337 ; Hume, Rough 

 Draft N. $ K no. C92. 



The Southern Grackle breeds in Southern India and Ceylon from 

 March to October. 



Mr. Frank Bourdillou, writing from Travancore, gives me the 

 following account of the eggs. He says : " This bird, an abun- 

 dant resident, lays a blue egg pretty evenly marked with brown 

 spots, some light and some darkish, in a nest of straw and feathers 

 in a hole of a tree generally a considerable height from the ground. 



" I have only taken one nest, which contained a single egg 

 slightly set, on 23rd March, 1873, the egg measuring 1-37 long 

 and O87 broad." 



Later Mr. Bourdillon says : " Since writing the foregoing I 

 took on 21st April two fresh eggs from the nest of a Southern 

 Hill-Mynah (Eulabes religiosa). The nest was of grass, feathers, 

 and odds and ends in a hole in a nanga (Mesua coromandeliana) 

 stump, about 25 feet from the ground. The eggs of this Mynah 

 are blue, with purplish and more decided brown spots. 



" I am positive as to the identity of the egg. Both the eggs 

 taken last year and the two taken the other day were obtained 

 under my personal supervision. In both instances I watched the 

 birds building, and when we robbed the nests saw the female fly 

 off them." 



These two eggs sent me by Mr. Bourdillon are very beautiful. 

 In shape they are very gracefully elongated ovals ; the shell is 

 very fine and smooth, but has only a rather faint gloss. The 

 ground-colour is a delicate pale sea-green or greenish blue, and 

 the eggs are more or less profusely spotted or splashed with 

 purplish, or, in some spots, chocolate-brown and a very pale 

 purple, which looks more like the stain that might be supposed to 

 be left by one of the more decided coloured markings that had 

 been partially washed out than anything else. 



The eggs measure T37 by 0-9 and 1-35 by O87. 



Mr. J. Darling, junior, \\rites : "The Southern Graekle breeds 

 in the S. AV\naad rather plentifully, and I have had numbers of 



