10 MfSCLCAPIDJE. 



stumps, and in the holes of banks by the roadside. The eggs are 

 three or four in number, dull white, with faint rufous specks at 

 the larger end, and somewhat inclined to form a ring." 



From Almora we hear from Mr. Brooks that " the nest is 

 usually placed in a hole in a steep bank-side, at a tree-root, or 

 hole in the wall of some unfrequented building, under the rafters 

 of the verandah of a dwelling-house, and under the eaves of a 

 house-roof. Once I found one in a small niche inside a small 

 building, or cover built over a well or spring, the size of the little 

 building, which had a domed roof, being about 6 feet square. The 

 floor was ivater, about 3 feet deep, and directly opposite the door 

 was the small niche in the wall, about 8 inches wide, and here the 

 bird sat on its nest in full view of every native who came to draw 

 water. The nest is composed of moss and fine fibres and lined 

 with hair ; eggs four, colour fleshy white, clouded and finely 

 mottled with pale reddish brown at the large end. The egg much 

 resembles some light-coloured varieties of that of the English 

 Robin. Laying in Kuniaon from llth May to middle of June." 



"At Nynee Tal," says Mr. E. Thompson, "it lays in April, 

 May, and June. It builds on the ground, in holes in banks, 

 corners and holes in rocks, but most frequently under a bridge, in 

 the timbers of which, if it finds a hole, there it will most assuredly 

 make its nest. This latter is circular, cup-shaped, and composed 

 of coarse grass, roots, moss, hair, and fibres. It averages some 4 

 inches in diameter. The eggs are usually four in number. It 

 breeds at all elevations from 3500 feet and upwards. I have most 

 frequently found the nest placed under a bridge of the common 

 sort made over small streams in our hills. One bred under a bridge 

 near my house in several successive years, and always had four 

 eggs in the nest." 



Dr. Jerdon states that " it breeds at Darjeeling occasionally in 

 the eaves of houses, but generally on a bank ; makes a neat nest 

 of moss, lined with black fibres and hair, and has generally four 

 eggs, dull white, with small rufous spots." 



Mr. Garnmie says : " I took a nest of this species out of an 

 indentation in a dry overhanging bank on the 30th April, 1873. 

 This was at Bishap, at an elevation of about 3000 feet. It con- 

 tained three fresh eggs. The eggs and nest were of the usual 

 type." 



Colonel Godwin-Austen tells us that this species " breeds in the 

 Khasi Hills, on the Shillong or northern side, in April. Young 

 birds well-fledged were brought in to me in the middle of May." 



In shape the eggs are a moderately broad oval, somewhat com- 

 pressed towards the smaller end. The ground-colour is pinky 

 white, in some entirely devoid of markings, in others with a more 

 or less conspicuous reddish-pink zone or cap of mottled or clouded 

 speckly markings, generally nearly confluent. These eggs have 

 little or no gloss, and obviously belong to the same type as those of 

 Siltava. The want of distinctness in the markings separates them 

 from those of Terpsiphonc paradisi^ Dicrurus ater, and the like. 



