40 MUSCICAPID^E. 



" May 6th. A nest containing 3 fresh eggs. 

 8th. 3 



" In one or two nests I found a few horsehairs mixed in the 

 lining." 



In August Colonel Butler found the nests of this species in 

 Deesa. One contained four fully-fledged young ; another had not 

 yet been laid in. 



Messrs. Davidson and Wenden, writing of the Deccan, say : 

 " Tolerably common. A nest with three eggs taken at Egut- 

 poora on 6th September ; " and the former gentleman subsequently 

 states that he found a nest of this species with three eggs on the 

 Kondabhari Grhat in July. 



Mr. Iver Macpherson, detailing his experiences in Mysore, 

 says: "The White-spotted Fantail Flycatcher is particularly 

 partial to areca-nut gardens, and I have also observed it in scrub- 

 forest near cultivation and amongst avenue-trees. 



" In my friend Major Mclnroy's garden at Hoonsoor a pair have 

 to my certain knowledge built for the last two years, and these are 

 the only two nests I have as yet been able to procure. 



" These birds are so tame that they frequently fly into the 

 verandah after insects, and this year they built their nest low down 

 in a shoeflower-tree close to the verandah. 



" After this mark of confidence we had not the heart to take 

 more than one of the three eggs laid. 



" Both nests were found in the latter part of June, and each 

 contained three eggs." 



Mr. Rhodes W. Morgan, writing from South India, says : 

 " The nest of this lively little bird is very difficult to find. The 

 first I ever discovered had been within a couple of feet of my head 

 for more than one hour ; and it was only when my dog-boy attrac- 

 ted my attention by pulling it down and saying ' What a very 

 odd-looking nest this is,' that I saw it. It contained three eggs of 

 a light hair-brown colour, with a ring of darker spots of the same 

 colour at the larger end. It was shaped like a funnel, and was 

 constructed entirely of fibrous grasses bound together with cob- 

 webs, and was lined with very fine grass-stems. The eggs ave- 

 raged '6 in length by *5 in breadth. The nest is usually placed 

 very low down, some 2 or 3 feet from the ground ; and when 

 discovered the bird flies out and flutters feebly along the ground in 

 front of you, trying to allure you away." 



The eggs of this species are very similar to those of JR. albifron- 

 tata, but are slightly smaller. In shape they vary from very 

 regular, moderately broad ovals to considerably elongated and 

 much pointed ones. 



The ground is a very pale buffy or creamy white, and round the 

 egg, towards the large end, runs a broad zone of yellowish-brown 

 and inky grey specks and spots, all more or less enveloped in a 

 yellowish haze or nimbus. In some eggs this zone is denser, in 

 some much thinner; inmost the markings are almost absolutely 

 confined to this zone, in some few they are sparsely scattered over 



