CEBCOMELA. 55 



" For the construction of the nest roots, grass, khus, feathers, 

 and sometimes horsehair and wool are used, all loosely but thickly- 

 packed together, the finer material above. One nest I obtained at 

 the base of a rock was neatly put together. The exterior, an inch 

 or so thick at the base, was formed of roots and coarse grass ; the 

 inner cavity cup-shaped, an inch and a half deep, was lined with 

 fine khus and grass. The outer diameter was 5-5, inner 3. 



" The eggs are in colour a very light blue-green, with close dark 

 brown spots, sometimes at the upper end coalescing so as to form 

 a well-defined ring. I have never found more than three eggs in 

 a nest, although I am informed that four are sometimes met with 

 in a single nest. The eggs are almost uniform in size ; 0-8 in 

 length and 0-6 in breadth may be taken as the average. 



" I have seen this bird more frequently on the plains than among 

 rocks and cliffs. It is in its habits free and familiar, much like the 

 Eobins." 



I notice that out of several scores of nests that I have seen I 

 myself never met with one out in the open built merely at the 

 base of a bush. Such situations for their nests must, I think, be 

 quite exceptional. I quote a couple out of many notes that I have 

 made about this bird's nidification : 



"March 23rd, Etawah.Took a nest of this Chat, The nest 

 contained three eggs slightly incubated. It was a flat pad of fine 

 grass stems and roots, 4 inches in diameter and 1| inch thick, with 

 a broad shallow depression in the upper surface, which was very 

 scantily lined (a mere pretence for lining) with a little wool and a 

 few horsehairs. It was in a hole of an earthen cliff of a dry 

 nullah, about 9 or 10 feet from the ground and a foot in. The 

 eggs were oval, a good deal narrowed towards the small end, pale 

 blue, with numerous very faint reddish-brown spots and specks, 

 predominating at the large end." 



"March 29Z#, Ajmere. Took a nest in a hole in one of the old 

 walls of the grand Arhai-din-ki-jompri. It was a shallow circular 

 nest about 4 inches in external diameter, chiefly of grass, but with 

 an intermixture of horsehair, thread, sheep's wool, and cotton 

 wool. There were three fresh eggs, rather long ovals, of a delicate 

 pale blue, one almost entirely spotless, the others with numerous 

 reddish-brown specks and spots, in one most numerous over the 

 large end and sparse elsewhere, the other with most of the spots 

 collected into a zone near the little end." 



From Sambhur Mr. R. M. Adam tells us that " the Brown Rock- 

 Chat is very common, and is generally seen in pairs about old 

 buildings, near villages, or the loose stony portions of the hills. 

 On the 23rd March I found a nest in the Sambhur fort in a wall 

 of an inner room. It was about 5 feet from the ground. It was 

 cup-shaped, the outside measuring 4| inches in diameter and the 

 egg- receptacle about 2| inches. The nest was composed of fine 

 grass, loosely rounded together, and had for a lining a layer of 

 goat's hair worked carelessly round into the shape of the nest. 

 The eggs are blue, with pale, or sometimes dark, reddish-brown 

 spots near the thick end. 



