CALLENE. THAMNOBIA. 71 



hooded or domed where plants or rocks do not afford sufficient 

 shelter. The chief material of which the nest is always composed 

 are extremely fine black fibrous rootlets, felted closely together ; a 

 good many dead leaves are generally incorporated towards the base 

 of the structure, and fern-leaves (withered or green) and green 

 moss are in many cases more or less profusely woven on to the 

 outer surface of the sides, of course in view to the more complete 

 concealment of the nest. Where, as sometimes happens, the nest 

 is placed in the cleft of a bank, it consists entirely of dead leaves 

 and black rootlets, only a little moss being attached to the outer 

 lip of the cup or the summit of the hood, as the case may be. 



Mr. Mandelli took three nests at Lebong (elevation 5500 feet) 

 on the 8th and 15th May and the 10th June; each contained 

 three fresh eggs. 



The eggs first sent me by Mr. Gammie are very regular, mode- 

 rately broad ovals with scarcely any gloss, though the texture of 

 the shell is very fine and satiny. They are of a uniform, very 

 pale salmon-pink, entirely devoid of all regular markings, although, 

 if examined in a very bright light, they appear to be excessively 

 faintly (in fact scarcely perceptibly) freckled all over with the 

 palest possible grey, which is absolutely invisible unless looked 

 very closely into. This is not at all the egg that I should have 

 expected from this species, but it agrees well with Mr. Hodgson's 

 and Dr. Jerdon's accounts. The eggs measure 0*95 by 0'69 inch, 

 and 0-91 also by 0-69 inch. 



Numerous other eggs of this species agree well with the above 

 description ; but some are rather more glossy, some seem to want 

 entirely the faint grey freckling, and many might be best described 

 as white with the faintest possible cafe-au-lait tinge. 



In length they vary from 0-86 to 0'95, and in breadth from 0-59 

 to 0*69 ; but the average of ten eggs is 0*91 by 0*65. 



660. Callene frontalis (Blyth). The Blue-fronted Callene. 



Callene frontalis (Bh/th), Jerd. B. 2nd. i, p. 496 ; Hume, Rough 

 Draft N. fy E. no. 340. 



Mr. Blyth says that Mr. Hodgson figures the nest of the Blue- 

 fronted Callene as domed and like a Wren's, \vith clay-coloured 

 eggs. There is no such figure amongst the many hundreds of 

 original drawings (of which those in the British Museum are 

 mostly copies) lent me by Mr. Hodgson. 



661. Thamnobia cambaiensis (Lath.). The Brown-backed 



Indian Robin. 



Thamnobia cambaiensis (Lath.), Jerd. B. 2nd. ii, p. 122 ; Hume, 

 Rough Draft N. $ E. no. 480. 



The Brown-backed Indian Robin breeds throughout the plains 

 of Upper India (not, however, I think, ascending the hills to any 



