COPSYCHUS. 83 



Mr. George Reid tells us that be has found nests of this bird at 

 Lucknow from May 22nd to July 15th. 



Mr. R. M. Adam records that he " took a nest of this bird at 

 Tyzabad, in Oudb, on the 4th May. The nest contained three 

 eggs. It was situated in a hole of the wall of a mud hut." 



Mr. P. E. Blewitt, writing from Saugor, remarks : " On the 

 29th June I found the nest in the hollow of a large dried limb of 

 a goolur tree (Ficus ylomerata). It was made of coarse and fine 

 grass and roots, placed to about the thickness of an inch at the base 

 of the hollow. As to the lining, there were a few horsehairs. The 

 structure as a whole was circular, with a diameter of 4| inches." 



Professor Littledale informs me that this Robin breeds in 

 Guzerat, and that between May 30th and June 26th he took eight 

 nests near his own house. 



Writing of Rajputana in general, Lieut. H. E. Barnes states that 

 this species breeds during April and May. 



Captain Boys says: "This very sprightly bird frequents the 

 trees and bushes of the gardens, and, like the English Robin, 

 carries its tail very erect, which gives it a bold appearance. It is 

 very familiar, and has a sweet note. Its food consists of insects, 

 and it builds in the chinks and holes of walls, forming its nest of 

 small dry twigs and grass-roots, and laying five greenish-blue eggs, 

 blotched all over with brown, but mostly at the larger end." 



Mr. E. Aitken tells me that " in Bombay this bird commonly 

 breeds in holes in the walls and roofs of houses. I recollect many 

 years ago finding a nest under a large tile at the corner of the roof 

 of a house. I looked at it on 30th June, when I found two young 

 ones and an old egg. In Poona they seein to be scarcely so 

 familiar. Last year, after the middle of May, I saw one carrying 

 building-materials up to the middle of a cypress tree. As the trunk 

 could not have contained a hole large enough to build in, they must 

 have been making their nest simply among the dark foliage." 



Mr. G. Vidal records this note from the South Konkan : 

 " Very common throughout. Breeds in May and June. One 

 nest 1 found with four eggs in the hole of a tree was lined pro- 

 fusely with the dry leaves of the casuariua tree." 



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

 " Commonish. Nest taken at ISatara in May." 



Colonel Butler writes : 



" Bel gaum, 13th April, 1879 : 4 eggs about to hatch. The nest, 

 consisting solely of a collection of stems of dried leaves loosely put 

 together, was placed in the hole of a tree about 9 feet from the 

 ground. 



" Another nest exactly similar in the same neighbourhood on the 

 24th May, containing 4 fresh eggs. 



"Another on the 1st June in the same ' station, containing 3 

 slightly incubated eggs. 



" Nests are common in this part of the country, and May seems 

 to be the month in \\hich most of the birds build. 



" Belgaum, 4th April, 1880 : a nest in the hole of a tree about 



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