COCHOA. Ill 



close, but only laid one egg in nine days. I sent for the nest 

 thinking there would have been four eggs, one having been in the 

 nest when I found it nine days since, but there were only two. 

 The eggs very nearly resemble those of Merula boulboul, being, 

 however, a little smaller : ground greenish, thickly blotched with 

 brown. They vary very much in proportion of colour.' 



" The only question is this Was Home close enough to know 

 the bird again when shot? He was close to it, and at 40 yards 

 the bird could not be mistaken for any other : it is so well marked 

 the grey-blue head makes such a contrast with the brown body. 

 He sent for the nest and his man shot the bird therefrom ; if he 

 missed the Cochoa he might have contented himself with a female 

 Merula boulboul (although to find a female M. boulboul when wanted 

 would not be easy, for they are nearly as scarce as the Cochoa 

 there), but he brought a Cochoa ; the nest, moreover, was not that 

 of M. boulboul. 19 



I venture to submit that perhaps he missed the M. boulboul, 

 and then meeting a OocJioa shot it as about the right size of bird *. 



707. Cochoa viridis, Hodgs. The Green Thrush. 



Cochoa viridis, Hodgs., Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 243 ; Hume, Rough 

 Draft N. $ E. no. 608. 



Of the nidification of the Green Thrush I possess no very 

 certain information, but what I have certainly tends to corroborate 

 Mr. Home's account of the nidification of the Purple Thrush. 



A nest said to belong to the present species was sent me from 

 Xative Sikhim, where it was found in June. It was found at an 

 elevation of about 10,000 feet, and was placed on the branch of 

 a large tree at about 8 feet from the ground. It contained three 

 partially incubated eggs, two of which were accidentally broken. 

 The nest was a large Thrush-like nest, but only the lining was 

 sent to me, which consisted of a thick exterior coating of roots, 

 and an interior one of the feathery, grey, beard-like lichen so 

 commonly seen hanging from the branches of trees in the hills. 



The egg is a very regular, moderately elongated oval ; the shell 

 fine and with a fair amount of gloss. 



The ground-colour a very pale, somewhat greyish green, every- 

 where thickly, but very finely, freckled and mottled with dull, 

 rather pale brownish and purplish red. The markings are most 

 dense at the large end, where they form an inconspicuous, irre- 

 gular, speckly, or freckled cap. 



The egg is very Meruline in its character, and measures 1*03 in 

 length by 0*75 in width. 



Xests of this species found in Native Sikhim in June, at eleva- 

 tions of 9000 to 10,000 feet, are large shallow cups, composed of 



* There can be little doubt, now that we know the history of these Thrushes 

 better, that the nest really belonged to C. purpurea. ED. 



