142 PLOCEIDJE. 



The number of the eggs laid varies much. Seven I consider to 

 be the normal number, but I have found only four hard -set, and 

 some of my correspondents have taken ten eggs in a single nest. 



From Hoshungabad Mr. Nunn writes : " Nest and seven eggs 

 secured on llth August ; the former was made on the branches of 

 a low thorn-bush, some 6 feet high, well sheltered by the leaves. 

 This low thorn-bush was growing with others at the base of a rocky 

 hill far from water. 



" The nest was a large loose ball of grass as big as a man's head, 

 with a circular lateral aperture about as big as his mouth. Eggs 

 slightly set," 



Mr. F. R. Blewitt thus graphically and accurately describes a 

 very curious nest which he kindly sent me : " A nest of this 

 species, which I obtained in the neighbourhood of Haipoor, was 

 remarkable as being more compact and massive than those of this 

 species usually are. It was a very irregularly-shaped nest, some- 

 thing in outline like a gouty foot done up in bandages, the toe 

 pointing downwards, and the aperture where the leg would join 

 on ; exteriorly it was composed of coarse broad-leaved grass ; 

 interiorlv of fine grass and flowering grass-stems. The walls were 

 fully an inch thick and very compact. The cavity, measured from 

 the aperture to the bottom, was 6 inches deep, and something less 

 than 3 inches in diameter ; exteriorly the nest was some 9 inches 

 measured from heel to toe, and 6 inches from the heel to the 

 mouth of the aperture, and some 4-5 in breadth. The whole 

 exterior portion was composed of green grass, but the fine lining 

 was dry/' 



Mr. Wait, writing from Conoor, says : " This little bird breeds 

 with us any time between February and September, but the 

 majority lay duriug April and May. They make a large, oval, 

 globular nest, some 9 inches high and 7 or 8 inches in breadth ; it 

 is loosely constructed of dry grass, usually the finer sorts, and lined 

 with the same. The entrance, which is on one side, is small. 

 The nests are placed in low trees and shrubs, commonly in such as 

 are well furnished with thorns. They lay from five to eight oval 

 dead-white eggs." 



To my friend Miss Margaret Cockburn I am indebted for the 

 following charming account of the nidification of this species : 

 " The Spotted Munia is migratory with us, and only appears on 

 the Nilghiris during June and the four following mouths. 



" They return regularly to their old haunts, even to the same 

 bushes in which they built the previous season. 



" Several pairs of these birds build in the trellis around our 

 windows, so near the ground that I have often put my finger into 

 the nest and felt the eggs. 



" I am perfectly sure that each pair takes possession of the 

 same trellis in which it built in previous years, and that should 

 the old nest remain where they left it they commence another 

 alongside of it ; should, however, the old abode be removed, they 

 will build again in the exact site which it occupied. 



