158 



from 12 to 20 feet ; sometimes some old stub is patronized, and 

 then the nest may not be a couple of feet from the ground. On 

 one occasion I found a nest in a hole in a stem of an old heens 

 bush (Capparis apJiylla), which stem was barely 5 inches in 

 diameter. 



The nest is generally only a little bundle of dry grass, thickly 

 lined with feathers. If in a mangrove-grove much frequented by 

 the Common Green Paroquets, the feathers of these latter are 

 sure to be those chiefly used. Sometimes, however, a more or less 

 cup-shaped nest is formed, fine strips of bark and tow being added 

 to the grass ; and, again, at times it is a regular pad of hair, tow, 

 and wool, with a few feathers, all closely interwoven, and with 

 only a little central hollow. 



I never found more than four eggs, often only three fully incu- 

 bated ones, but more may occur. 



Mr. R. M. Adam writes to me that he " found a nest of this 

 bird in a mango-tree in Oudh on the 4th May ; it contained only 

 one fresh egg." 



Dr. Jerdon says : " It breeds in holes in trees, and in some 

 parts of the country in the roofs of houses, in the hollow bamboos 

 of the roofs, and occasionally in pots hung out for the purpose. 

 The eggs are three or four, greenish white, much streaked and 

 blotched with purplish brown. 



Writing of Eajpootana in general, Lieut. H. E. Barnes tells 

 us that " the Yellow-throated Sparrow breeds during April and 

 May in holes in trees." 



Major C. T. Bingham remarks : " This Sparrow breeds at 

 Allahabad in March and April, and at Delhi in June. Although 

 it cannot strictly be said to breed in colonies, still I have found 

 more than a dozen nests in one immense peepul tree. It builds in 

 holes in decayed branches of trees, lining the interior with a little 

 straw and feathers. The usual number of eggs is, I think, three. 

 I have only once found four, and a few times two hard-set 

 ones." 



Colonel E. A. Butler writes : " The Yellow-throated Sparrow 

 is very common at Mount Aboo, and breeds there in April. I 

 have taken many nests and found them usually in holes of trees at 

 no great height from the ground. On the 14th April this year I 

 took a nest from a hole in the branch of a mango-tree about 6 feet 

 from the ground, containing four fresh eggs. The nest was com- 

 posed externally of dry grass, and internally of fowl's feathers and 

 cow's hair." 



And he adds the following note from Sind : " Hydralad, 

 Sind, 15th April, 1878. A nest built in a hole of one of the inud 

 walls of my verandah, about 12 feet from the ground, contain- 

 ing four much-incubated eggs. Another nest on the 1st May, near 

 the same spot and in a similar situation, contained three hard-set 

 eggs, and another on the same date inside the top of an old lamp- 

 post. 



" The hole by which the bird entered was in the bulb at the top 



