218 MOTACILLID^E. 



barely able to fly in September, and either some pairs rear a second 

 brood or else some breed very late. 



All the nests that I have seen have been composed entirely of 

 soft grass, rounded into a more or less shallow, saucer-like shape, 

 in some cases too loosely put together to bear removal, in others 

 tolerably compactly interwoven. I think the nests average nearly 

 5 inches in diameter, and scarcely more than an inch in thickness. 



They are always placed on a hill-side an open more or less 

 grassy slope under some overhanging tuft of grass or projecting 

 rock, and as a rule pretty well screened from view. 



The female, I think, alone sits. The male, however, is always 

 at hand, uttering from time to time a single whistling note, 

 followed by a single clacking note often repeated, sometimes on 

 the ground and sometimes as he descends, after a short flight, with 

 open wings, like the Tit-Lark at home. 



Four is the usual complement of eggs, but I have found five. 



I again notice the fact that the numerous eggs of this species 

 v hich 1 possess and have seen, many of them taken by myself, are, 

 as far as I can judge, absolutely undistinguishable from the eggs 

 sent me by Colonel C. H. T. Marshall as those of AntJius jerdoni. 

 1 feel disturbed about this. I cannot see how I can have made 

 any mistake. There were a pair bred on Jaeko whom I watched 

 building their nest, and then watched the eggs laid, one a day till 

 there were four. The birds cannot be confounded. It is almost 

 impossible that these widely different birds should lay precisely 

 similar eggs, yet Colonel Marshall is certain of those he obtained. 



Mr. Hodgson notes that he took a nest of this species in the 

 valley of Nepal on the 4th May. The nest was on the ground, on 

 a slope shaded by a tuft of grass, and overhung by a large clod of 

 earth ; it was a shallow cup, some 6 inches in diameter and 2 in 

 height, loosely made of fine dry grass and devoid of lining, and 

 contained four eggs, figured as precisely similar to those which I 

 have taken. 



The eggs are oval, some narrow and elongated, and others 

 moderately broad or even slightly pyriform ; the ground is white 

 or slightly greyish white, and they are very thickly spotted and 

 speckled all over, in some with reddish, in others with purplish 

 brown and with pale inky purple. In some the markings are all 

 very minute, speckly, and streaky ; in others they are somewhat 

 bolder and more spotty. Looked closely into in a good light, the 

 tone of the markings varies a good deal, but not so much as do the 

 eggs of our European Anihus trivialis. These eggs are almost 

 entirely devoid of gloss. 



I should add that in some eggs a ruddy purple tinge pervades all 

 the markings, while in others the general tint is browner or greyer. 



In length they vary from O82 to O98, and in breadth from 0*63 

 to 0'72 ; but the average of twenty-seven eggs is nearly O9 by 

 0-68. 



