ARACHNECHTHRA. 267 



a dried-up egg in them ; I have found one young bird and one 

 addled egg together ; and 1 have never seen more than a single 

 young one following the parent bird ; but, excluding the case at 

 Poona, just mentioned, I have found only one nest with two young 

 ones in it, and that was at Bombay in 1859. The time was the 

 first week in April, and the young birds were fully feathered, 

 almost ready to fly. I have not known the birds return to a nest 

 that had been robbed." 



Mr. Rhodes W. Morgan, writing from South India, says : 

 " This little Sun-bird breeds all over the plains of Southern India. 

 The bird often selects a cobweb in which to build its nest ; and 

 this is so ingeniously built that it is impossible to detect the 

 existence of the nest unless the cobweb is examined. The eggs 

 are two in number, and of a pale greenish white, minutely 

 speckled with dusky grey. Dimensions, 0'62 in length by O46 in 

 breadth." 



Messrs. Davidson and Wendeu write: "Found all over the 

 Deccan. Commoner in the well-watered parts, and breeds." 



Mr. Gr. Vidal remarks of this bird in the Konkan : " Common 

 and generally distributed. Nests found with eggs in January, 

 March, April, and September." 



In shape, size, and colouring the eggs bear the closest resemblance 

 to those of Arachnechthra asiatica. They are moderately broad oval 

 eggs, sometimes, however, a good deal elongated, and usually a 

 good deal pointed towards one end ; the shell is delicate and close- 

 grained, but almost entirely devoid of gloss ; the ground-colour 

 varies much. In some it is nearly pure white, but generally it is 

 a dingy greenish or brownish white, much freckled, clouded, and 

 streaked with minute greyish-brown or brown markings, which 

 commonly form an irregular zone round the larger end and some- 

 times form a confluent cap. In some eggs the whole of the rest 

 of the surface beyond the zone or cap is devoid, or almost devoid, 

 of markings. In others the whole surface of the egg is so closely 

 speckled all over as almost entirely to conceal the ground-colour ; 

 the variations in these respects reminding one much of similar 

 variations in the eggs of many species of Larks. 



A pair of the eggs of this species, taken at Gopalpur in the 

 Deccan on the 6th August, 1877, by Mr. Davidson, are in colour 

 dingy greenish white, powdered all over with fine greyish-brown 

 specks, which combine at the large end in forming in one egg a 

 dense conHuent cap and in the other a dense confluent zone. Round 

 the zone there is also an occasional streak of black. 



The eggs vary in length from 0'6 to O7 inch, and in breadth 

 from 0*43 to O49 inch, but the average is O65 by 0-47 inch. 



