OPEN NESTS 195 



selected by our own Blackbird, such as near the 

 ground amongst weeds and brushwood, or some dis- 

 tance above it in the fork of a bush or low tree. It 

 is cup-shaped, deep and well made of a great variety of 

 materials, such as grasses, dead leaves, roots, moss, 

 the tendrils from certain creeping plants, fibres, and 

 sometimes bamboo leaves and fern fronds, roots and 

 fern stems forming the lining. In some nests bamboo 

 leaves are omitted, but tendrils appear to be a special 

 feature of all. The inside cup measures, on an aver- 

 age, about four inches in diameter by three inches in 

 depth. The nest of Garrulax gularis, another of these 

 Indian Laughing Thrushes, is made of almost exactly 

 the same materials, tendrils again being a speciality, 

 and in some cases forming the bulk of the materials, 

 even the lining being partly formed of the finest ones. 

 The favourite sites are within a few feet from the 

 ground, amongst thickets of bramble and fern, some 

 distance within the dense jungle or forest. Then we 

 may mention the nest of Stactocichla merulina. This 

 bird breeds in mountain forests of evergreen trees 

 and in bamboo jungles, placing its nest in some thick 

 shrub or clump of bamboo. The nest is somewhat 

 bulky, although the cup is rather shallow. Two 

 classes of materials are employed, according to the 

 site chosen. Thus, when in bushes the outside is 

 formed of roots, grass, bamboo and other leaves, 

 intermixed with moss and bracken, the interior being 

 lined with delicate roots of ferns and moss, the finest 



