1920.] Birds of North-East Chihli. 641 



its head from side to side, puffing out its feathers and 

 liohliug its tail high up over its back. The song is varied 

 and uttered in consecutive trills with very short intervals 

 between each trill, and while warbled m a very low tone is 

 most harmonious. This bird has been deposited in the 

 Zoological Gardens at Kegent's Park. 



The young birds reared were very noisy, and continually 

 uttered some of the musical calls of the adult. I fed them 

 on bread and milk, green-bean paste, and chopped raw beef. 

 I fed the adults on the same food with grain of all kinds 

 added. Insects of any kind are also much appreciated. 

 The birds when given grain scatter it at once on the floor of 

 the cage, where they prefer to pick at it rather than take it 

 from the grain-cups. 



The soft parts of this bird are : —Iris brown; bill bright 

 yellow, with culmen and point of both mandibles dull 

 yellowish green ; legs dark reddish grey. 



A number of nests with eggs were brought to me from 

 the mountains during the spring and early summer of 1917 

 on the following dates : — 



11th May, two nests with one and three eggs (fresh). 

 15th ,, one nest with three eggs (fresh). 

 J 6th ,_, three nests with two, three, three eggs (fresh). 

 29th ,, one nest with four eggs (incubated). 



The eggs are plain turquoise-blue. The texture is smooth 

 and satiny, with a slight gloss. The shape %'aries from pure 

 ovate to nearly oval, but the former shape is the most 

 usual. iS'ineteen eggs average 1'02 x 0*77 in. The largest 

 are 108 x 0"75 in. and l'()7 X 0'79 in.; the smallest 

 0-94 X 0-74 in. and 0-95 x 0-73 in. 



The nest, placed in bushes, is a shallow cup made of dried 

 grass blades and grass stems, and is lined with very fine 

 rootlets or grass stems. Five nests average : inner diameter 

 about 3ij in., inner depth about \\ in. 



19. Larvivora cyane (Pallas). 



Larvivora cyane 1). & O. p. 238, pi. 27; La T. p. 571. 



Pallas's JJlue Robin is very abundant on miaratiou. 



