Nidification of Indian Birds. 91 



of certain birds in Kanara, says of the nest of this 

 species : — 



" I obtained a nest in the latter part of May. It was in a 

 low-bush thick jungle, and was like an ordinary small BulbuFs 

 nest composed of rough creepers and roots, with a couple of 

 skeleton leaves in the foundation. It contained a single 

 partially incubated egg: this was pure white and glossy, and 

 a very broad oval." Mr. Ferguson, quoting Mr. Bourdillon, 

 describes the eggs as " very glossy blue eggs, indistinguishable 

 from those of Crateropus griseus." The nest was a deep 

 cup, composed of grass-roots and fine stems of grass, and was 

 placed in a tuft of grass four feet from the ground. 



76. Trochalopterum affine. 



Blanford, F. B. Ind. i. p. 89 ; Osmaston, B. N. H. S. J. 

 xiv. p. 815. 



I have a single egg of this species which was taken by 

 Mr. B. B. Osmaston at Darjeeling, at an elevation of 11,500 

 feet, on the 10th of June, 1903. The colour is that of an 

 ordinary Thrush's egg, blue-green, and there are a few spots 

 and specks of dark brown, mostly confined to a ring round 

 the larger end. Some of the specks are so dark as to appear 

 black when casually looked at. With the exception of a few 

 very fine lines about a tenth of an inch or less in length, 

 there are none of the scrawly lines so typical of the spotted 

 eggs of Trochalopterum . 



In shape the egg is a long oval, considerably smaller at 

 one end than the other, and also more pointed than is 

 usual in this subfamily. The texture is like that of the 

 other spotted eggs of this genus — close and fine, but not 

 very hard. 



It measures 1*21" by '82". 



The nests are described by Mr. Osmaston as being" rather 

 massive, but neat cups, about 8 inches in external diameter, 

 and composed of moss, then twigs and dry grass-stems, lined 

 copiously with the black rhizomorph of a fungus (these 

 resembling black routs) mixed with some birch-bark paper." 



The three nests were all found at an elevation of over 



