10G Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker on the 



are: •Hi" by -60", -85" by '61" '82" by '61", and '81" 

 by "62". 



Mr. de Nicevillc in forwarding Mr. Masson's letters 

 authorized me to quote from them, and in one Mr. Masson 

 wrote that he bad watched the bird build the nest, had waited 

 until the ben bad laid three eggs, and bad then shot the pair 

 of birds and taken the nest and eggs. This is, of course, 

 very strong evidence, far stronger than any that I can 

 produce, mine being only to the effect that a Naga told me 

 that he had caught the accompanying bird on the nest. I 

 felt certain, however, and still do so, that no bird of the 

 Rimator group would ever make the sort of nest Mr. Masson 

 describes or could lay the eggs mentioned. His eggs were 

 taken at Darjeeling at between 4000 and 6000 feet. 



When at home in 1902 I found that the British Museum 

 possessed a clutch of eggs said to be ! hose of Hi malar, \\ Inch 

 had been collected by Mr. Gammie at ..Darjeeling and corre- 

 sponded with mine in size, coloration, and every other detail. 

 Still, Mr. Masson, who is a keen oologist, is so absolutely 

 certain of his identification that his description cannot be 

 passed over in silence, though I have no doubt, personally, 

 that he made a mistake either in the birds themselves or 

 in the identification of the owners of the nest taken. 



87. TuKDINULUS ROBERTI. 



Blanford, V. B. Lnd. i. p. 176, iv. p. 480; Stuart Baker, 

 B. N. H. S. J. xiii. p. 103. 



Under the name of Corythocichla squamata 1 described as 

 new (B. N. II. S. J. xiii. p. 403) a small Babbler with a 

 pure white chin and throat having three well-defined lines 

 of bold specks radiating from the chin. On the appearance 

 of the fourth volume of Blanford's work, however, 1 saw 

 that my bird was nothing but the true Turdinulus roberii, 

 Blanford's description having been a compromise between 

 that and T, exsul. 



Roberts's Babbler is to be found in some numbers, though 

 nowhere, I imagine, commonly, in the higher ranges bordering 

 on the plains of Assam. The nest and eggs are exact 

 counterparts of those of Corythocichla striata in everything 



