Nidiji cation of Indian Birds. Ill 



Staphidia are very much alike. I have two clutches in my 

 collection, one of which I owe to Dr. Coltart ; in this the 

 ground-colour is hard China- white, with numerous specks, 

 spots, and small blotches of dark vandyke-brown scattered 

 all over the eggs, if anything rather less towards the smaller 

 end. The secondary marks consist of blotches, some of 

 them rather large, and specks and spots of dark lavender- 

 grey, which are much darker than is usual with secondary 

 spots, and also better defined. These eggs are very broad 

 ovals, very little smaller at one end than the other. They 

 measure "6" by "52", "6" by , 52 // , and '58" by '57". 



The other clutch of eggs differs considerably from these ; 

 the ground-colour is the same, but the markings consist of 

 much smaller specks and spots of vandyke-brown, which are 

 principally confined to a ring at the larger extremity and 

 only sparsely scattered elsewhere. The secondary spots are 

 far fewer and smaller and almost entirely confined to the ring. 



In shape these eggs are different also, being much narrower 

 ovals, more drawn out towards the smaller end, which is, 

 however, very blunt. They measure "58" by "50", *58" by 

 •50", and •57" by "50". The texture in both is very fine 

 and close, and the eggs are very strong for their size. My 

 first clutch was taken in May 1902, and my second in May 

 1901. Dr. Coltart has eggs taken in April and June. 



92. Staphidea striata. 



F. B. Ind. i. p. 206; Bingham, Ibis, 1903, pp. 590-1. 



The breeding of this bird has already been noted in ' The 

 Ibis' {loc. cit.), but I reproduce it to make this article more 

 complete : — 



" Nest of moss lined with fibres on road-cutting near 

 Byinkyi, 5500 feet. The eggs are broad ovals, white with a 

 faint wash of blue, spotted thickly at the broad end, where the 

 markings are more or less confluent, with brown and purple.'' 



93. Pteruthius xanthochloris. 



Blanford, KB. Ind. i. p. 227; Osmaston, B. N. II. S. J. 

 xi. p. 65. 



Mr. B. B. Osmaston was the first collector to obtain the 



