112 On the Nidification of Indian Birds. 



eggs of this species. He writes : — u On April 14th I found 

 a nest of this bird containing two fresh eggs. It was 

 at an elevation of about 8000 feet, in mixed spruce and 

 deodar forest, and was suspended, like that of an Oriole or 

 White-eye, from the slender, horizontal, forked twig of a 

 deodar sapling, about 7 feet from the ground. It was in shape 

 a deep cup, very thin and delicate, but neatly put together. 



"The groundwork of the nest consisted of root-fibres and 

 a grey hair-like tree-lichen (Usnea sp.), decorated on the 

 outside with ordinary grey leaf -lichens, the whole structure 

 being bound together with silky spider cocoons and threads. 



The deep cavity was lined with fine, black, hair-like fibres 

 (the rhizomorph of a fungus), and the nest attached to the 



twigs by the red egg-cocoons of a spider. The two eggs 



were long ovals, white, spotted rather sparingly and chiefly 



at the larger end with dark bay spots and specks. They 



measured - 75" by '54*" and *74" by *52" respectively. 



"Two appears to be the full complement of eggs for this 



species, as I waited two days after finding the nest, but no 



more eggs were laid." 



The nest described agrees exactly with one sent me from 



Sikhim, but the eggs are doubtful, and I do not describe 



them. 



It is probable that the full complement will be found to 



be four or even five, as in the bird's nearest relative, Pteru- 



thius melanotis. 



94. iEGITHlNA NIGRILUTEA. 



Blanford, F. B. Ind. i. p. 222 ; Setter, B. N. H. S. J. x. 

 p. 695. 



Captain Serter, in an article on Marshall's Iora,thus records 

 its breeding in Cutch, where he states that it is plentiful : — 



" The eggs average 0'68" by 0"54", and are white in colour 

 with long streaks of lavender-grey and brown, forming a 

 broad zone round many eggs. The nest is usually placed 



in a mimosa of sorts The nest is a shallow cup, 



rather broad for its depth, very neatly made of fibre, with 

 a few hairs inside and cobwebs outside. It somewhat 



