270 Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker on the 



the birds themselves, as they were bigger than those made 

 by the Bee- eaters which were also nesting in their thousands 

 in the banks of the same river. 



" The extraordinary thing about these nests in the sand- 

 banks was that every nest pulled out by us was lined with 

 pieces of cast snake-skin, and we must have taken out a dozen 

 or more. Except for these discarded snake-skins the nests 

 were of the usual untidy type. 



" These nests were taken in the latter end of May, when 

 the majority had either young birds or were already empty ; 

 still even then a good number contained eggs, so the season 

 probably lasts from the middle of April up to the end of May. 



" Whilst jE. grandis lays either two, three, or four eggs, 

 JE. albicinctus almost invariably lays four, very rarely five. 



" The eggs, of course, are of the usual Myna type. Those 

 of JE. grandis are rather larger and are somewhat more 

 pointed at the smaller end, those otJE. albicinctus are smaller 

 and are more blunt at the smaller end. 



" There is no confusing the two birds, as they are both 

 conspicuous from some distance, and as we went up the 

 river in a steamer we could see them constantly going in and 

 out of the holes, dozens at a time." 



Two clutches of eggs sent to me are as described above, 

 and average 1'05 by '78 in., varying between limits of 

 1*02 and 1*12 inch in length and '76 and "81 in breadth. 



111. SlPHIA STROPHIATA. 



Oates, F. B. Ind. ii. p. 8 ; Osmaston, B. N. H. S. J. ix. 

 p. 190. 



The only record of this Flycatcher's nesting is that of 

 Mr. B. B. Osmaston, of the Forest Department, who obtained 

 two nests whilst touring in the Tekri-Garvval at an elevation 

 of some 8000-12,000 feet. 



As Mr. Osmaston shot the cock bird off the nest there 

 can be no question of wrong identification, nor is it a bird 

 about whose identification any difficulty can exist. In spite 

 of this, I think that it is most likely that future collectors 

 will find tl.at Mr. Osmaston's nest and white eggs were 



