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Campbell, Annotations. [ist^"jan. 



without disturbing them, but the mangroves were too thick, and the 

 only result was the sudden cessation of the song. I then resorted 

 to the artifice of imitating the cry of a bird in distress, and in a 

 few seconds the male, followed by the female, was within a few 

 feet of my head. One glance was sufficient to recognize the 

 species, the birds being not in the least timid. After admiring the 

 male, I turned my attention to the brown and boldly striped 

 female, in the hope of getting a clue to the locality of the 

 nest. She presently slipped away, but it was quite impossible to 

 follow her with the eye — the vegetation was too thick, the light 

 very deceptive, and the swarms of sand-flies and mosquitoes were 

 quite blinding. I commenced a systematic search in what I con- 

 sidered the most likely parts of the thickets. After considerable 

 trouble I found a nest, unmistakably a Thickhead's, where the man- 

 groves were very dense and mere saplings. It was about 8 feet 

 from the mud, and contained one fresh egg. In passing, I may 

 remark that this was the only nest I could reach without climbing. 

 The egg was true to type — ground colour dark cream, or even 

 stone colour, darker than eggs of P. occidentalis, P. ritfiveniris, or 

 P. falcata ; the spots chiefly at the larger end, and of a clouded 

 neutral tint. I subsequently found the colour of the spots varied 

 much in intensity. The nest was flat and not very substantial. 

 Outside measurements between 5 and 6 inches, the cup neatly 

 finished, but the egg visible from below. The fate of this egg is a 

 mystery. I left it undisturbed, in the hope of securing a full 

 clutch ; but when I returned three days later the nest was empty. 

 I charged a Malay boy who was crabbing in the creek with tracking 

 me up and taking the egg. He denied it flatly, and I believe truth- 

 fully. Crows were very scarce, and lizards and snakes still scarcer. 

 Can either of the parents have resented my handling the egg and have 

 removed or destroyed it themselves ? This was very disappointing, 

 but all that could be done was to find another, and I had the 

 encouragement, too, that in searching for nests of the present 

 species I had a chance of finding nests of Zosterops lutea and other 

 species present in the mangroves. After being nearly eaten alive 

 by the insect pests, and after several disappointments in finding 

 nests with newly-hatched young, I succeeded in getting three more 

 nests with eggs — in two cases quite fresh, and in the third con- 

 siderably incubated. In addition, I found three nests in course of 

 construction. All these nests were where the mangroves were 

 tallest, and generally where they were most dense. The highest 

 nest I climbed to was quite 15 feet from the mud below. All this was 

 only accomplished at the expenditure of much labour and dis- 

 comfort, and at the risk of an attack of malaria. My worst 

 experience was at low tide, before sunset, when the bad odour from 

 the mud was quite perceptible. It is advisable to mark the site of 

 an empty nest with a strip of red rag if it is to be readily re- 

 discovered. I tried white wadding, and to my cost found it use- 

 less and quite invisible at a short distance, owing to the infiltration 

 of the innumerable rays of light through the foliage of the man- 



