BIRDS NESTING ON THE EASTERN NARRA. 279 



As little or nothing is known of the nidification of some of 

 these birds I will proceed to give the result of my observa- 

 tions. 



158.— Picus sindianus, Gould. 



Found a nest with two fresh eggs on the 2nd April ; the 

 eggs were laid in a hole in a tamarisk tree, situated about 

 four feet from the ground ; the tree was close on the bank of 

 the Narra, the hole facing the north ; there was no lining to 

 the nest, the depth of the hole being about 10 inches. 



515. — Acrocephalus stentorius, Hemp, and Ehr. 



On the 4th August, while my man was poling along in a 

 canoe in a large swamp on the look-out for eggs, he passed a 

 small bunch of reeds, and in them spotted a nest with a bird on 

 it. The nest contained three beautiful fresh eggs. A few days 

 later I joined him, and on asking about these eggs, he described 

 the bird, and said he had found several other nests of the same 

 species, but all of them contained young ones, nearly fledged. 

 I made him shew me some of these nests, all of which were 

 situated in clumps of reed, in the middle of the swamp, and, 

 in these same reeds I found and shot the young one, which 

 though fledged, were not able to fly. These I sent with one of 

 the eggs to Mr. Hume, who has identified them as belonging 

 to this species. The nests were composed of frayed pieces 

 of reed grass and fine sedge, the latter being principally to- 

 wards the inside, thus forming a kind of lining. The nests were 

 loosely put together, were about 3 inches inner diameter, 1£ 

 inch deep, the outer diameter being 6 inches. They were 

 situated about a foot over water line, in the tops of reeds grow- 

 ing in the water. 



553.— Hypolais rama, Syhes. 



I first obtained eggs of this bird in March 1879. The first 

 nest was found by one of my men, who afterwards shewed 

 me a bird close to the place he got the eggs, which he said 

 was either the bird to which the nest and eggs belonged, or 

 one of the same kind. This I shot and sent to Mr. Hume with 

 one of the eggs to identify. Some time after I again came 

 across a lot of these birds breeding, and this time lay in wait 

 myself for the bird to come to the nest and eggs, and when it 

 did, shot it. This I also sent to Mr. Hume to identify. Some 

 time after I heard from Mr. Hume, who said that there must 

 be some mistake as the birds sent belonged to two different 

 species, viz., Sylvia affinis and Hypolais rama, and were both, 

 he believed, only cold weather visitants. This year I again 



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