OF SOME BURMESE BIRDS, II. 47 



in size from *58 to '55 in length, and from '42 to *S8 in 

 breadth. 



The nest is generally built in mango trees, but other trees, 

 specially if the leaves are large and drooping, are also used. 

 It is placed at all heights from the ground, from twelve feet to the 

 summits of the highest trees. The nest is suspended from an 

 outside twig, and is so surrounded by leaves that it is almost 

 invisible. When once the female begins to sit, all efforts to 

 find the nest would, I believe, be useless. It is only by 

 watching the little birds carrying materials, which they do 

 incessantly and with a constant twitter, that I and my shikaree 

 have been able to secure the nests. 



To say that the nest is most beautiful is only to say what is 

 applicable to the nests of all the Honey-suckers. The nest of 

 this little bird is simply exquisite when newly built. It 

 measures no more than four inches in total height, and one nesfc 

 I have is only 3^. It is egg-shaped, slightly pointed at the 

 upper end, where it is attached to the branch. Its external 

 diameter is two inches. The entrance is circular, three quarter 

 inches diameter, and placed just midway between the top and 

 bottom of the nest. The egg chamber is small, the walls of the 

 nest being of considerable thickness. 



The bulk of the nest is made of the finest vegetable down of 

 dazzling whiteness resembling spun glass ; and exteriorly the nesfc 

 is kept firm by being bound round with fine grass, which is 

 twisted into a rope at the lower edge of the entrance. At the 

 back of one nest there are few patches of excreta of caterpillars, 

 and in another, four dry blossoms of some shrub are stuck to 

 the back of the nest. As a rule, however, no ornamentation is 

 attempted. (N. and E., p. 155.) 



106.— Ixos davisoni, Rume. (452 quat.) 



I believe this name has priority over annectans of Lord 

 Walden. A nest of this bird was found on the 1st June, and 

 another on 6th of the same month, both containing two fresh 

 eggs each. The females, which were shot off the nest, showed, 

 however, no signs on dissection of being about to lay more. 



The nest is a flimsy structure built of the stems of small 

 weeds and lined with grass. A few fine black tree roots are 

 twisted round the inside of the egg chamber. The outside and 

 inside diameters measure four and three inches, and the depths 

 are similarly three and one quarter. Both nests were placed 

 low down about four feet from the ground — one in a bush 

 and the other in a creeper. 



The two pairs of eggs vary much in size. Two are "92 and 

 •88 by *60 and '65, and the other two '83 and '82 by "65 and 



