48 NOTES ON THE NIDIFICATION 



'61 ; the ground color of all is a pinkish white. In one pair the 

 shell blotches of washed-out purple are spread over the whole 

 e^g, and the surface spots and dashes of carneous red are also 

 equally spread over the whole shell. In the other pair the shell 

 marks are grouped round the larger end to form a broad ring-, 

 and the whole egg is thickly speckled and spotted with bright 

 reddish. The eggs are very slightly gloss}'. 



107.— Oriolus melanocephalus, (472.) 



My nests of this Oriole have been found in March, April, and 

 May, but I have no doubt they also breed in June. No details 

 appear necessary. (N. and E., p. 301.) 



108 — Prinia hodgsoni, Blyth. (538.) 



Nest w T ith three fresh eggs on the 19 th August ; no details 

 appear necessary except the colour of the eggs, since this bird 

 appears to lay two kinds of eggs. My eggs are very glossy, 

 of a light blue, speckled with minute dots of reddish brown, 

 more thickly so at the large end than elsewhere. (N. and E., 

 p. 342.) 



109— Sturnia malabarica, Gm. (688.) 

 110.— Sturnia nemoricola, Jerd. (689 quat.) 



Both these birds are equally common throughout Lower 

 Pegu. Mr. Hume (S. E., IV., p. 333) wishes to unite the two. 



The two birds, however, although they associate in the same 

 flock and have a general superficial resemblance to each other, 

 are quite distinct. Apart from the fact that nemoricola has 

 the winglet and primary coverts always with some white on 

 them varying in extent with age, and malabarica never has 

 a single white feather on those parts, there is another constant 

 and never-failing* point of difference between them, and this 

 lies in the colour of the spurious first primary. In nemoricola 

 it is always white ; in malabarica it is always black. I have 

 a very large series of both birds, and this distinction always 

 serves to separate with precision those birds which are white, 

 or have some portion of white on the winglet and primary 

 coverts, and on the other hand those birds w r hich have no white 

 on those parts. As to the amount of white in nemoricola I am 

 convinced it is only a matter of age. But no bird, however 

 young, with a white spurious first primary, is without at 



* This distinction does out hold good ; we have several unmistakeable nemoricola, 

 white on wing, pale under surface, with this spurious primary black. I have fully 

 discussed the question of these races, S. F., VI., 390, which, though printed nine 

 months ago, had not been issued when Mr. Oatea wrote. — A. O. H. 



