278 FIB3T LIST OF THE BIRDS OF 



brownish red ; bill black ; legs brown j soles of feet light orang© 

 yellow ; mouth, inside black. 



13tk June. — Length, Q'75 ; expanse, 7*10 ; wing, 2*42 ; tail 

 from vent, 2 -83 ; tarsus, 0*92 ; bill from gape, - 70 ; bill at front, 

 0"56; closed wings fall short of end of tail, 2'10 ; weight, 

 0-62 oz. Irides dull red ; bill black ; legs brownish horny ; soles 

 dull yellowish ; mouth, inside black. 



Pretty common. Permanent resident. Oftener found in the 

 patches of cane and brushwood jungle growing in and around vil- 

 lages than in unfrequented jungle and thickets as Dr. Jerdon 

 says. I have, however, once seen it in a field of jute, which was 

 alongside a village. Its well-known note can be heard a long way 

 off. I have several times found nests in course of construction, but 

 only once secured a clutch of eggs. When the nests are being 

 built, if the bush is at all disturbed the nest is deserted. The 

 earliest date on which I found a nest was the 1st April 1878 ; it 

 was half finished, and as I had pulled the cane leaves asunder to 

 see if there were eggs, the birds deserted it. After this I found 

 four nests in cane clumps on the sides of roads, but they were 

 empty, and as the birds abandoned them in due course, I des- 

 paired of getting any eggs ; but on the 15th June, while going 

 along a road, the edges of which were bounded by the small 

 embankments natives throw up round their holdings, and which 

 are always overgrown with " Sun" grass, I saw one of these 

 birds with a straw in its bill disappear at the root of a small 

 date tree. The nest could be discerned from the road. On the 

 20th June I returned and found two fresh eggs ; the nest was 

 placed at the junction of the frond, and the stem of the date 

 tree about five inches from the ground, and was an oval deep cup 

 and measured externally 5 deep by 3*75 broad. Egg cavity 2 

 inches broad and 1*75 deep, composed exclusively of " Sun" grass 

 with no lining. The eggs I got are thickly spotted, with the 

 spots very much larger than those on the egg of Chatornis 

 striaius, of which I have a number. In fact no egg of the 

 latter has such large spots as these. 



432.— -Malacocircus terricolor, Hodgs. 



\hth April 1878, Male.— Length, 10'0; expanse, 13-0 ; wing, 

 3-92; tail from vent, 4*0 ; tarsus, 1-25; bill from gape, T10 ; 

 bill at front, 080; closed wings fall short of end of tail, 2*87; 

 weight, 2*75 ozs. Bill, yellowish at basal half, rest whitish ; legs 

 yellowish white ; irides ivory white. 



28th May, Female. — Length, 10-25; expanse, 130; wing, 

 4*25 ; tail from vent, 433 ; tarsus, 1*33 ; bill from gape, 1*17 ; 

 bill at front, 0'83 ; closed wings fall short of end of tail, 3*0; 

 weight, 287ozs. Irides yellowish white ; orbital skin pale yellow ; 



