Notes on the Birds of the Samhhur Lake Sj- Us vicinit//. 379 



somewhat in the shape o£ an equilateral triangle, the bird first 

 binds very securely pieces of tow, twine, or longish strips of 

 cloth, fastening them round the twigs and leaving a depression, 

 into which is placed a cup-shaped structure composed of fine 

 grass or twigs firmly rounded together. There is no lining in 

 the nest. The egg cavity is 3 inches in diameter and 2 inches 

 deep. I have usually found two or three eggs in a nest. The 

 eggs are white with largish sepia-brown spots at the broad end. 



475.— Copsychus saularis, L. 



This bird is not common, but pairs are now and then seen 

 about gardens and topes of trees. A pair nested in my garden, 

 bat I could never succeed in finding the nest. 



480.— Thamnobia cambaiensis, Latham. 



The Indian robin is very plentiful here, and breeds from 

 March to June. A pair which built in my verandah' in April 

 had two eggs in the same nest on the 8th May, or about ten 

 days after the first brood left the nest. 



The nest is made in holes in trees, stone or mud walls, the 

 thatch of houses, or in prickly pear bushes. Sometimes it is 

 very carelessly made ; at other times the bird bestows a good 

 deal of labor on it. When carelessly made, a few tags of 

 sheep''s wool and some human hair rounded into a cup-shape suffice, 

 but when carefully made, it is constructed of fibres, grass, and 

 grass roots, all firmly matted together, and the agg cavity is 

 lined with difiPerent kinds of hair. The outer diameter of the 

 nest measures 4 inches ; the inner, 2:| inches, with a depth of 

 1^ inch. In each of the numerous nests which I have taken, 

 there were either one or two pieces of snake''s skin or a few 

 pieces of mica, which is rather common about the roads when the 

 mohurrum tazzeas are being carried about. Two seem to be 

 the normal number of the eggs, but I have sometimes found 

 three ; they are of a pale-greenish color, some with spots, and 

 others with only freckles of various shades of reddish-brown: one 

 egg I possess has a few very fine spots, while at the thick end 

 there is a lovely zone of lilac and reddish-brown. 



48i. — Pratincola caprata, L. 



This bird is not very plentiful here. I once saw a nest, taken 

 close to Sambhur, which contained four eggs. The young birds 

 are dark-brown with rufous lines on the head ; the back feathers 

 are tipped rufous, with a dark-brown edging ; the tertiaries are 

 edged bright-rufous, and in the young male the wing spot is 

 also this color. A young male in a more advanced stage of 



