NOTE ON HORORNIS FULVIVENTER, IJodgsOn. 379 



and was found by my man, contained two eggs. I went with 

 Lim the next day, to see the nest, hoping it might be one of A. 

 miniita. To ray disgust on getting to the nest I found the eggs 

 smashed and the parent bird (female) lying dead on the nest, 

 and half eaten. What oould have killed the bird I cannot say. 

 The eggs of this Bittern are very nearly spherical in shape, and 

 are, when first blown, of a delicate pale sea-green, but after 

 a time they get almost white. They vary from 1"15 to 1"25 

 in length, and from "90 to "95 in width, the average of 21 

 eggs being 1"19 in length and "95 in breadth. 



(d) 935.— Ardetta minuta. 



Last year, though Captain Butler and myself several times 

 searched one of the swamps here, we never came across either this 

 Bittern or A. fiavicollis. This year, in the same swamp, there 

 are numbers of both. I took my first nest of this bird on the 

 26th May ; it contained four fresh eggs. They are elongated 

 ovals, sharp at both ends, and pure white. The eggs vary from 

 1*3 to 1*4 in length and from "95 to 1'05 in width, the average 

 of seven eggs being 1-34 in length and 1*00 in breadth. 



By W. E. Brooks. 



In Vol. IV. of Stray Feathers, page 497, the Editor raises 

 the question as to the identity of his Horeites brunnescens with 

 jH. fulviventer of Hodgson. 



I have an accurate copy of Hodgson's drawing, No. 878, of 

 his H. fulviventer, and in this drawing is a diagram of its 

 wing, to show the proportion of the primaries. This wing is 

 decidedly that of a Phylloscopus of the fuscatus class, and 

 shows much too great a space between first and second pri- 

 maries for any Horornis* or Horeites' wing. The wings of the 

 latter genera, which are really only one genus and should bo 

 ail Horornis, are much more rounded and Frinia-like. 



Hodgson's drawing has evidently* been made from an under- 

 sized specimen. The legs are coloured ver^/ dark, and those of 

 brunnescens are not dark. The upper coloration,, so far as 

 visible, owing to the raised wing of the " side elevation" view 

 of the bird, is veri/ dark, Yi\ie fuscatus , the tail included. The 



* Why evidently ? How is it possible to infer this ? I dare say he is right, but I 

 -wish my friend would explain the ratiociniative process by which he arrives at this 

 certainty, — Ed. 



