212 ANASTOMUS OSCITANS. 
not common (Stoliczka): Kattiawar, and Northern Guzerat, 
(Butler and Hume.) 
15.—Pericrocotus albifrons. 
Hab. Upper Burmah (Jerdon) : Thayet-Myo, and in Upper 
Burmah, at least as far as Pajun ; confined to the dry region of 
Burmah (Blanford) ; extremely local in Upper Pegu, and not 
common even in places which seem suitable to it ; apart from 
the immediate neighbourhood of Thayet-Myo, it occurs only at 
Palow fifteen miles north ( Oates). 
Anastomns oscitans. 
By C. T. Bincuam, Linut., 33rD N. I. 
Very little has been written about the breeding, changes of 
plumage, and habits of this curious bird. 
I have seen several breeding places, and watched the birds 
in their wild state closely for the last two years, besides having 
kept several, old, and young at different times in confinement. 
First as to its breeding. It nests in the Doab,* (where only 
I have seen and shot it) in July and August, generally in the 
neighbourhood of villages, frequenting the same trees, and repair- 
ing the old nests, if still extant, year after year. These latter 
are mere platforms of sticks some 4 inches thick, and 20 inches 
in diameter, with very shallow depressions in the centre, which 
I have observed to be in a few instances lined with tufts of 
grass, or a Jeaf or two; the majority of nests however have no 
lining. The trees chosen for nesting in, are generally lofty 
Peepul or Neem trees, in many cases growing in the very centre 
of villages. The number of eggs varies from 2 to 5, and their 
normal color is pure white; but as incubation proceeds, they 
get stained, so that hard set eggs are often of a deep yellowish 
brown color: they are oval in shape, and the texture is fine ; 
the average measurements of 40 eggs are—length 2°20 inches, 
breadth 1°49 inches. As far as I know, the birds breed but 
once a year and always gregariously ; at Umraha near Jusra, 
the second station, on the G.I. P. Railway, from glahabad, 
I counted on one tree upwards of sixty nests. 
My experience has led me to believe the Shell-eater to be 
anything but a “fierce bird,” as Layard calls it. I never but 
once saw it defend its nest, and in that one instance it was only 
a feint after all, for the birds, male and female, flew off, when 
the man whom I had sent up to get the eggs closely approached 
* In one instance only (across the Jumna, some 16 miles) have I found a breeding 
place out of the Doab. 
