NOTES ON SOME BURMESE BIRDS. 341 



parallel to the stalks to which the nest is attached, is generally 

 upright, is from 6 to 8 inches, and its extreme width 4. The 

 entrance is slanting and placed at the top of the nest, one side 

 of which is produced an inch or two above the lower edge of the 

 entrance. The thickness of the walls is very small, seldom 

 reaching half, and generally being only a quarter of an inch. 

 Occasionally the nest is almost globular, but the back of the 

 entrance is in every case produced upwards some inches. 

 There is no lining at all. 



The eggs never exceed four, and frequently are only three, 

 in number, and the female does not commence sitting till the 

 full number is laid. She deserts the nest on the slightest pro- 

 vocation, and if a nest, with only one or two eggs, is found and 

 the fingers inserted, it is useless to leave the eggs in hopes of 

 getting more. She will lay no more. I have tested this in, at 

 least, ten cases. 



In shape the eggs are regular ovals, slightly pointed at the 

 smaller end. In length they vary from *55 to '62, and in breadth 

 from '42 to '46, and the average of a large number is "58 by *44. 

 The ground color is pinkish white in some, pale green or bine in 

 others, and the egg is covered, chiefly at the large end, with spots 

 and blotches, of all shapes and sizes, of dark purplish — and 

 reddish — brown. Some of these are half washed out, while others 

 are very dark and well defined. A few eggs have only these paler 

 marks on them ; others, by far the majority, have both. In 

 addition, some seventy-five per cent, of the eggs have fine, 

 narrow, irregular lines scrawled over the egg, chiefly over the 

 large end, but occasionally extending to the smaller. All the 

 eggs have a fine gloss. 



The sexes do not differ appreciably in size. The total length 

 varies enormously according to the development of the tail. 

 The following are the dimensions of various full-plumaged birds 

 of both sexes : — Length, 575 to 6 - l ; expanse, 59 to 6-6 ; 

 tail, 2-8 to 3-15; wing, 1-8 to 2"02 ; tarsus, -8 to -9; bill, 

 •59 to "65 ; there are 10 rectrices, and the different pairs fall 

 short of the central ones by *3, '65, *9 and 1*5; the central 

 feathers are about "4 broad, and the whole tail very massive. 

 The 4th, 5th and 6th primaries are sub-equal and longest ; the 

 1st -7, the 2nd -3, and the 3rd -15 shorter. 



The gape and lower mandible are pale flesh color ; the upper 

 mandible dark brown, and the tip of the lower somewhat 

 brownish ; the inside of the mouth flesh colour ; the iris nut 

 brown ; the eyelids plumbeous ; the edges yellowish brown ; 

 the legs and toes pinkish brown ; the claws pale brown. 



The whole upper plumage, including the scapulars and the 

 lesser upper wing-coverts fulvous brown ; the feathers of the 

 forehead and upper part of the head conspicuously dark-centred, 



