352 ON LITTLE OR UNKNOWN HIMALAYAN 



run the risk, and mortification I may add, of wounding perhaps 

 an unknown bird, in which case she will never again return to 

 her nest, but lie in ambush for her with outlying scants, and 

 make certain of her as she is returning to her nest. She "will first 

 alight on a neighbouring tree, then on one closer, coming nearer 

 and nearer each time ; finally, she will perch on the very 

 tree or bush in which the nest is built, and while taking a look 

 round to see that all is well before making a final ascent, you 

 have yourself to blame if you fail to bag her. All this sounds 

 very cruel, but if a bird must be shot for scientific proposes, 

 it is surely preferable to kill it out right than to let it die a 

 lingering death. Thus it was that I eventually succeeded, even 

 at the expense of being devoured alive by midges and mos- 

 quitoes ; but then was not the satisfaction of feeling that I had 

 become the happy possessor of authentic eggs of Acrocepha- 

 lus dumetorum in itself sufficient to repay me for my hill 

 excursion ? 



I cannot, however, pretend to lay claim to originality in the 

 discovery of the breeding habits of this bird, for Hutton's des- 

 cription* of the nest and eggs taken by him so fully accords 

 with my own experience that it is but fair to conclude he was 

 correct in his identification. I would add, however, with re- 

 ference to his remarks, that the nest above alluded to was more 

 elliptical than spherical, being about the size and shape of an 

 Ostrich's egg ; that it was constructed throughout of the largest 

 and coarsest blades of various kinds of dry grass — the egg 

 cavity being lined with grass bents of a finer quality, and that 

 it was domed over, having a lateral entrance about the middle 

 of the nest. The whole structure was so loosely put together 

 as to fall to pieces immediately it was removed. 



The eggs, four in number, are pure white, beautifully glossed, 

 and well covered with rufous or reddish-brown specks, most 

 numerous at the obtuse end. Owing to its similarity to a num- 

 ber of eggs, particularly to the Tit-mouse group, it is just one 

 of those that I would never feel comfortable in accepting on 

 trust. 



It was a remarkable coincidence that the very day I took 

 this nest my post brought me Part IV. of the P. Z. S. for 1874, 

 containing Mr. Dresser's interesting paper on the nidification of 

 the Hypolais and Acrocephalus groups ; and if I understand him 

 rightly, he is certainly correct in his surmise as to the eggs of 

 Acrocephalus dumetorum approaching those of the Hypolais 

 group. 



My good luck, as regai'ds the Lesser Reed Warbler, did not 

 end here, for on the following day, at Bagesur, at an elevation 



* Nests and Eggs, Kough draft, p. 327. 



