OF SOME BURMESE BIRDS. 153 



in diameter, with a large entrance at the side, its lower edge 

 being about the middle of the nest. 



When the bird frequents elephant grass, where there are no 

 shrubs, it builds on the ground at the edge of a clump of grass, 

 and I have found two nests in such a situation, only a few feet 

 from each other. 



In looking for the nest a good deal of grass, is necessarily 

 trodden down; the consequence is that if you do not find eo-gs, 

 there is little chance of their being laid later on. I have found 

 some ten nests, more or less completed, but only three eggs. 



These measure *72 by -57. The ground color is white, and 

 it is thickly speckled with umber brown and sparingly with 

 purplish brown and blackish brown. The spots are small and 

 run one into the other in places. They are more thickly placed 

 at the large end, but are everywhere numerous. The eo-o-s 

 are tolerably glossy. 



[I was, 1 believe, myself the first to obtain the eggs of this 

 species, but the first of my contributors who sent me eggs, 

 nest, and a note on the nidification of this species, was Mr. J. C. 

 Parker. Writing to me in September 1875 he said : 



" On the 14th August I took a nest of Timalia pileata on 

 my old ground in the Salt Lakes. I discovered this by a 

 mere accident, for I happened to see a female Prinia flaviventris 

 (whose eggs I was in quest of for you) perched on the top of 

 a bush inland about 10 feet from the bank of the canal, and 

 from her movements 1 thought she must have a nest near at 

 hand. 



a Accordingly I landed, although not in trim for wading 

 through a bog. Sure enough I was not mistaken; the Prinia had 

 a nest, but it contained only one egg. Close by, however, I saw 

 a nest, from out of which a bird new, and although I did not 

 shoot it I am quite sure it was Timalia pileata. The jungle was 

 particularly thick just about where I stood, indeed impenetrable, 

 and I could not follow the bird, but I soon heard the male bird 

 talking to his mate in that extraordinary way which these 

 birds have, and which once heard cannot be mistaken. 



" The nest was placed on the spikes growing from the joints of 

 a species of grass very thick and stiff, and forming a secure 

 foundation for the nest. This latter is 6 inches high and 4 

 inches broad. Egg cavity 2 inches, entrance hole 1£ by 2. 

 The nest itself is very loosely put together with the dead 

 leaves of the tiger grass twisted round and round, and lined 

 roughly with coarse grass. The nest was quite open to view 

 and about three feet from the ground. I suppose the birds 

 never expected that such a wild swampy spot as they had 

 selected would be invaded by any oologist. 



