OF SOME BURMESE BIRDS. 159 



48.— Drymoeca extensicauda, Smnh. (544 qnat.) 



See Stray Feathers, Vol. III., page 340. 



49.— Corvus Vaillantii, Less. (660.) 



These birds all begin to build about the same time and I 

 have taken numerous nests at the end of January. At the end 

 of February most nests contain young birds. (N. & E., p. 411.) 



50.— Corvus insolens, Hume. (663 bis.) 



Nesting operations are commenced about the 20th March. 

 The nest and _ eggs require no separate description for both 

 appear to be similar to those of splendens. 



51.— Cissa sinensis, Bodd. (673.) 



See" Nest and Eggs," page 421, & S. F., V., 85. 



52.— Crypsirhina varians, Lath. (678 Us.) 



This bird appears to lay from the 1st of June to the 15th 

 July ; most of my nests were taken in the latter month. It 

 selects either one of the outer branches of a very leafy thorny 

 bush, or perhaps more commonly a branch of a banjboo, at 

 heights varying from 5 to 20 feet. 



The nest is composed of fine dead twigs firmly woven to- 

 gether. The interior is lined with twisted tendrils of con- 

 volvulus and other creepers. The uniformity with which this 

 latter material is used in all nests is remarkable. The inside 

 diameter is 5 inches, and the depth only 1, thus making the struc- 

 ture very flat. The exterior dimensions are not so definite 

 for the twigs and creepers stick out in all directions, but 

 making all allowances, the outside diameter may be put down 

 at 7 or 8 inches and iiie total depth at 1 \ inches. 



The eggs are usually three in number, but occasionally only- 

 two well incubated eggs may be found. In a nest from which 

 two fresh eggs had been taken, a third was found a few days 

 later. 



The eggs measure from 1*0 to *88 in length, and from '75 to 

 •68 in breadth. The average of eleven eggs is *94 by*71. 



They are much pointed at the small end and have very 

 little gloss. The ground color is greyish white and the whole ev'<r 

 is thickly covered with spots and dashes of ash and yellow- 

 ish brown, which become confluent at the thick end and al- 

 most entirely conceal the ground color. In one egg the spots 

 are much fewer and more distinct. 



53. — Sternopastor superciliaris, Bl. (6S3 his.) 



See " Nests and Eggs," p. 427. 



