454 NOTES ON THE NIDIFICATION 



fair amount of gloss. The ground color is a rich salmon pink, 

 and they are blotched, streaked and mottled with dull red, 

 which has a slight brownish tinge. Besides these primary- 

 markings numerous clouds and marblings of pale inky purple 

 or neutral tint are scattered about the egg ; but in each egg 

 they are most numerous about one end, where also the primary 

 markings are most dense. Of these two eggs, taken at the 

 same time out of the same nest, one is more than a tenth of an 

 inch longer than the other, though in breadth they differ only 

 in one-fiftieth of an inch. They measure I'll by U'87 and 

 1-22 by 0-89." 



114 bis. — Lyncornis cerviniceps, Gould. 



On the morning of the 10th January 1875, while passing 

 through some thin tree jungle, almost free from brush-wood, 

 close to the village of Malawoon, I flushed a Lyncornis 

 from the foot of a large tree. The bird sat very close, not 

 moving till I was within a couple of yards of her. On looking 

 down at the spot from which she rose, I found one egg lying on 

 the bare ground, without any attempt at a nest, or even de- 

 pression to prevent the egg from rolling away, which it easily 

 might have done, as the spot where it was laid was slightly 

 raised above the surrounding level. A few of the bird's richly 

 marked feathers lay about the spot on which the egg lay, and 

 a few inches all round was perfectly dry, while all the sur- 

 rounding ground was quite wet with the dew of the preceding 

 night, so that the bird must have sat on the egg the whole or 

 greater portion of the night. 



The egg was quite fresh, so the bird probably lays more than 

 one. 



" The egg of this species is, as might be expected, quite of the 

 Goatsucker type. In shape it is a long, somewhat cylindrical, 

 oval ; the shell is fine and has a fair gloss, but when looked into 

 closely, exhibits a vast number of minute pores ; the ground 

 color is a pale delicate pinky cream color, and it is pretty 

 thickly marked with large irregular blotches and splashes of 

 very pale lilac grey, looking much as if they lay beneath the 

 surface of the egg." 



"This egg measures 1'65 by 1-18." 



116 ter.— Harpactes oreskios, Tern. 



On the 11 th of February I took my first nest of Harpactes 

 oreskios containing two fresh eggs. The eggs were laid on a few 

 chips of decayed wood at the bottom of a hole scooped out 

 (evidently by the birds) at the top of a decayed stump, about 

 4 feet high, and was placed on the very edge of the path. 



