4.48 ADDENDA TO THE BIRDS OF THE 
when fishing on the lake at Bhimtal I saw it frequently 
alight on the surface of the water in pursuit of the aquatic 
insects it was feeding on. 
The large Grey Babbler (Argya malcolm?) is by no means 
so rare aS my previous paper would lead one to suppose. I 
have since met with it in many places and have both seen 
and heard it about Lucknow itself. 
I have not been able to ascertain whether the Plaintive 
Cuckoo breeds about Lucknow. Mr. Adam indeed concludes— 
though he does not state it as .a fact—that boys (I write 
from memory) brought him the eggs from the nests of 
Drymeca inornata. This I now think highly improbable, 
as, were the birds about in the rains, when VD. inornata 
breeds, one would certainly either see or hear them. 
The Plaintive Cuckoo is, however, a regular cold-weather 
visitor to the division. 
The breeding of the Blue-throated Redbreast (Cyornis 
rubeculoides) in Lucknow is, however, noteworthy. On the 
21st July, 1885, I found a nest and four rather hard-set eggs 
in the ruins of the Secundra Bagh. For some time previous 
I saw both birds almost every time I went to the Horticul- 
tural Gardens. Later on I saw only the male about, and made 
certain that the female was sitting, but though I searched 
every likely hole and corner of the ruined walls and gateways, 
I could not discover the nest. One day, however, when I 
had given up all hope of finding it, I happened to look 
into a little cell at the base of what was once evidently 
a staircase tower, and there, staring me in the face, was 
the little bird—the male—upon its nest, within two or three 
yards of a pathway frequented all day long by the garden work- 
people and others, and often by myself. The nest was 
placed quite openly in a small niche, such as natives use 
for their chiraghs. Externally it was loosely made up of 
old decomposed leaves—soft skeleton leaves in fact—inter- 
laced and held together with slender grass stems and 
cobwebs ; internally it was nicely lined with fine dark hair-like 
roots, the neat inside contrasting strongly with its rugged 
exterior. 
Paleornis indoburmanicus, though included in my former 
list, is rather a doubtful species, but the fact that Mr. Hume 
identified a specimen—now in the Provincial Museum—as 
such deters me from rejecting it. The bird is none other, 
I think, than a possible variety of P. nepalensis. Indeed 1 
very much question whether these large Paroquets are not 
all referable to one and the sames pecies—P. eupatria, Lin. 
In a large series from all parts of India and Burma the 
differences relied on by separationists in support of their 
