MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 593 



No. VII.— NIDIFICATION OF THE GREEN SHRIKE-TIT 

 (FTERUTHIUS XANTHOCHLORIS). 



I have read with interest an account of the above by Mr, A. E. Jones on 

 page 369 of Vol. XXIV of the Journal in which he states that the nesting 

 of this species had not been previously described. If he will refer to pages 

 65 and 469 of Vol. XI of this Journal he will find descriptions of two nests and 

 eggs of this bird found by me in 1896 and 1897, respectively. His and my 

 descriptions agree in all essentials, but I ventvire to think he is wrong in 

 saying that the lining of the nest consists of " black stems of the maiden 

 hair fern." If he examines the substance forming the lining more carefully 

 I feel sure he will find it is not fern rachis fit all, but the rhizomorph of a 

 fungus, much resembling the former. This rhizomorph hangs down in long 

 black hair-like filaments from the branches of trees in damp jungle and is 

 much used by a variety of birds, e.g., Liothrix lutea, in the construction of 

 their nests. 



B. B. OSMASTON, i.f.s. 

 Dbhka Dun, 

 lUh March 1916. 



No. VIII.— THE OCCURRENCE OF THE BRISTLED GRASS- 

 WARBLER {CR^rORNIS LOCUST ELLOIBES) AT LAHORE. 



There is every indication that with the increase of irrigation in the 

 Punjab, the avifauna of the Province is also gradually changing. I have 

 already recorded the finding at Lahore of the Long-tailed Grass-Warbler 

 (Laticilla burnesi) and the Rufovis-backed Sparrow (P. pyrrhonotus) {vide 

 Vol. XIX, p. 258 and 259 of this Journal). 



Both of these birds had not formerly been recorded from 

 Lahore, which I think is attributable to the fact that they had but 

 recently extended their range to the Punjab, as I think it very 

 unlikely that such an able ornithologist as Col. Marshall who was 

 at Lahore would have overlooked them, and in corroboration there is 

 the fact that the Bristled Grass- Warbler, which according to the Fauna has 

 not been procured further north than Etawah, Cawnpore, Dinapore and in 

 Oudh, now breeds at Lahore in the hot weather. This occurred to the best 

 of my knowledge for the first time in 1914 as though I have visited their 

 breeding ground regularly in September for the last six years, I have never 

 come across one and this is not a bird that easily escapes attention, the 

 cock bird continually soaring round in wide circles while singing and his 

 monotonous chirrup of a song being audible for quite a long distance. The 

 place where these birds breed at Lahore is the grass rakh belonging to the 

 Forest Department which quite recently has been enclosed and well irrigated 

 and is now covered with clumps of tall grass and in the hot weather is a verit- 

 able quagmire. I observed the birds on my first visit to the rakh in the 

 middle of July, but though the males were all in full song, the birds did not 

 appear to have actually commenced breeding operations. I had to leave 

 Lahore in the meantime and could not visit the rakh again till I3th Sep- 

 tember 1914 when I discovered a nest containing young about a fortnight 

 old in the middle of a large clump of grass, but my search for further nests 

 was considerably hampered by the swampy nature of the ground. I did 

 not again get an opportunity of visiting the rakh till Xmas time when I 

 found to my astonishment that all the birds had completely disappeared, 

 from which it would appear that the birds are at present only migrants 

 during the monsoon to Lahore. I would mention that I shot a cock bird 



