320 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL ELBTORY SOCIETY, 1892. 



In addition, the measurements of the two birds are also very- 

 different; Gates {vide "Fauna of British India Birds," Vol I., p. 340) 

 gives the following as the dimensions of JE. 2nmctata — " Length abou^ 

 4-5", tail 1'2", wing 1-8'V' so that E. punctata would appear to be a 

 larger bird with shorter wing and tail. The bird above described 

 was obtained on the Hungrum Peak in the North Cachar Hills and 

 at an elevation of about 6,400 feet. 



It was trapped on its nest under the following circumstances : 

 On the 11th of May, 1891^ I was engaged in visiting numerous 

 nests which had been previously marked down for me by some 

 Naga boys. On being shewn a nest built under a big log, which 

 had fallen so as to rest on two rocks, and was thus slightly 

 raised from the ground, T at once saw that it was new to me, so 

 instead of taking the eggs, I sat down a short distance away from 

 it, to watch for and shoot the parent bird. I sat thus for fully half 

 an hour, but no bird visited the nest, though two small brown birds 

 kept scuttling backwards and forwards over the log, now hidden in 

 ^he moss, now perched for a moment on one of the bunches of orchids 

 which grew all over it. In their actions they closely resembled 

 Pnoepyga pusilla, and, as that bird is very common about Hungrum, 

 I thought they were of that species, though every now and then 

 they uttered a long clear whistle which I did not recognise as a note 

 of Pnoept/ga. 'No bird actually approaching the nest, and not think- 

 ing that the pair on the log were the owners of it, I got up and went 

 close up to it, whereupon the two birds flew off a yard or two with 

 a jerky fluttering flight into some long grass, and then crept rapidly 

 from stalk to stalk until they were out of sight, keeping up a 

 continuous loud " chir chir " all the time we were near the log, though 

 they did not again show themselves. 



The Naga, who was with me, set some mithna-hair nooses on the 

 nest before leaving it, and that same evening we found one of the 

 birds caught in them, and they were again set in hopes that the pair 

 might be also caught. On the morning of the 12th, on visiting the 

 nest, we found that the other bird had not returned, and, though I 

 waited about a long time in the hope of obtaining a shot at it, it did 

 not appear, so we took the nest and eggs, of which latter there were 

 three only. 



