14 8 JOURNAL, BOMB A Y NA TUBAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, X\ 



an elevation of 4,000 feet above the sea. It was placed in a hole in a bank, 

 under the protection of a large rock, and by the side of the old ghat-road or 

 riding-path to Coonoor, on which scores of persons pass up and down daily. 

 It was composed of roots on the outside, with a few dry leaves, and lined Avith 

 fine fibres, and contained three young birds a few days old. On another occa- 

 sion, in the last week in May, I came on a pair of this bird at about the same 

 elevation, with fully-fledged young, so that the breeding season must extend 

 from April to June. The female was very noisy and excited, spreading out 

 her tail like a Rhijjidura, and uttering a harsh, grating cry. The young of 

 this Flycatcher, the sexes of which are so curiously unlike, are much marked 

 with orange, and resemble the young of Ochromela nigrorufa, but are, of course, 

 larger and are without the orange quills. 



Hemipus pieatus (Sykes) is, as stated by Mr, Davison, fairly common on 

 these Hills, but the record of its nidification seems to be confined to that of 

 the single nest taken by Davison, and mentioned in " Nests and Eggs," i, 328. I 

 have found three nests, but have only once succeeded in securing the eggs. 

 The nests, which answer closely to Mr. Davison's description, are beautiful 

 structures, completely coated on the outside with pieces of greenish-white 

 lichen, and lined with the finest fibre. They are very minute, the egg-cavity 

 measuring 1*5" across and but little more than half an inch in depth inside, 

 which shows that Captain Terry's nest, also mentioned in " Stray Feathers," 

 1. c, was that of some other bird. The nests 1 found were in each case placed 

 high up on the bare branch of a Blue-gum at Ootacamand, and were most 

 difiicult to see. One nest taken on the 24th March contained three eggs, which 

 measured 0'6 by 0"45 inch each. Another nest which was found on the 

 21st May, 1895, also contained eggs, but it was full fifty feet from the ground, 

 at the far end of a branch, and the eggs were broken. In this case, after the 

 female was shot, the male took her place on the nest, and his tail could be seen 

 from below, though the nest itself was hardly visible. 



During the last two years several nests have been taken in Ootacamand by 

 European boys, the eggs of which have entirely baffled all my attempts at identi- 

 fication. They are remarkably round, turnip-shaped eggs slightly pointed at 

 th-e smaller end, and measuring about '75" X "65". The shell is very glossy, 

 and the colour a very faint blue, in some cases without any markings, in other 

 cases with a few faint clouded brownish streaks most irregularly distributed. 

 The nest is said to be placed on the ground, and the bird to resemble 

 Pratincola atrata. Unfortunately, I have always been absent from Ootaca- 

 mand when the nests were found, i.e., in February and March. Pratincola 

 atrata is so numerous here that it is possible that these eggs are " sports," 

 as last year I obtained a nest of Merula simillima, shooting the female as she 

 left it, the eggs in which were absolutely free from all markings, and like 

 those of a Myna, On the other hand, the commonness of P. atrata may possibly 

 have led to some other bird's presence being overlooked. Can Ruticilla 



