166 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. X. 



plains on ..^ore than one occasion. I do not think, however, that it 

 often breeds much below 2,000 feet. 



The nest is like that described in " Nests and Eggs," Vol. 11, page 

 289, and it is not necessary to add anything about it; but in North 

 Cachar I have found this bird to lay three very distinct types of egg. 



The first type is pure white, with numerous, rather large, boldly 

 defined blotches of reddish-brown, with here and there a few 

 secondary marks of pale purple. 



The second type has the ground varying from pale to rather dark 

 full cream with large and rather light reddish blotches, the secondary 

 markings being the same as iq the first type. In both types the 

 blotches are generally fairly numerous everywhere, but more so 

 towards the larger end, in a few eggs being almost confined to this. 



The third type is pure unmarked white, and differs also from the 

 others in being decidedly more glossy. 



In shape the egg is normally rather a pointed oval, decidedly 

 smaller at one than at the other end. I think also that the pure white 

 eggs are more pointed than the others, and that the second type is less 

 so than the first. 



Twenty-four eggs of the first type average 1'15" X "73" full. 



Thirty-two eggs of the second type average I'l" X '72", and the 

 only nine I have measured of the white ones average 1*12" X "73", 

 Besides these nine, I have a clutch of five eggs, evidently the first 

 clutch laid by the hen, for the smallest egg measures only '80" X '62", 

 and they gradually increase to 1'20" to "SO". 



I have found in the stomachs of these birds cockroaches, small 

 beetles, butterflies, grasshoppers, and many other kinds of insects, some 

 amongst them being grubs and larvse, evidently taken from the 

 rough bark of trees, and this would infer that the birds sometimes feed 

 clinging to the trunks and larger branches. I have seen them 

 capture insects on the wing, and whilst thus engaged their actions 

 reminded me of Drongo-shrikes, but they are heavier and slower. 



It has a peculiar habit of settling on the end of some thin pendant 

 bough and thence climbing slowly up, with head and tail close to the 

 branch; and under these circumstances and at a little distance it has a 

 very parrot-like aspect, heightened by the long tail and brilliant 

 colourino-. 



