ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM COCOAWATTE ESTATE. 307 



upright stalks of the plant," I think the type he describes is quite the 

 exception and not the rule. I have seen dozens of nests of this bird, 

 and one only answered exactly to Colonel Legge's description, while all 

 the others were of the tailor-bird style. It lays almost always 

 three eggs ; I have found two hard set ; have never seen four in a nest. 



101. Prinia liodgsoni, Blyth, Hodgson's Wren Warbler. — Fairly 

 common. Have not procured eggs.. Breeds about May, as I have 

 seen broods of young in July and August. 



102. Drymceca valida, Blyth, the Robust Wren Warbler. — Fairly 

 common. Found four nests building in May, but they were all 

 destroyed by patna fires before the birds laid. It builds a domed nest 

 in maana grass near the roots. 



103. Drymceca insularis, Legge, the Wbite-browed Wren 

 Warbler. — Very common. Have found numbers of nests, mostly in 

 May, but I have seen odd nests all through the year. 



104. Cisticola cursitans^ Blyth, the Common Grass Warbler. — 

 Common in short grass or paddy fields, but seems to leave the tali rank- 

 smelling maana grass to Prinias and Drymmcas. Have found one nest. 



105. PhyllosGopus nitMus, Blyth, the Green Tree Warbler. — 

 Common in !N,-E. monsoon. 



106. Parus atricepSj Hors?., the Grey-backed Titmouse. — Common, 

 but much more so above 2,000 feet than below it. Have found nests 

 •with young in April and May, but have not got its eggs. 



107. DendropMla frontalis^ Horsf., the Blue ISTuthatch. — Common 

 In May T saw a pair carrying feathers into a small round hole (pro- 

 bably a little barbet's) in a tall dead stump which was too rotten to 

 climb. The hole was about a foot below the top of the stump, and 

 the Nuthatches always settled on the top and crept downwards into the 

 nest exactly as described by Miss Cockburn in " Nests and Eggs." 



108. Cinnyris lotenius, Linn., Loten's Sun-bird. — Common. Breeds 

 from April to June. It is extremely fond of building its nest into the 

 deserted web of a species of caterpillar which is common here, and 

 these nests are very hard to detect. It also builds a hanging nest of 

 the usual sun-bird type. One had a train of flakes of bark, some 2 

 inches long, attached to each other by spider's web, hanging for 14 

 inches below it. It lays two eggs very little larger than those of 

 C. zeylonicus ; perhaps, as a rule, of a longer shape and a grayer tint. 



