THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 176 
vegetation where it rested, practically, on the ground itself. It appears 
to be a more compact and smaller nest than that built by its nearest ally, 
T. lineatum (Hume’s “ Nests and Eggs,” 2nd edition, Vol. I, p. 65). 
The eggs are the same in colour as those of that bird, 2. ¢., of a pale blue 
green, rather brighter than the average run of Laughing Thrush’s eggs, 
and having the peculiar satiny texture already referred to in describing 
the eggs of S. merulina. 
Highteen eggs, average 1” x73", which is almost exactly the same as 
the average of the fifty-eight eges of T. lineatuwm measured by Oates. 
(35) GRAMNOPTILA AUSTENI.—Austen’s Striated Laughing-Thrush, 
Oates, No. 102. 
I got two of these birds in 1887 on the Hengmai Peak, and at that 
time wrongly identified them asa local variety of G. striata. They 
were undoubtedly, however, of this species. The following year I got 
another bird which, like the former two, was caught on its nest, and 
this time the nest contained three eggs, 
This, the only one of the three nests I examined, was exatly like 
that described by Gammie in the second edition of Hume’s *' Nests and 
Eggs” (Vol. I, p. 67), but was just one inch broader—that is to say, it 
was 8°5" across at the widest part and was rather less than 6" deep ; 
internally it was 5" in diamater and 2°3" deep, There were a good 
many scraps of bracken fronds used in its construction, besides masses of 
green moss, grasses and few tendrils. The lining was of moss roots 
only. This nest was in a bush, well hidden and less than 5 feet from the 
ground. 
The eggs, which, alas have since been broken, were, as far as I 
remember, exactly like a pair of eggs 1 have in my collection of 
G. striata which were given to me by Mr. H. Edwin Barnes. They 
measured 1:3" +93", 1:3"%°92" and 1:26"%°87". The third egg 
was very remarkably smaller than the other two. There were no signs 
of marks on them. 
(36) STACTOCICHLA MERULINA.—The Spotted-breasted Laughing-Thrush. 
Oates, No. 103 ; Hume, No. 418, Bis. 
I never came across this bird until April, 1891, and during that 
month I obtained at least a dozen and about the same number of nests 
