THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 198 
difficulty I managed to save two out of them. The eggs bear no 
resemblance in any one detail to those of S. dubsus ; they are white, 
tinged with the palest dusky green, and are marked with tiny dots and 
specks of brown and neutral tint, which form a very distinct ring at the 
larger end, being very sparsely scattered over the rest of the surface. 
Some of the marks are so dark as to appear almost black. In shape the 
eges are rather long ovals, decidedly compressed towards the smaller 
end, which is blunt. The surface is fine and close, and in one egg has 
a faint gloss. 
The two eggs measure ‘69” X °5” and:71" x °49”. The nests were 
taken on the 29th April and the 5th May, 1891. 
(71) Srrrrparus casTaNnctcers.—The Chestnut-headed Tit Babbler. 
Oates, No. 182; Hume, No. 619. 
Very rare. I have only met with it twice in six years. 
(72) Lioparvus cHrys£uUs.—The Golden-breasted Tit Babbler. 
I shot a typical hen of this species on the Jennam River in 1888, 
(73) TURDINULUS ROBERTI.—Robert’s Babbler. 
Oates, No. 186 ; Hume, No. 332 Bis. 
A rather rare bird everywhere. I have seen a specimen shot in the 
cold weather in the plains and have taken a good many specimens 
myself in these hills. 
(74) MyIoPHONEUS TEMMINCKI.—The Himalayan Whistling Thrush, 
Oates, No. 187 ; Hume, No. 343. 
Common everywhere near water. I have one clutch of eggs of 
this bird marked «just like many of Geocichla citrina. The site 
selected for the nest varies far more than would be thought from 
Oates’ remarks on the subject. It is, however, always built near water, 
most of them actually on the bank, but sometimes, where the ever- 
green wood is moist, cool, and shady, it may be placed some hundred 
yards away from the stream. A very favourite place isa hole in the 
bank of some deep nullah running through evergreen forest, and it 
was in such a position I took my first nest. It was placed in a 
natural hollow formed by the massive and twisted roots of a large 
tree, being perfectly concealed from view except from the bottom of 
the nullah, and even thence visible only from exactly opposite. The 
