366 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol XXIIl. 



I first noticed the bird at Kamalia near the border of Lyallpur and 

 Multan districts during May 1912, but could find no nests. Later on the 

 same month in the same locality I took two nests containing 3 and 4 eggs 

 respectively. During 1913 and 1914, I found the bird common in almost 

 every part of the jungle in Multan and took numerous nests. The Jungle 

 as found in Multan and Montgomery is not jungle as generally known, it 

 is really bush scrub, the bushes being Jand, Van or Jal and Karil or wild 

 caper, I cannot at present recall their scientific names. The soil is in some 

 places sandy, sometimes rising in regular ranges of sand hills some 60' or 70' 

 high, but for the most part it is as fl.at as a billiard table. In other places 

 it is what is known as "put", a rich loam, on which excellent crops are 

 grown in the parts brought under cultivation. The Jal and Jand occasion- 

 ally grow into trees of considerable size but as a rule they only average 

 some 15' or 20' in height. It is in jungles such as the above that the Grey- 

 backed Warbler is to be found and I have taken its nests in all three of 

 the above mentioned bushes. 



In the Jal the branches of which as a rule droop towards the ground the 

 nest is usually to be found placed between two or three thick branches 

 when they cross one another, in the Jand and Karil generally up against 

 the trunk of the tree resting on a thickish branch. I have never seen a 

 nest over 5' from the ground. 



An interesting feature as regards the nidification is the different types of 

 nest one finds. In the Jand the nest is small and compact, in the Jal and 

 Karil large and loosely put together. Prom this I strongly suspect that 

 advantage is often taken of a deserted nest of Molpastes leucotis as his 

 bird almost invariably builds in Jand trees in this locality and the nests 

 are exactly alike. In Karil bushes the nest always resembles that of Argya 

 caudata which commonly builds in this bush, while in the Jal, the nest is a 

 large loose structure quite different from the other two and this type of 

 nest I take to be the work of A. familiaris himself as no other bird with the 

 exception of doves breed in the bushes. Of course it may be that the bird 

 suits its type of nest to the bush it builds in, but I do not think so. On 

 one -occasion I found a nest in a Jal bush containing one egg placed on top 

 of another nest also containing one egg, addled. Mr. Gumming of the 

 Quetta Museum tells me he has found this bird in Persia breeding in small 

 date pahns and in holes in walls but so far in Multan 1 have only found it 

 in the above mentioned trees, indeed in the areas in which dates are 

 grown it is entirely absent. Four eggs in the largest clutch I have found 

 three appearing to be the usual nvimber, which are of the grey type, none 

 of the red type so far having been found. 



The Lokg-tailed Gkass Wahbler. (Laticilla burnesi.) 



Common in Multan in the tamarish jungles along the Chenab and breeds 

 during April and May. Nests situated right at the bottom of thick clumps 

 of tall grass and difficult to find. 



Sykb's Tkee-Warblek. {Hyiwlais rama.) 



Gommon in Multan along the banks of the Chenab and breeds in the 

 clumps of grass of which vernacular pens are made, I forget its name. This 

 grass is cut every year at a height of 2'-6" or so from the ground and the nests 

 are situated in the middle of these, 18" or so from the ground. They are 

 very easy to find as the bird if sitting leaves the tuft at once if it is tapped 

 with a stick in passing. The nest is cup-shaped with rather a long conical 

 foundation to give it stability I suppose amongst the grass stems, as it does 

 not appear to be attached to the grass in any way. I found this bird 



