Capt. R. C. Beavan on various Indian Birds. 415 



nest 6 inches ; breadth 2' 5 inches ; aperture 1 inch in diameter ; 



circumference, just below the entrance, 7*5 inches. The eggs 

 were three in number, much elongated at the smaller end. 

 Ground-colour dirty white, covered with minute ashy-brown 

 specks, which combine so as to form a zone near the blunt end. 

 Both nest and eggs very much like those of Arachnechthra 

 asiatica; but the former may be distinguished by its slightly 

 smaller size, and the eggs by the zone. The eggs of both 

 species vary considerably in colour, and, after a careful exami- 

 nation of fully forty nests and eggs of both species, I find it 

 very difficult to discriminate between them, or draw an exact 

 line of difference. The only way I could be certain of the iden- 

 tity was by having the females caught by bird-lime at the en- 

 trance of the nest. From captures made in this way, I find that 

 the male of this species takes part in incubation — a fact not ob- 

 served in A. asiatica. Three of the eggs I obtained measured 

 respectively "65, '68, and '56 inch in length, and in breadth 

 •43, •46, and '37 inch. The young, when fledged, are like the 

 female, but with brighter yellow on the breast. 



234. Arachnechthra asiatica. Purple Honey-sucker. 



Very common in Maunbhoom, where, like the last, it is also 

 called " Ungatoonee'"; but I have not observed it at Barrack- 

 pore. The male has a very shrill, clear song, which can scarcely 

 be called ''a. feeble but sweet chirping note,^^ as it is by 

 Dr. Jerdon (vol. i. p. 371), apparently on Mr. Blyth^s autho- 

 rity. This is generally uttered from the topmost spray of a high 

 tree, sometimes on the wing when moving from one tree to 

 another. The bird is often seen associated with the last species 

 on flowering trees and shrubs in the jungles. It breeds in 

 March and April. The nest is much like that of the English 

 Wren, but, instead of being placed against a tree, is pendent 

 from the end of a bough, and sways to and fro in the wind. 

 Its length is from 55 to 6'5 inches; its breadth from 2'5 to 3 

 inches, with a circular aperture on one side near the top. In 

 shape it is nearly oval, and is very softly but strongly made up 

 of bits of leaves, cotton-wool, bents, and the like, well interlaced 

 with spiders^ webs, which substance plays an important part in 



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