1923.| Observations on breeding of some Common Birds. 151 
amidst the hum and roar of this city but it also breeds here. 
But I have never seen Otocom psa e. emeria in the city proper. 
It prefers wood-lands and places with plenty of foliage. For 
this reason it is quite common at Alipore which savours more 
of the country pee of the poe 
But O. e ria appears to be more plentiful in our 
district than M picnnies h. Foasines s. The reason probably is 
that there being a great demand for the latter in Calcutta as 
fighting bird; large numbers being annually caught by bird- 
catchers. Otocompsa e. emeria, not being in such demand, i 
Of the three nests I have found during February and 
March, two were placed in rather uncommon situations. One 
was in a haystack and the other was placed in a banana 
tree in my garden house at Agar This tree is not gener- 
ally known to be selected for nest-building by this or any 
other bird e latter contained t s on the 2 
w 
I observed the building of the nest and the breeding 
preliminaries taking place about the middle of February. Of 
recorded instances this would probably be the earliest, for in 
ail ornithological works, its breeding season has been stated to 
“ag in Mare 
tree slide and the leaves beth Hare the nest was firmly fixe 
bark, dry leaves and cobwebs. The inner lining consisted of 
palm-leaf fibres. It was a small, round and compact cup. 
The measurements were :— 
Height top to bottom < .. 93% inches 
Diameter including walls ‘ os 
Diameter of the egg-cup 1} inch 
Depth of the egg-cup 2 inches 
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XII. 
Fic. 1.—Nest with Nestlings of Dicrurus erocercus _ on the 
16th March 1924; pare Debasdipar , 24 Pargan 
Fie, 2.—The nestlings in No. I photographed out of the nest on the 23rd 
March, 
Fic. 3 —Nest with Nestlings of Ortolus 1. preonat found on the 9th March 
24; locality, Debandipur, 24 Par, 
Fig, 4.—Young Oriolus 1. luteolus out of gh nest ages 3) age 2} weeks on 
h 19 
th rd Marc 
Fic. 5.—Nest and Eggs of Otocompsa e. emeria in a ha: os found on 
the 9th March 1924; locale, Agarpara 24 — 
Fic, 6.—Nest and Eggs of Otocom a bibane ee, photo- 
tt a i the 24th rig eeckrnon 1924 : Fosallty , » poset 24 
