Nidification of sovie Birds from Burma. 3 



G. leucolis. This was placed in a small sapling at about 

 ten feet from the ground, and contained three incubated 

 eggsj the old bird was sitting very close, and only flew off 

 when we attempted to reach the nest. On the 30th, we 

 came across a regular breeding colony of Jays, finding many 

 old nests, and four containing eggs. A few days later 

 I again visited the same strip of jungle, going through it 

 almost tree by tree, and was rewarded in finding more nests 

 containing both young birds and eggs. The next year I 

 again took toll of the same colony : this, however, seems to 

 have been too much for them, as I found that they had 

 deserted the spot tlie following year. I never came across 

 another colony, but found several nests with eggs, many 

 of these having old nests near them ; this shows that the 

 Burmese Jay is very partial to nesting in the same locality, 

 and occasionally breeds in small communities. 



During the breeding season they are very silent birds, 

 and are rarely to be seen in the vicinity of a nest ; later on 

 in the year they congregate in large family parties and are 

 very noisy. The hen bird generally sits very close, often not 

 leaving the nest until it is actually touched, when she glides 

 quietly away. The breeding season seems to last through 

 the whole of April and well on into May, but they are very 

 irregular breeders, as I have found nests with fully-fledged 

 young birds close to others containing fresh eggs. The 

 number of eggs in a clutch also varies a great deal, as I 

 have taken nests containing 2, 3, 4, and 5 incubated eggs. 

 Many of these were addled, one clutch of five being all in 

 this condition. 



The most common site for a nest seems to be a small 

 sapling ; I have also found them placed in the forks of small 

 trees, and against the trunks of large ones ; a few were 

 found in bushes, and three on stumps of trees, from three to 

 four feet from the ground. Two nests containing eggs were 

 found in the colony, within eleven paces of each other. 



The nest consists of a rough outline of coarse twigs, 

 inside which is a deep compact cup-shaped lining composed 

 entirely of grass-roots. 



