on Birds fron Shendi, Sudan. 15 
while. We never saw one make a flight of any length, 
or rise more than a few feet from the ground. 
A nest containing four eggs was found on March 18th 
in a dense acacia-hush some miles out in the desert. It 
was a loosely huilt cup-shaped structure of small twigs and 
dry grass. The eggs resemble those of other species of the 
genus Argya, being of a beautiful glossy greenish blue and 
measuring 24'3 by 17-5, 23*4 by \7'7, 23-5 by 17-6, and 24 
by 17*7 mm. 
34. Pycnonotus arsinoe (Hempr. & Ehrenb.). 
414 (sex ?). 
These Bulbuls were fairly common at Shendi and shewed a 
strong partiality for the neighbourhood of man. In their 
song and general behaviour they are not unlike the Black- 
bird, sitting day after day in the same tree, sometimes 
singing and sometimes driving away a swarm of too venture- 
some SparroAvs {Passer rufidorsalis) . 
A nest containing two young birds was found on March 7th. 
It was a light cup-shaped structure of grass and was 
slung in a climbing gourd-plant about eight feet above the 
ground. 
35. Spiloptila clamans (Temm.). 
118 c?,206 c?, 305 S, 119 ? , 138 ? , 284 ?, 304 ?, 
306(?). 
We first saw this beautiful little bird on February 26th ; 
towards the end of March the numbers seemed to have 
increased considerably. They were sometimes to be seen 
in pairs, but more often in parties of six or eight, flying 
about in the desert from one bush to another, always swinging 
their long tails from side to side, and constantly uttering 
their loud call-note. On March 25th we observed a pair 
building a nest in a low bush in the desert -, it was about 
eighteen inches above the ground and was a domed egg- 
shaped structure of fine grass, lined with a few feathers ; 
there was a small round opening on either side. Unluckily, 
however, no eggs had been laid when we left Shendi two 
davs later. 
