374 TEPHEODOENIS PONDICEEIANUS. 



recorded from tlie Travancore hills, where Mr. Bourdillon procured the allied species T. sylvicola ; and I 

 observe that he says it is more abundant in the Carnatic than " either on the Malabar coast or on the bare 

 tableland." 



Habits. — This little Shrike frequents isolated trees standing in low scrub or in young cocoanut- or 

 cinnamon-plantations, the edges of forest, small groves in open land, and compounds surrounding villages 

 and native houses. It usually associates in small troops of four or five, which wander from tree to tree, 

 flying one after the other when they move until the flock are again reunited. They are not very active in 

 their movements, hopping slowly about among the leafy boughs of trees, and peering under the leaves in 

 search of their food, all the while uttering a melancholy little whistle of several notes, which has the 

 peculiarity of being very easily carried on the wind, and being, consequently, heard at a considerable distance. 

 Moths and small butterflies form a considerable portion of its food. Jerdon says that the Telugus give it 

 the name of " Whistling-bird " on account of its mellow notes ; and Mr. Oates writes that it occasionally " seats 

 itself upon the top of a bough and sings a well-conducted and rather pretty song." 



Nidificution. — I have no information concerning the nesting of this Wood-Shrike in Ceylon ; but its 

 nest appears to be well known in India ; and in ' Stray Feathers ' we gather that it breeds from the latter 

 part of March until August, although April is the usual month for rearing its young. I have procured the 

 immature bird in spotted plumage in April, and judge from the appearance of its feathers that it had arrived 

 nearly at the end of its first year, which would make the nesting-season in the west of Ceylon about the 

 middle of the S.W. monsoon. Mr. Hume describes the nest as " a broad shallow cup, somewhat oval 

 interiorly, with the materials very compactly and closely put together. The basal portion and framework of 

 the sides consisted of very fine stems of some herbaceous plant about the thickness of an ordinary pin ; it 

 was lined with a little wool and a quantity of silky fibre ; exteriorly it was bound round with a good deal 

 of the same fibre and pretty thickly felted with cobwebs. The egg-cavity measured 2'5 inches in diameter one 

 way and only 2 - the other way, while in depth it was barely 08G." This nest contained three eggs ; but 

 the number varies, as Captain G. Marshall found four and Captain Beavan two in a nest. They are described 

 as very Shrike-like in appearance, of " a pale greenish-white or creamy stone ground-colour, more or less 

 thickly spotted and blotched with different shades of yellowish and reddish brown, many of the markings 

 being almost invariably gathered into a conspicuous, but irregular and ill-defined zone near the large end, 

 which is intermingled with pale and dingy purple clouds. The average of a dozen eggs is 0'75 by 061 inch" 

 (Hume) . 



Genus HEMIPUS. 

 Bill wide at the base, triangular ; the culraen keeled, straight at the base, and suddenly curved 

 at the tip, which is distinctly notched. Nostrils protected by a tuft of bristles. Wings long, 

 with the 4th and 5th quills the longest, and the 2nd shorter than the secondaries. Tail 

 rather long, the lateral feathers falling short of the middle pair by about the length of the hind 

 toe and its claw. Legs and feet weak; the tarsus longer than the middle toe and its claw. 



