522 PEINIA SOCIALIS. 



was formed entirely of the roots of the plant, which, when it is old, ' crop ' out of the ground and are easily 

 plucked up, the bottom or more solid part being interwoven with cotton and such like, to impart additional 

 strength. The entrance was in the upper half of the side, and was tolerably neatly made ; it was about an inch 

 in diameter, the whole structure measuring G inches in depth by 5 in breadth." When this nest was finished 

 and the complete clutch of three eggs laid, I took it ; and the following day another was commenced and built 

 in a similar manner. The time occupied in building these nests was about eight, days. Other nests found in 

 the Central Province were neat bottle-shaped structures of grass, fixed among the stalks of maana-grass, some 

 of the fine blades being sewn through the stalks for stability; the openings were at the side, and the interior 

 was roomy and lined with a finer description of the same material as the body of the nest. The number of 

 eggs is three ; they are pointed ovals, and possess a considerable gloss ; they are of an almost uniform dull 

 mahogany colour, showing indications of a paler underlying surface in parts, particularly at the small end. 

 They measure about 065 inch by 046. 



My experience, however, of this bird's nesting by no means compasses the question of its habits; for it is a 

 bird which, like some of its congeners, the nearly-allied P. stewarti for instance, indulges in a very varied 

 style of architecture. Two observers, Miss Cockburn and Mr. Davison, writing of the same district, the 

 Nilghiris, give accounts of very differently-constructed nests. The former found them neatly built in Tailor- 

 bird fashion, the bird drawing the leaves of the branches on which they were placed close together, aud 

 sewing them so tightly that the lining of fine grass, wool, and the down of seed-pods was supported by the 

 framework thus made. 



Mr. Davison, again, says that the nest is made of grass, beautifully and closely woven, domed, and with 

 the entrance near the top; a third naturalist, Mr. Wait, found two nests in September — "the one deeply cup- 

 shaped and the other domed ; both constructed of root-fibre and grass, ' bents/ and down of thistle and 

 hawkweed, all intermixed." Mr. Morgan says it constructs a very neat pendent nest, which is artfully con- 

 cealed and supported by sewing one or two leaves round it, which is very neatly done with the fine silk 

 that surrounds the eggs of a small brown spider. The eggs in all these nests are severally described as light 

 red, deep brick -red (darker at the larger end, where there is generally a zone) , and deep brownish red (deeper 

 than brick-red), mottled with a still deeper shade. Mr. Hume's average for twenty-one eggs is 064 inch 

 bv 0-47. 



