MB 



P1PRIS0MA AGILE. 581 



he writes, ". I should term a ' shrill ' instead of a ' weak ' piping, which can be heard at some distance, long 

 before the bird itself is visible." 



Nidification. — The present species breeds in India from the middle of February till the end of May, 

 commencing, according to Mr. Hume, earlier in the plains than in the Himalayas. I imagine that in Ceylon 

 it lays during the first three or four months in the year ; but I have no certain data, beyond the fact of 

 Mr. Parker shooting an immature specimen in June, and my own observations as to the old birds moulting 

 in August. Its nest was beautifully figured in ' The Ibis ' for 1867, together with the young birds, by Mr. Wolf, 

 from specimens sent home by Captain Beavan. This naturalist writes (' Ibis/ 1865) as follows : — " The nest is 

 very peculiar — a pocket-like structure suspended from a small bough which forms the roof, the entrance being 

 from one side near the top. It is composed entirely of spiders' web and other silks, with which a pinkish- 

 brown fluff (probably from some tree in flower) is felted together, making the nest look entirely of that colour. 

 There is no lining ; only the material employed is denser at the bottom than at the top of the nest. The great 

 peculiarity is that the nest is as if woven in one piece, and, like a bit of cloth, can be shaken and compressed 

 without doing it any injury. The length is 3 inches, breadth 2 inches ; entrance-hole 1-5 inch long by 0'87 

 inch broad. The eggs are moderately elongated, of a light pink ground-colour, blotched indistinctly with 

 pink spots, more frequent and massed at the obtuse end ; they are large for the size of the bird, their length 

 being 062 inch, and their breadth a little over 037 inch." 



Mr. R. Thompson likewise writes to Mr. Hume : — " I obtained a nest of this bird at Ramnuggur, on the 

 borders of the sub-Himalayan range, on the 12th May, which contained two eggs of a fleshy-white colour, 

 thickly blotched with pinkish spots. The nest was a neat structure, pendent from a thin branch of a small 

 leafless tree j it was entirely composed of the pubescent covering of the skins of a species of Loranthas, which 

 the birds had scraped off, and, mixing with spiders' webs, had woven into a thin felt. The shape of the nest is 

 that of a purse opening down the side." While taking another nest, he remarks that the old birds hovered about, 

 and more than once perched close to his head. Writing from Modahpore, in March, he informs Mr. Hume 

 that he " saw a couple fixing the foundation of their nest with cobwebs and the pubescent downy covering of 

 the young shoots of Buteu frondosa, which the birds bit off in small pieces and mixed with cobwebs, both birds 

 at work alternating the time of arrival and departure with material." 



From the above remarks it will be seen that this Flowerpecker constructs one of the most wonderful little 

 nests known ; indeed the editor of ' The Ibis ' remarks that the one sent by Capt. Beavan was one of the most 

 beautiful structures he had ever seen. Mr. Hume says two or three eggs are laid each time, and that he is 

 inclined to believe that the birds have two broods at least in the year. The ground-colour varies from " rosy 

 white to a decided pink, and the markings from brownish pink to claret-colour." They average in size 0*63 

 by 041 inch. 



