GABBTTLAX, 49 



At last, on the 2nd April, I came in for a piece of luck. I was 

 roaming about in the vicinity of ray camp on the Gawbechoung, 

 the main source of the Thoungyeen river, and moving very slowly 

 and silently amid the dense clumps of bamboo, when my ears were 

 saluted by the hearty laughter of a flock of these birds, evidently not 

 far off. Very quietly I crept up, and looking cautiously from behind 

 a thick bamboo-clump, saw ten or twelve of them going through a 

 most intricate dance, flirting their wings and tails, and every now 

 and then bursting into a chorus of shouts, joined in by a few others 

 who were seated looking on from neighbouring bushes. During 

 one of the pauses of the applause, and while the dancers were busy 

 twining in and out, a single rather squeaky ' bravo ' came from a 

 bamboo-bush right opposite to me. Looking up I was astonished 

 to see a nest in a fork of the bamboo, and on the nest a Garrulax; 

 who, probably too busy with her maternal duties to watch the 

 performance going on below her attentively, came in with a solitary 

 shout of approbation at an unseemly time. I watched the per- 

 formance a few minutes longer, and then frightened the old hen on 

 the nest. The terrific scare I caused by my sudden appearance is 

 beyond description. The dancers scattered with screeches, and the 

 old hen dropped fainting over the side of her nest with a feeble 

 remonstrance, and disappeared in the most mysterious way. After 

 all the nest contained only one egg, very glossy, white, and fresh. 

 The nest was better and stronger built, though very like that of 

 Garrulax moniliger, constructed of twigs, and finely lined with 

 black hair-like roots ; it measured some 6 inches in diameter, the 

 egg-cavity about 1^ inch deep. Subsequently I took three other 

 nests, on the 4th April and 23rd May. The first contained three, 

 the two latter three and four eggs respectively. A considerable 

 number of eggs measure from 1-22 to 1-06 in length, and from -92 

 to -81 in breadth, and average 1-13 by 0-88." 



72. Garrulax pectoralis (G-ould). The Black-gwgeted 

 Laughing-Thrush. 



Garrulax pectoralis ( Gould), Jerd. B. 2nd, ii, p. 39 ; Hume, Rough 

 Draft N. $ E. no. 412. 



Mr. Oates tells us that he "found the nest of the Black- 

 gorgeted Laughing-Thrush in the Pegu Hills, on the 27th April, 

 containing three fresh eggs ; the bird was sitting. The nest was 

 placed in a bamboo-clump about 7 feet from the ground, made out- 

 wardly of dead bamboo-leaves and coarse roots, lined with finer 

 roots and a few feathers ; inside diameter 6 inches, depth 2 inches. 

 Two eggs measured 1-04 by 083 and 0-86. Colour, a beautiful clear 

 blue." 



One of these eggs sent by Mr. Oates * seems rather small for 



* I fear I may have made a mistake in identifying the nest referred to. 

 With this caution, however, I allow my note to stand. — Ed. 



VOL. I. 4 



