64 OEATEEOPODIDA 



are moderately broad ovals, somewhat pointed towards one end, 

 larger than the average eggs of T. lineatum, and about the same 

 size as large specimens of the eggs of Grateropus canorus and Argya 

 maholmi. The ground-colour is of a delicate pale blue, and 

 towards the large end, and sometimes over the whole surface, they 

 are speckled, spotted, and blotched, but only sparingly, with 

 brownish red and blackish brown, and amongst these markings a 

 few cloudy streaks and spots of dull faint reddish purple are 

 observable. The eggs have not much gloss. 



Numerous other specimens subsequently received from Miss 

 Oockburn and others correspond well with the above description. 

 More or less pyriform varieties are common. In some eggs the 

 markings are almost entirely wanting, there being only a very 

 faint brownish-pink freckling at the large end ; and in many eggs, 

 even some that are profusely spotted all over, the markings con- 

 sist only of darker or lighter brownish-pink shades. Occasionally 

 a few, almost black, twisted lines are intermingled with the other 

 markings, and in these cases the lines are frequently surrounded 

 by a reddish-purple nimbus. 



The eggs vary in length from - 92 to 1*08, and in breadth from 

 0-74 to 0-8, but the average of twenty eggs measured was 1 -0 by 0-76. 



96. Trochalopterum fairbanki, Blanf. The Palni Laughing- 

 Thrush. 

 Trochalopterum fairbanki, Blanf., Hume, Cat. no. 423 bis. 



The Eev. 8. B. Ifairbank, the discoverer of this species, found 

 its nest at Kodai Kanal, in the Palni Hills, in May. The nest 

 was placed in the crotch of a tree, at about 10 feet from the 

 ground, and at an elevation of nearly 6500 feet above the level of 

 the sea. The eggs are moderately elongated ovals, with a fine, 

 fairly glossy shell. The ground is pale greenish blue or bluish 

 green ; the markings are spots, small blotches, hair-lines, and hiero- 

 glyphic-like scrawls, rather thinly scattered about the surface, 

 and varying in colour through several shades of brownish and 

 reddish purple to bright claret-colour. 



The only egg I have measures 1 inch in length by 0-8 inch in 

 breadth. 



99. Trochalopterum lineatum (Vig.). The Himalayan Streaked 

 Laughing-Thrush. 



Trochalopteron lineatum {Vig.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 50; Hume, 

 Rough Draft N. Sf E. no. 425*. 



Next to the Common House-Sparrow, the Himalayan Streaked 

 Laughing-Thrush is perhaps the most familiar bird about our 



* I omit the note on T. imbricatum in the ' Bough Draft,' because, as I have 

 shown in the 'Birds of India,' this bird was unknown to Hodgson, and his note 

 refers to T. lineatum. Sufficient is now known about the nidification of this 

 latter to render the insertion of Hodgson's note unnecessary. — Ed. 



