80 CBATEEOPOBID7E. 



March until July. The nest is placed in a cinnamon-bush, shrub, 

 or bramble, at about four feet from the ground, and is a compact, 

 cup-shaped structure, usually fixed in a fork and made of stout 

 grasses and plant-stalks and lined with fine grass, which, in some 

 instances I have observed, was plucked green. The interior 

 measures 2£ inches in depth by about 3 in width. The eggs are 

 two or three in number, small for the size of the bird, glossy in 

 texture, and of a uniform opaque greenish blue. They measure 

 from 0-91 to 1-0 in length, by 0-7 to 0-74 in breadth." 



113. Crateropus somervillii (Sykes). The Rufous-tailed 

 Babbler. 



Malacocercus somervillei (Sykes), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 63 ; Hume, 

 Rough Draft N. Sf E. no. 435. 



Of the nidification of the Rufous-tailed Babbler (which, so far 

 as I yet know, is confined to the narrow strip of country lying 

 beneath the Ghats for about 60 miles north and south of Bombay, 

 and to the hills or ghats overlooking this), all I yet know is con- 

 tained in the following brief note by Mr. E. Aitken : he says : — 



" I once found a nest of the Rufous-tailed Babbler at Khandalla. 

 I cannot tell the level precisely, but it cannot have been far from 

 2000 feet above the sea. It was at the end of May or the very 

 beginning of June. The nest was in a small spreading tree in 

 level, open forest country. The situation was just such a one as 

 A. malcolmi generally chooses — the end of a horizontal branch 

 with no other branches underneath it ; but it was not so high as 

 those of A. malcolmi usually are, for I could reach it from the 

 ground. The nest was rather flat and contained three eggs, almost 

 hatched, of an intense greenish-blue colour. 



"In Bombay, where it is far more common, I once, on the 

 1st October, saw a pair followed by one young one and a young 

 Goecystes melanoleucus. This was on a hill, and indeed these birds 

 seem to confine themselves pretty much to hilly ground." 



Mr. Benjamin Aitken writes : — " With reference to your remark 

 that, as far as you know, the Bufous-tailed Babbler is confined 

 to the strip of country beneath the Ghats, I can certainly say that 

 they are plentiful on the slopes of Poorundhur hill, eighteen 

 miles south of Poona. It would be interesting to learn on which 

 other of the Deccan hills it is found. This species is decidedly fond 

 of hilly country. It is common on the two ranges of low hills that 

 run along the east and west shores of the island of Bombay, but 

 never shows a feather in the gardens and groves on the level 

 ground. I spent the greater part of two days, when I could ill 

 spare the time, in searching for the nests, but the birds breed in 

 the date-trees, and it would be hopeless to think of finding a nest 

 without cutting away many of the branches or fronds. Moreover, 

 the bird is extremely wary, and it is by no means easy to guess' 

 on which particular tree it has its nest." 



