XIPHOBHAMPHTTS. 89 



and the cavity, which had no lining, was about 4 inches in dia- 

 meter by 2 inches in depth. They contained three and four white 

 eggs respectively. One figured measures 0-98 by 0-73. On 

 June 8th he found two more nests at Jaha Powah, on the ground, 

 on edges of brushy slopes close to grassy open plains, the nest a 

 large mass of grass, oven-shaped, open at one and in one case at 

 both ends, protected by the root of a tree. There were two and 

 three white eggs in the nests respectively. The eggs of these nests 

 are figured as measuring 1-08 by 0-73. 



Mr. Gammie remarks : — " I found a nest of this species below 

 Eungbee, at an elevation of about 2000 feet, on the 17th June. It 

 was placed on, and partially in a hole in a bank, and contained two 

 hard-set eggs. It was a large, loose pad of fine grass and dead 

 fern, with a few broad flag-like grass-leaves incorporated towards 

 the base, and overhung by a sort of canopy of similar materials. 

 The basal portion was some 6 inches long and 5 inches broad, and 

 about 2 inches thick in the thickest part, with a broad shallow 

 depression for the eggs of about half that depth.'' 



"Writing again this year (1874) he says : — " I have only found 

 two more nests this year, and both in the last week of April ; the 

 one contained three partially incubated eggs, the other three young 

 birds. These nests were at Gielle, at an elevation of about 2500 

 feet. As a rule, these birds nest in open country, immediately 

 adjoining moist thickly wooded ravines, in which they feed, and 

 take refuge if disturbed from the nest. The nest is usually placed 

 on sloping ground, more or less concealed by overhanging herbage, 

 and is composed, according to my experience, of dry grass sparingly 

 lined with fibres. It is large ; one I measured in situ was 8 inches 

 in height and 7 inches in diameter ; the vertical diameter of the 

 cavity was 4 inches and the horizontal 3| inches. I have not yet 

 found more than three eggs or young ones in any nest." 



Dr. Scully remarks of this bird in Nipal : — " It lays in May and 

 June ; two nests, taken on the 30th May and 6th June, were large 

 loosely-made pads, not domed, and with the egg-cavity saucer- 

 shaped, each nest contained three pure white eggs." 



The eggs of this species are long, and at times narrow, ovals, 

 pure white and fairly glossy, but occasionally almost glossless, 

 without any marks or spottings. 



In length they vary from TO to 1*2, and in breadth from 0-73 

 to 0-85, but the average of twenty eggs is about 1-11 by nearly 

 0-8. 



133. Xiphorhamphus superciliaris (Blyth). The Slender-hilled 

 Scimitar Babbler. 



Xiphorhamphus superciliaris {Blyth), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. S3 ; Hume, 

 Bough Draft N. $ E. no. 406. 



The Slender-billed Scimitar Babbler, according to Mr. Hodgson's 

 notes, breeds in Sikhim, at elevations of 3000 to 6000 feet, during 



