96 CBATEBOPODTM. 



The full number of eggs is, I believe, five. I have repeatedly 

 taken nests containing this number, and have comparatively seldom 

 met with a smaller number of eggs at all incubated. 



Colonel G-. F. L. Marshall says : — " I found a nest of this species 

 at Eoorkee in the early part of July. It contained three eggs and 

 was beautifully made, a deep cup fixed on to an artichoke-stock, 

 and at a little distance much resembled an artichoke." 



Mr. E. C. Nunn, writing from near Agra on the 26th September 

 1867, says : — "I got a Pyctorhis' nest yesterday, suspended between 

 two stalks of jowar (Holcus sorghum), the nest firmly bound with 

 strips of fibrous bark, at two opposite points of its circumference, 

 to the two stems. This is, I imagine, something out of the usual 

 order of things with these birds. The nests which I have hitherto 

 found have been situated in young mangoe-trees, rose-bushes, or 

 peach- and orange-trees." 



From Futtehgurh the late Mr. A. A. Anderson sent me the 

 following note : — - 



" The nest and eggs of this bird are very beautiful. A pair once 

 built in. a pumplenose-tree ( Citrus deeumana) in my garden, laying 

 five long eggs. The nest, still in my collection, was placed in the 

 fork oifour small upright twigs ; it was composed entirely of dry 

 grass-stems (no soft material inside), and laced outwardly, in and 

 out of the twigs, with dry fibre belonging to the plantain-tree. 



" The eggs are small, for the size of the bird, and scarcely so 

 large as those of the Hedge-Sparrow." 



Captain Hutton remarks : — " This likewise is a Dhoon bird ; its 

 nest was found there on the 1st July, when it contained four eggs 

 of a dull white colour, thickly speckled and blotched all over with 

 ferruginous spots, forming also an open darker coloured ring at 

 the large end, and intermixed with brown. 



" The nest is a deep cup, placed in the trifurcation of the slender 

 upright branch of a low shrub, and is constructed externally of 

 coarse grass-blades held together by cobwebs and seed-down, the 

 lining being fine grass-seed stalks. Diameter of the top 2\ inches ; 

 depth within 2 inches ; externally 3| inches." 



Mr. F. E. Blewitt tells us that "the Yellow-eyed Babbler 

 breeds from July to September, or, I should say, up to the middle 

 of September. Its selection of a tree for its nest is not confined 

 to any one species, but by preference the bird selects those of small 

 growth, and even frequently high-growing brushwood. The nests 

 are very neatly made, and what is singular is that, as regards build 

 and shape, they are always almost exactly alike. If I have seen 

 one, I must have seen at least fifty this year, all with the same 

 exterior material of closely interlaced vegetable fibre over grass, 

 and the inner lining of fine grass, deep cup-shaped, and in dia- 

 meter, outer and inner,' varying but little. Where it could be 

 effected, the nest was suspended to, or rather fastened between, 

 two forks ; or where these were not available, between three twigs. 

 The outer diameters of the nests were from 2-7 to 2-9 inches, inner 

 from 2 - 3 to 2-5. Four is the regular number of eggs, though 

 occasionally five in one nest have been obtained." 



