106 CBATEBOPODIDJE. 



Other eggs, again, with the same pinky-white ground are thickly 

 but minutely freckled and speckled with rather pale brownish red, 

 most thickly towards and about the large end, where they become 

 confluent in patches, and where tiny purple clouds and spots are 

 dimly traceable. 



164. Alcippe pliseocephala (Jerd.). The Nilghiri Babbler. 



Alcippe poiocephala {Jerd.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 18 ; Hume, Hough 

 Ih-aft N.SfE. no. 389. 



The Mlghiri Babbler breeds, apparently, throughout the hilly 

 regions of Southern India. It lays from January to June. A 

 nest taken near Neddivattam by Mr. Davison on the 5th April 

 was placed between the fork of three twigs of a bush, at the height 

 of 5 or 6 feet from the ground. It was a deep cup, massive enough 

 out very loosely put together, and composed of green moss, dead 

 leaves, a little grass and moss-roots. It was entirely lined with, 

 rather coarse black moss-roots. In shape it was nearly an inverted 

 cone, some 3| inches in diameter at top, and fully 5 inches in 

 height. The cavity was over 2 inches in diameter and nearly 2 

 inches in depth. A few cobwebs are here and there intermingled 

 in the external surface, but the grass-roots appear to have been 

 chiefly relied on for holding the nest together. 



Another nest found by Miss Cockburn on the 5th June on a 

 small bush, about 7 or 8 feet in height, standing on the banks of a 

 stream, was somewhat different. It was placed in the midst of a 

 clump of leaves, at the tips of three or four little twigs, between 

 which the nest was partly suspended and partly wedged in. It 

 was composed of fine grass-stems, with a few grass- and moss-roots 

 as a lining interiorly, and with several dead leaves and a good deal 

 of wool incorporated in the outer surface, the greater portion of 

 which, however, was concealed by the leaves of the twigs amongst 

 which it was built. It was only about 3| inches in diameter, and 

 the egg-cavity was less than 2| inches across, and not above 1J 

 inch in depth. 



Mr. Davison writes :— " This bird breeds on the slopes of the 

 Nilghiris in the latter end of March and April. The nest is un- 

 commonly like that of Trochalopterum cachinnans, but is of course 

 smaller ; it is deep and cup-shaped, composed externally of moss 

 and dead leaves, and is lined with moss and fern-roots. It is 

 always (as far as I have observed) fastened to a thin branch about 

 6 feet from the ground. All the nests I have ever observed were 

 on small trees in the shadiest parts of the jungle, far in, and never 

 near the edge of the jungle or in the open. The eggs are verv 

 handsome, and are, I think, the prettiest of the eggs to be found 

 on the jSTilghiris and their slopes. The ground-colour is of a 

 beautiful reddish pink (especially when fresh), blotched and streaked 

 with purplish carmine." 



Mr. J. Darling, junior, says : — " The Nilghiri Quaker-Thrush 

 breeds on the slopes of the Nilghiri hills, generally in the depths 



