PROPAEUS, 119 



The eggs are broad ovals, a little pointed towards the small end, 

 the shell white, almost devoid of gloss. A dense ring or zone of 

 excessively small black spots surrounds the large end, and similar 

 specks are rather sparsely distributed over the whole of the rest of 

 the surface of the egg, having, however, a tendency to become ob- 

 solete towards the small end. Sometimes a little brown and some- 

 times a little lilac is intermingled in the zone. 



183. Proparns vinipectus (Hodgs.). The Plain-brown Tit-Babbler. 



Proparus vinipectus {Hodgs.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 257 : Hume, Moui/h 

 Draft N. 8? E. no. 622. 



The Plain-brown Tit-Babbler is not uncommon in the higher 

 wooded hills between Simla and Kotegurh, and from somewhere near 

 Mutiana Captain Blair sent me a nest and egg, together with one 

 of the old birds which had been caught on the nest. 



This latter was a rather compact massive cup, composed of 

 moderately fine blades of grass, measuring externally about 4^ 

 inches in diameter and standing about 2^ inches high. The egg- 

 cavity, about 2 inches in diameter and rather more than half an 

 inch deep, was lined with fine blackish-brown grass-roots. Neither 

 nest nor egg is exactly what I should have expected to pertain to 

 this species ; but Captain Blair was certain that they belonged to 

 the parent bird which he sent with them, and I therefore describe 

 both with entire confidence in their authenticity. 



The egg is a moderately elongated oval, slightly compressed 

 towards one end ; it has a pale-green ground, and near the large 

 end has a strongly marked but very irregular sepia-brown zone, 

 and pale stains of the same colour here and there running down 

 the egg from the zone, as well as a few isolated dark spots of the 

 same tint. Although much smaller, and although the colour of 

 the markings is very different, the ground-colour and the character 

 of the markings much recall those of Lioihrix luteus. The egg has 

 little or no gloss, and measures 073 by 055. 



Mr. Mandelli obtained two nests of this species — one at Sinchal, 

 near Darjeeling, at an elevation of 9000 feet, on the 2nd June ; the 

 other at Tongloo, at an elevation of 10,000 feet, on the 29th May. 

 The first contained one, the second three fresh eggs, all precisely 

 similar in size and colour to the egg formerly sent me by Capt. Blair, 

 though the nests themselves were rather different in appearance. 

 These nests were both placed amongst the 1 ranches of dense brush- 

 wood, at heights of 3 and 4 feet from the ground ; they are very 

 compact, massive little cups, about 3-25 inches in diameter and 2 

 in height exteriorly ; the cavities are about 2 inches in diameter and 

 1'25 in depth. The chief materials of the nests are dry blades of 

 grass and bamboo-leaves; but these are only seen at the bottom of 

 the nests, the sides and upper margins being completely felted over 

 with green moss. Apparently there is a first lining of fine grass and 

 roots ; but very little of this is seen, as the cavity is then thickly 

 covered with black and white hairs. 



