HYPSIPETES. 165 



the ground, on one of the topmost branches of a tree, contained 

 three hard-set eggs. This was below Eungbee, at an elevation of 

 about 3000 feet. The nest was a compact, moderately deep cup, 

 composed of very fine twigs and stems, and with a quantity of 

 dead leaves incorporated in the structure, especially towards its 

 lower surface ; it had no lining, but the stems used towards the 

 interior of the nest were somewhat finer than the rest. Exteriorly 

 the nest had a diameter of about 4-5 inches, and a height of about 

 2-5 ; interiorly a diameter of about 2-5, and a depth of nearly 1-5." 

 Mr. Hodgson, writing from Nepal, says : — 

 "May 20th, JaJia Powah. — Two nests on the skirts of the forest 

 in medium-sized trees, placed on the fork of a branch. They are 

 made of moss and dry fern and dry elastic twig-tops, and lined 

 with long elastic needles of Pinus longifolia. They are compact 

 and rather deep, half pensile, that is to say, partly slung between 

 the branches of the fork to which they are attached by bands of 

 vegetable fibres. Each contained four eggs, pinkish-white, thickly 

 spotted with dark sanguine." Another year he wrote : — 



" May 9th, in the Valley.— A mature female with nest and eggs. 

 Nest saucer-shaped, the cavity 3 - 5 wide by 2-5 deep, made of slender 

 twigs and grass-fibres, with no lining. Eggs three, pale pink, 

 blotched all over with sanguine brown." 



"Writing from Almorab, Mr. Brooks tells us that "the nest and 

 eggs were found by Mr. Home on the 27th May near Bheern Tal." 

 Colonel Q-. E. L. Marshall also found a nest in the same place. 

 He says : — " I have only myself found the nest once at Bheern Tal 

 (4000 feet) ; it was situated in a thicket. The nest of this species 

 is similar in shape but much more substantial than those of the 

 Common Bulbul. The eggs are much larger and more elongated in 

 shape, but the colouring is similar to those of the Bulbul, and in 

 many cases the blotches have a tendency to form a zone near the 

 thick end. The nest I found was taken on the 10th June and 

 contained fresh eggs. 



" On the 30th May, 1875, I found a nest of this species at 

 Naini Tal on Ayarpata, over 7000 feet above the sea. I record 

 the circumstance, as their breeding at so great an elevation is 

 exceptional. The nest contained three fresh eggs ; it was made 

 of leaves and moss, lined with bents of grass, between two branches 

 but partially resting on a third, in a bush at the outskirts of a 

 forest on a steep bank and about eight feet from the ground." 



From Mussoorie, Captain Hutton recorded the following very 

 full and interesting note : — 



"They breed during April, May, and June, making a rather 

 neat cup-shaped nest, which is usually placed in the bifurcation 

 of a horizontal branch of some tall tree; the bottom of it is 

 composed of thin dead leaves and dried grasses, and the sides of 

 fine woody stalks of plants, such as those used by the White-cheeked 

 Bulbul, and they are well plastered over externally with spiders' 

 webs ; the lining is sometimes of very fine tendrils, at other times 

 of dry grasses, fibrous lichen, and thin shavings of the bark of 



