212 diceueidjE. 



choung, a feeder of the Meplay, and having an hour to spare, I 

 took my gun and climbed up a steep hill to the very sources of the 

 Queebaw. Here, hanging over the trickling stream, was a nest of 

 Ghaptia cenea firmly woven and tied on to a fork in the branch of 

 a little tree, at a height of about 10 feet from the ground. The 

 nest was of roots and grass lined by soft fine black roots, and held 

 three eggs, of a rich salmon-pink, obscurely spotted darker at the 

 large end; they measure 0-83 by 0-61, 0-82 by 0-61, and 0-80 by 

 - 61 respectively. 



" On the 15th March, 1880, in the fork of a branch of a small 

 zimbun-tree (Dillenia pentagyna), hanging over a pathway along 

 the bank of the Meplay stream, I found a nest of the above species. 

 A neat strongly-made little cup of vegetable fibres and cobwebs, 

 containing two fresh eggs ; ground-colour dull salmon, obscurely 

 spotted with brownish pink. Thev measure - 86 by 0-64 and 

 0-88 by 0-65." 



Mr. J. L. Darling, Jun., records the following notes : — 



" 26th March. Pound a nest of Ghaptia cenea, building, when on 

 the march from Tavoy toNwalabo, some seven miles east of Tavoy, 

 in the fork of a bamboo-branch 12 feet from ground. 



" 29th March. Took two fresh eggs of Ghaptia ainea, and shot 

 the bird off nest, about twenty-three miles east of Tavoy, in open 

 bamboo-land, very low elevation. The nest was built in the fork 

 of an overhanging branch of a bamboo some 50 feet from the 

 ground. 



" 13th April. Found a nest of Ghaptia cenea with two large young 

 ones. Nest built in a tree some 40 feet from ground, in open 

 forest about twenty miles east of Tavoy. 



" 22nd April. Pound a nest of Ghaptia cenea with two large 

 young ones. Nest built at the end of a bough about 30 feet from 

 ground, near Tavoy." 



The nests of this species are quite of the Oriole type, more or 

 less deep cups suspended between the forks of small branches or 

 twigs of some bamboo-clump or tree. Exteriorly they are com- 

 posed of dry flags of grass, bits of bamboo-spathes, or coarse grass, 

 bound together with vegetable fibres and often with a good deal of 

 cobweb worked over them ; sometimes a tiny bit or two of moss 

 may be found added, and often the fine thread-like flower-stems of 

 grass. Interiorly they are generally lined with excessively fine 

 grass. In one or two nests very fine black fern-roots are inter- 

 mingled with the grass lining. The nests vary a good deal in size, 

 but are all extremely compact, and while some are decidedly mas- 

 sive, nearly an inch thick at bottom, others are scarcely a quarter 

 of this in thickness beneath. In one the cavity is 2-5 inches broad 

 by 3 long, and fully 2 deep ; in another it is about 2-5 inches iD 

 diameter by scarcely 1-25 inches in depth. In one nest four fresh 

 eggs were found; in another three fully incubated ones. The 

 nests were suspended at heights of from 10 to 30 feet from the 

 ground. 



The eggs sent by Mr. Gammie very much recall the eggs of 



