FRANK1INIA. 241 



are identical. He has sent me several notes in regard to this 

 species. He says : — " On the 1st July, three miles south of the 

 village of Doongurgurh in the Raipoor District, I found a nest of 

 Franklin's Wren-Warbler, containing three fresh eggs. It was on 

 rocky ground between a footpath and a water-course, about 2 feet 

 from the ground, and firmly sewn to a single leaf of a murori 

 plant. The nest was constructed exclusively of very fine grass, 

 with spiders' web affixed in places to the exterior. It was some- 

 what cup-shaped, 3-3 inches in depth and 2'4 in breadth externally. 

 The egg-cavity was about l - 4 in diameter, and about the same 

 depth. The eggs were a delicate pale unspotted blue. 



" About 100 yards from the first, a second precisely similar, and 

 similarly situated, nest of this same species was found, which con- 

 tained three hard-set eggs, exactly similar in shape, texture, and 

 ground-colour to those in the first nest, but everywhere excessively 

 finely and thickly speckled with red, the specks exhibiting a strong 

 tendency to coalesce in a zone round the large end. 



" On the 12th and 13th July we obtained ten nests of Franklin's 

 Wren- Warbler, all in the neighbourhood of Doongurgurh. From 

 what I have seen, I gather that this species breeds from the middle 

 of June to the middle of August in this part of the country. 

 They appear to resort to tracts at some little elevation, where the 

 murori and kydia bushes are abundant, and where grass grows 

 rapidly in the early part of the rains. The nests, very ingeniously 

 made, are invariably sewn to one or two leaves in the centre of one 

 of the above-named bushes, the entrance above, just as in the nest 

 of an Orthotomus. They are placed at heights of from a foot to 

 3 feet from the ground. Fine grass, vegetable fibres, and other soft 

 materials are chiefly used in their construction, a little cobweb 

 being often added. The eggs are laid daily, and four is the normal 

 number, though three hard-set ones are sometimes found. The 

 nest is prepared annually. As far as I know they have only one 

 brood. Both parents unite in building the nest and in hatching 

 and feeding the young. 



" Of the ten nests now taken four contained speckled and six 

 unspeckled eggs. The two types are never found in the same nest. 

 I send all the nests, eggs, and birds." 



Dr. Jerdon says : — " I found the nest of this species at Saugor, 

 very like that of the Tailor-bird but smaller, made of cotton, wool, 

 and various soft vegetable fibres, and occasionally bits of cloth, and 

 1 invariably found it sewn to one leaf of the kydia, so common in 

 the jungles there. The eggs were pale blue, with some brown or 

 reddish spots often rarely visible." 



Colonel E. A. Butler writes from Deesa : — 



" July 26, 1876. A nest containing 3 fresh eggs. 



" Aug. 1, 1876. „ „ 4 fresh eggs. 



" Aug. 15, 1876. „ „ 2 fresh eggs. 



" Sept. 3, 1876. „ „ 4 incubated eggs. 



" All of the above nests were exactly alike, being composed of 

 fine dry grass without any lining, felted here and there exteriorly 



vol. i. 16 



