CHiETOBNIS. 253 



rapidly right and left, over perhaps one fourth of a mile, and then 

 suddenly drop on to the top of some little bush or other convenient 

 post, and there continue their song. 



Mr. Brooks remarks :— " On the 28th August, 1869, 1 observed 

 at the side of the railway, at Jheenjuck Jheel, on the borders of 

 the JEtawah and Cawnpoor Districts, several pairs of Ohcetornis. A 

 good part of the jheel was covered with grass about 18 inches high, 

 and to this they appeared partial, though occasionally I found them 

 among the long reeds. The part of the jheel where they were 

 found was drier than the rest, there being only about an inch of 

 water in places, while other portions were quite dry. 



" I noticed the bird singing while seated on a bush or large 

 clump of grass, and sometimes it perched on the telegraph- 

 wires alongside of the line of railway, continuing its song while 

 perched. 



" By habits and song it seems more nearly allied to the Pipits 

 than the Babblers. Males shot early in September were obviously 

 breeding, and a female shot on the 13th of that month contained a 

 nearly full-sized egg." 



It does not do to be too positive, but T. should be inclined to 

 believe that the eggs are not uniform coloured, blue and glossy like 

 a Babbler's, but dull, dead, or greenish white, with numerous small 

 specks and spots *. 



Colonel E. A. Butler, who was the first to discover the eggs of 

 the Bristled Q-rass-Warbler, writes :— 



" The Grass-Babbler is not uncommon about Deesa in the rains, 

 at which season it breeds. I found a nest containing four eggs on 

 the 18th August, 1876. It consisted of a round ball of dry grass 

 with a circular entrance on one side, near the top, was placed on 

 the ground in the centre of a low scrubby bush in a grass Bheerh, 

 and when the hen-bird flew off, which was not until I almost put 

 my foot on the nest, I mistook her for Argya caudata. On looking, 

 however, into the bush, I saw at once by the eggs that it was a 

 species new to me. I left the spot and returned again in about an 

 hour's time, when, to my disappointment, I found that three of the 

 eggs had hatched. The fourth egg being stale, I took it and added 

 it to my collection. The eggs are about the size of the eggs of 

 A. caudata, but in colour very like those of Franklinia buchanani, 

 namely, white, speckled all over with reddish brown and pale 

 lavender, most densely at the large end. This bird has a peculiar 

 habit in the breeding-season of rising suddenly into the air and 

 soaring about, often for a considerable distance, uttering a loud 

 note resembling the words ' chirrup, chirrup-chirrup,' repeated all 

 the time the bird is in the air, and then suddenly descending slowly 

 into the grass with outspread wings, much in the style of Mirafra 

 eryihroptera. This bird is so similar in appearance, when flying 

 and hopping about in the long grass, to A. caudata, that I have no 



* The dieeoyery of this bird's eggs has proved M>. Hume to be right in his 

 conjecture. — En. 



