290 SYLVITDA 



which grows abundantly in these swamps, whence he gives forth a 

 rather pleasing song, erecting his tail at the same time, after which 

 he drops into the jungle and is seen no more. It is almost 

 impossible to make him show himself again." 



The nest, which I owe to Mr. Parker, and which was found in 

 the neighbourhood of the Salt-Water Lake, Calcutta, on the 26th 

 July, is of an oval shape, very obtuse at both ends, measuring 

 externally 4 inches in length and about 2| inches in diameter. 

 The aperture, which is near the top of the nest, is oval, and mea- 

 sures about 1 inch by lg inch. The nest is fixed against the side 

 of two or three tiny leafy twigs, to w hich it is bound lightly in one 

 or two places with grass and vegetable fibre ; and two or three leafy 

 lateral twiglets are incorporated into the sides of the nest, so that 

 when fresh it must have been entirely hidden by leaves. The nest 

 was in an upright position, the major axis perpendicular to the 

 horizon. It is a very thin, firm, close basket-work of fine grass, 

 flower-stalks, and vegetable fibre, and has no lining, though the 

 interior surface of the nest is more closely woven and of still finer 

 materials than the outside. The cavity is nearly 2| inches deep, 

 measuring from the lower edge of the entrance, and is about 

 2 inches in diameter. 



During this present year (1874) Mr. Parker obtained several 

 more nests of this species, all built in the low jungle that fringes 

 the mud-banks of the congeries of channels and creeks that are 

 known in Calcutta by the name of the " Salt Lake." 



This jungle consists chiefly of the blue-flowered holly-leaved 

 Acanthus ilicifolia and of the trailing semi-creeper-like Berris 

 scandens. It is in amongst the drooping twigs of the latter that 

 the nest is invariably made. 



The nests vary a good deal in shape ; some are regular cylinders 

 rounded off at both ends, with the aperture on one side above the 

 centre — a small oval entrance neatly worked. Such a nest is 

 about 4-5 inches in length externally from top to bottom, and 2 - 75 

 in diameter; the aperture l - 3 in height, and barely l'O in width. 



Others are still more egg-shaped, with a similar aperture near 

 the top, and others are more purse-like. The material used 

 appears to be always much the same — fine grass-stems intermingled 

 with blades of grass, and here and there dry leaves of some rush, a 

 little seed-down, scraps of herbaceous plants, and the like ; the 

 interior, always of the finest grass-stems, neatly arranged and 

 curved to the shape of the cavity. The nests are firmly attached 

 to the drooping twigs, to and between which they are suspended, 

 sometimes by fine vegetable fibre, but more commonly by cobwebs 

 and silk from cocoons, a good deal of both of which are generally 

 to be seen wound about the surface of the nest near the points of 

 suspension or attachment. 



Four appears to be the full number of the eggs. 



Mr. Doig, writing from Sind, says : — " This bird is tolerably 

 common all along the Narra, but as it keeps in very thick jungle it 

 is not often seen unless looked for. I took my first nest on the 



