PRINIA. 301 



The eggs of this species are somewhat elongated ovals. The 

 ground-colour is a greenish or greyish stone-colour, and they are 

 finely and often rather sparsely freckled all over with very faint 

 reddish brown, or brownish pink in most eggs ; these frecklings are 

 gathered together into a more or less dense zone round the large 

 end, forming a conspicuous ring there much darker-coloured than 

 the frecklings over the rest of the surface. The eggs have a faint 

 gloss. 



In length they vary from 0"68 to 0-75, and in breadth from 0-49 

 to 0-52, but the average appears to be 0-7 by 0-5. 



466. Prinia inornata, Sykes. The Indian Wren-Warbler. 



Drymoipus inornatus (Sykes), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 178 ; Hume, Rough 



Draft N. $ E. do. 543. ' 

 Drymoipus longicaudatus (Tick.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 180. 

 Drymoipus terricolor, Hume ; Hume, Bough Draft N. Sf E. no. 543 



bis. 



The breeding-season of this "Wren-Warbler commences with the 

 first fall of rain, and lasts through July and August to quite the 

 middle of September. 



The birds construct a very elegant nest, always closely and com- 

 pactly woven, of very fine blades, or strips of blades, of grass, in 

 no nests exceeding one-twentieth of an inch in width, and in many 

 of not above half this breadth. The grass is always used when 

 fresh and green, so as to be easily woven in and out. Both parents 

 work at the nest, clinging at first to the neighbouring stems of 

 grass or twigs, and later to the nest itself, while they push the 

 ends of the grass backwards and forwards in and out ; in fact, 

 they work very much like the Baya (P. baya), and the nest, though 

 much smaller, is in texture very like that of this latter species, the 

 great difference being that the Baya, with us, more often uses 

 stems, and Prinia strips of blades of grass. The nest varies in 

 shape and in size, according to its situation : a very favourite 

 locality is in amongst clumps of the sarpatta, or serpent-grass, in 

 which case the bird builds a long and purse-like nest, attached 

 above and all round to the surrounding grass-stems, with a small 

 entrance near the top. Such nests are often 8 or 9 inches in length, 

 and 3 inches or even more in external diameter, and with an 

 internal cavity measuring 1J inch in diameter, and having a depth 

 of nearly 4 inches below the lower margin of the entrance-hole. 

 At other times they are hung between bare twigs, often of some 

 thorny bush, or are even placed in low herbaceous plants ; in these 

 cases they are usually nearly globular, with the entrance-hole near 

 the top ; they are then probably 3| inches in external diameter in 

 every direction. In other cases they are hung to or between two 

 or more leaves to which the birds attach the nest, much as a 

 Tailor-bird would do, using, however, fine grass instead of cobwebs 

 or cotton-wool for ligaments. I have never found more than five 

 eggs in any nest, and four is certainly the normal number. 



