346 LANIID.E. 



and plastered over externally with pieces of lichen and moss. The 

 eggs are regular ovals, with a pale-greenish ground, blotched and 

 spotted with a somewhat olivaceous brown. 



A nest of this species found at Mongphoo (elevation 5500 feet) 

 on the 15th June contained three eggs nearly ready to hatch off. 

 The nest was placed on a nearly horizontal fork of a small branch. 

 It is composed of very fine twigs loosely twisted together and 

 coated everywhere exteriorly with cobwebs and scraps of grey 

 lichen. At the lower part, which, owing to the slope of the 

 branch, had to be thicker, it is exteriorly about an inch and a half 

 in height. At the upper end it is only about half an inch high. 

 The shallow saucer-like cavity is about two and a half inches in 

 diameter and about half an inch in depth. 



The eggs of this species, sent me by Captain Hutton from 

 Mussoorie, much resemble those of Graucalus maeii and 0. sylcesi, 

 but they are decidedly longer than the latter, and the general 

 tone of their colouring is soinewhat duller. In shape they are 

 somewhat elongated ovals, more or less compressed towards one 

 end ; the general colour is greenish white, very thickly blotched 

 and streaked with dull brown and very pale purple. The mark- 

 ings are very closely set, leaving but little of the ground-colour 

 visible. They have little or no gloss. 



They measure 1-03 by 072 inch, and 0-95 by 0-68 inch. 



Other eggs that I have since obtained have been quite similar, 

 but have not had the markings quite so densely set ; the secondary 

 markings have been greyer and less purple, and several eggs have 

 exhibited an appreciable gloss ; others, again, were quite like those 

 first described and entirely devoid of gloss. They measured 0-9 to 

 0-98 in length by 0-65 to 0-71 in breadth. 



508. Campophaga sykesi (Strickl.). The Black-headed Cuckoo- 

 Shrike. 



Volvocivora sykesii (Strickl.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 414 ; Hume, Bmigh 

 Draft N. $ E. no. 268. 



Mr. E. E. Blewitt took the eggs of Sykes's Cuckoo-Shrike many 

 years ago. He furnishes the following note : — 



" I first met with this bird in the southern part of Bundlekund. 

 Nowhere here is it common, and I have never seen more than a 

 pair together. It is to be found in wooded tracts of country, but 

 more frequently among thin large trees surrounding villages. Dr. 

 Jerdou has correctly described its restless habits, and its careful 

 examination of the foliage and branches of trees for food. It is 

 usually a silent bird, but during the earlier portion of the breeding- 

 season the male bird may frequently be heard repeating for minutes 

 together his clear plaintive notes. Each time, as it flies from one 

 tree to another, the song is repeated. The flight is easy, slightly 

 undulating, and the strokes of the wing somewhat rapid. In the 

 latter end of July I procured one nest. It was found on a mowa- 



