ARTAMUS. 351 



height from the ground. The eggs are figured as white, spotted 

 and blotched almost exclusively at the large end with yellowish 

 brown, and measuring 0-8 by 0-52 inch, but no actual measurements 

 are recorded. 



Mr. Gammie, however, himself found, and kindly sent me, a 

 nest and eggs of this species, at Mongpho near Darjeeling, at an 

 elevation of about 3500 feet, on the 13th May, 1873. It was 

 placed in the hole of a trunk of a dead tree at a height of about 

 40 feet from the ground, and it contained three hard-set eggs. 

 The nest was a loose shallow saucer of coarse roots devoid of lining. 

 The eggs were rather narrow ovals, a good deal pointed towards 

 one end ; the shell tine and with a slight gloss. The ground-colour 

 was creamy white, and the markings, which are almost entirely 

 confined to a broad ring round the large end and the space within 

 it, consisted of spots and clouds of very pale yellowish brown, in- 

 termingled with clouds and specks cf excessively pale, nearly washed 

 out, lilac. 



He subsequently furnished me with the following note from 

 Sikhim : — " In the hills this bird is migratory, coming about the 

 last week in February and leaving in the last week of October. It 

 is exceedingly abundant on the outer ridges running in from the 

 Teesta Valley, and most numerous about the elevation of 3000 feet, 

 but stragglers get up as high as 5000 feet. It prefers dry ridges on 

 which there are a few scattered tall trees, from the tops of which it 

 can make short flights, over the open country, after insects. It 

 goes very little abroad in the height of the day, and feeds principally 

 in the evenings. It rarely keeps on the wing for more than a 

 minute or two at a time, but occasionally will Hy for ten minutes 

 on end. It is quite as bold and persevering in its habit of attacking 

 and driving off hawks and kites as the king-crow. Towards the 

 end of September it begins to congregate in rows along dead branches 

 in the tops of trees. 



" It begins to lay in April and, I think, has only one brood in the 

 year. It builds in holes of trees, on surfaces of large horizontal 

 branches 30 or 40 feet up, or in depressions in ends of lofty stumps. 

 The nest is a shallow saucer, made entirely of light-coloured roots 

 and twigs loosely put together. The usual number of eggs appears 

 to be three." 



Mr. J. R. Cripps informs us that at Furreedpore in Eastern 

 Bengal this species is " common, and a permanent resident, very 

 partial to perching on the tips of bamboos, and I have seen as 

 many as 13 sitting side by side on a bamboo tip. I took seven 

 nests this season, all from date-trees (Phoenix sylvestris), which 

 trees are very common in the district. The nest is generally 

 built at the junction of the leaf-stem and the trunk of the tree, 

 though in two instances the nest was placed on a ledge from which 

 all leaves had been removed to enable the tree to be tapped for its 

 juice. In every instance the nest was exposed, and if any bird, even 

 a hawk, came near, these courageous little fellows would drive it 

 off. My nests were found from the 5th April to 6th June ; shallow 



