ABTAMUS. 353 



taining one egg. The nests were near the trunk of the tree on the 

 horizontal leaves, and were formed of thin roots and a little grass 

 and were very slight. The egg, which is large for the size of the 

 bird, is creamy white, with a broad ring round the larger end 

 formed of blotches of orange, brown, and purple, and in the cap 

 within the ring there are a number of faint purple spots. The 

 egg was perfectly fresh, and the old birds defended it by swooping 

 down upon the man ; and I can't help thinking that both the young 

 birds and the new nest belonged to one pair of birds, and that as 

 soon as their first brood was fledged they had commenced to lay 

 again." 



A nest taken by Mr. Gammie on the 24th April, at an eleva- 

 tion of about 3500 feet in Sikhim, was placed on a dead horizontal 

 limb near the top of a large tree. It contained four eggs slightly 

 set ; it is a somewhat shallow cup, interiorly 3 inches in diameter 

 by nearly 1§ in depth, and composed almost entirely of fine roots, 

 pretty firmly interwoven. It has no lining, but at the bottom 

 exteriorly it is coated partially with a sort of plaster, composed 

 apparently of strips of bark and vegetable fibre partially cemented 

 together in some way. 



The egg sent me by Miss Oockburn is of quite the same type 

 as those found by Mr. Gammie, but it is a trifle longer, measuring 

 1-0 by 0-7, and the colouring is much brighter. The ground 

 is a sort of creamy white. There is a strongly marked though 

 irregular zone round the large end of more or less confluent 

 brownish rusty patches (amongst which a few pale grey spots may 

 be detected), and a good many spots and small blotches of the same 

 are scattered about the whole of the rest of the surface of the egg. 



Numerous eggs subsequently obtained by Mr. Gammie correspond 

 well with those already described as procured by himself and Miss 

 Cockburn. 



In length the eggs vary from 0-82 to 1-0, and in breadth from 

 0-6 to 0-72, but the average is 0-94 by 0-68. 



513. Artamus leucogaster (Valenc). The White-rumped 

 Sivallow-ShriJce. 



Artamus leucorhynchus (Om.), Hume, Rough Draft N. 8f E. 

 no. 287 bis. 



The White-rumped Swallow-Shrike breeds, we know, in the 

 Andamans and Great Oocos, and that is nearly all we do know. 

 Mr. Davisou says : — " On the 2nd of May I saw a bird of this 

 species fly into a hollow at the top of a rotten mangrove stump 

 about 20 feet high. The next day I went, but did not like to 

 climb the stump, as it appeared unsafe, so I determined to cut it 

 down, and after giving about six strokes that made the stump 

 shake from end to end, the bird flew out. I made sure that as the 

 bird sat so close the nest must contain eggs, so I ceased cutting 

 and managed to get a very light native, who voluntered to climb 

 it ; but on his reaching the top, he found, to my astonishment, 



=vol. i. 23 



