BATEACHOSTOMrS. 39 



" The chick (I quote from my notes) was much pleased at find- 

 ing himself in his old quarters, and repeatedly shook himself as if 

 he could not at first settle down into a comfortable position ; this 

 shaking being attended with some danger, as orlce or twice the 

 bird seemed within an ace of rolling out of the nest. At intervals 

 of about ten minutes it uttered a feeble chirruping call, not unlike 

 an Ice-bird at a distance. As darkness increased its cry was more 

 frequent and became a single chirp. I watched till night closed 

 in and it became pitcli dark without seeing anything of the old 

 bird, though once something which might have been either bird or 

 bat flitted past. 



" Next morning I returned some time before sunrise, and in the 

 moonlight had a good view of one of the old birds seated on the 

 nest. It was ia a very peculiar position, more lying down than 

 sitting, with its head well up in the air. The nest was not 15 

 feet from the ground in a fork of a sapling, apparently without 

 any attempt at concealment, so that I was able to approacli very 

 close to the bird, which without moving merely opened its large eyes 

 to stare at me. Now comes the worst part of the story. I was 

 so anxious to secure the specimen that I determined to shoot it on 

 the nest ; accordingly I retired as far as possible and fired. The 

 result, owing to intervening bushes, being that to my great dis- 

 appointment the bird went off into the jungle hard hit and was 

 lost. Thinking at first the bird could not possibly have escaped I 

 searched about for it, and at the foot of the small tree where the 

 nest was I found the remains of an egg. These I have kept and 

 will send with the nest, as I at least have no doubt that they 

 originally enclosed the young Frog-mouth. You will see from 

 these fragments that the egg of the bird is probably pure white, 

 almost round, of thin texture, and with a smooth glossless surface." 



The nest of this species taken at Mynall, Tra\ancore, by Mr. Bour- 

 dillon is very similar to that of Batraehostomus Jiodgsoni, but is 

 smaller and thicker, slightly oval in shape, 2-6 inches in length by 

 2-3 in width, and a full inch in depth. Instead of moss, a few 

 fragments of dead leaves are incorporated, but the material is 

 chiefly a soft felt-Hke mass, precisely similar in texture to that 

 used by B. Jiodgsoni, but greyish white instead of brown. It is a 

 mere pad with a shallow depression on the outer surface, a broad 

 groove on the lower showing where it has rested on the upper 

 sm'face of a nearly horizontal bough. 



Batraehostomus hodgsoni (G. E. Gray). The Sikhim 

 Frog-mouth. 



Otothrix hodgsoni, G. R. Gh-ay, Jenl. B. Ind. i, p. 190; Hume, 



Mmtgh Draft N. Sr E. no. 106. 



Mr. Hodgson figures a young bird of the Sikhim Frog-mouth 



seated on a broad pad-like nest of moss and lichen, placed on a 



horizontal bough of a tree close to its jimction \^'ith the trunk. He 



