563 



differs, so far as I know, from all members of both these groups ; for it builds a spherical nest (of 

 grass) having a lateral entrance, and not an open cup-shaped nest. Hutton was the first to 

 describe its nest and eggs. He writes respecting its habits and nidification as follows : — " This 

 species arrives on the hills, up to 7000 feet at least, in April, when it is very common, and 

 appears in pairs, with something of the manners of Phylloscopus. The note is a sharp tchiJc, 

 tchik, resembling the sound emitted by a flint and steel. It disappears by the end of May, in 

 which month they breed ; but, owing to the high winds and strong weather experienced in that 

 month in 1848, many nests were left incompleted, and the birds must have departed without 

 breeding. One nest which I took, on the 6th May, was a round ball with a lateral entrance; it 

 was placed in a thick barberry bush growing at the side of a deep and sheltered ditch ; it was 

 composed of coarse dry grasses externally, and lined with finer grass. Eggs three, and pearl- 

 white, with minute scattered specks of rufous, chiefly at the larger end, diameter \% by yq inch." 



Mr. Andrew Anderson has lately published (Stray Feathers, iii. p. 351) some most interesting 

 notes on the nidification of this bird, which I transcribe as follows : — " On the fifth day after 

 leaving Naini Tal — ever mindful of my friend Mr. Brook's parting advice to me (in reference to 

 the part of the country which required to be investigated), ' avoid the lower hills as the plague ' 

 — I reached Takula, which is the first march beyond Almora, on the road to the Pindari glacier, 

 late on the evening of the 10th of May. It rained heavily all that night, so that I was obliged 

 to halt the next day, my tents being far too wet to be struck, and the distance to the next halting- 

 place necessitating a start the first thing in the morning. 



" Takula is at an elevation of between 5000 and 6000 feet ; it is beautifully wooded, with a 

 small mountain-stream flowing right under the camping-ground ; and the climate is delightful. 

 All things considered, I was not sorry at having an opportunity of exploring such productive- 

 looking ground ; and before it was fairly daylight the next morning operations were commenced 

 in right earnest. To each of my collectors I apportioned off a well-wooded mountain-slope, 

 reserving for my own hunting-ground (as I had not got my hill legs) the watercourses and 

 ravines in immediate vicinity of the camp. 



" Not more than 20 yards from where my tent stood there is a deep ravine clothed on both 

 banks with a dense jungle of the larger kind of nettle Girardinia heterophylla (such nettles too !), 

 the hill-dock (Rumex nepalensis), and wild rose-trees. Wending my way through this dark, 

 damp, and muggy nullah to the best of my ability, I came upon the nest of this interesting little 

 bird. It was placed in the centre of a rose-bush, at an elevation of some 2 feet above the bank, 

 and about 4 feet from where I stood, but yet in a most tantalizing situation, inasmuch as it was 

 necessary to remove several thorny branches before an examination of the nest was possible. 

 The act of cutting away the branches alarmed my sombre little friend (I knew that the nest was 

 tenanted, as the bill and head were distinctly visible through the lateral entrance) ; and out she 

 started with such a ' whir ' that any thing like satisfactory identification for a bird of this sort 

 was utterly hopeless. The nest contained four beautiful little eggs, so that to bag the parent 

 bird was a matter of the first importance ; all my attempts, however, first to capture her on the 

 nest, and next to shoot her as she flew off, were equally futile, her movements being rapid and 

 erratic as forked lightning. And here let me give a word of advice to my brother ornithologists. 



