592 Indian Oology. [No. 6. 



as with such tender charges committed to their care a little smash 

 goes a great way as I have ruefully learned from experience. Small 

 eggs travel well packed in some soft nests as those of " Lanius" 

 with a little wool and placed in wooden boxes. Small tin boxes 

 fitted into trays in a wooden box are also very handy but are not 

 readily got well made in this country. 



For the nomenclature adopted in the present paper I am indebted 

 to my friend Mr. Blyth, in several cases from the examination of 

 skins of birds shot off the nest, and with a few exceptions, no 

 reasonable doubt attaches to the correct identification of any bird in 

 the present paper ; those to which any uncertainty attaches are indi- 

 cated by an asterisk. 



The tabular form I have chosen as most convenient ; the local 

 name is ranged under the specific in the second column, the next 

 contains the Month and Week in which the eggs are laid, the 

 last column the colour of the eggs and a description of the nest. 



In the penultimate column, three heads are contained. The num- 

 ber of eggs ; usually ascertained from well incubated eggs, to guard 

 against error. The form of the eggs expressed by letters ; and the 

 measurement of the long and short axes in inches and decimals of 

 an inch. The following are the commoner forms in the abbre- 

 viations used : 



O. Oval. P. Pyriform. E. Eound. 



B. O. Blunt oval. O. P. Ovato Pyriform. With some mi- 



P. 0. Pointed ditto. B. 0. P. Blunt ditto ditto. nor combina- 



L. O. Long ditto. L. O. P. Long ditto ditto. tions. 



E. O. Eound ditto. E 0. P. Eound ditto ditto. 



