198 
ORNITUOLOGY. 
is a deep cup-shaped structure, rather neatly made of grass 
without lining, and woven in with the stems if in a clump 
of grass, or firmly fixed in a fork if in a hush or low tree. 
The interior diameter is about three inches, and the depth 
nearly two. The eggs, four in number, are of a clear blue 
colour without spot of any kind. In shape they are oval^ 
rather thinner at one end; the shell is smooth and thin. 
The eggs are of the same colour, but considerably larger 
than those of Chatarrhcea caudata. Chatarrlima Earlii 
breeds commonly in the Sub-Siwalik districts of the Dooab ; 
it seems fond of water, as most of the nests I have found 
were close to the canal bank. It is gregarious even in the 
breeding season ; small flocks of seven or eight keeping to- 
gether, fluttering in and out of the low bushes, but seldom 
alighting on the ground, and occasionally making a noisy 
chattering cry, especially when disturbed.''^ 
I may add that while the eggs of Chatarrlioea caudata 
(which greatly recall those of Accentor modularis) vary in 
length from 0 75 to 0*9, and in breadth from 0-6 to 0*7, 
those of C. earlii vary from 0 95 to 1*05 in length, and 
from 0-73 to 078 in breadth. [A. O. H.^^ 
444. Hypsipetes psaroides (Vigors). 
This species was common at Banihal on both sides of the 
pass leading from Jamu to Srinagar, but it was nowhere 
else observed. [G. H.'\ 
The nest of Hypsipetes psaroides is very like that of 
some of the Otocompsa. It is usually made of rather 
coarse-bladed grass, with exteriorly a number of dry leaves 
and more or less moss incorporated, and lined with very 
fine grass-stems and roots of moss. Its general shape is a 
moderately deep cup, the cavity measuring some two and a 
half inches in diameter by one and a half in depth. The 
sides, into which leaves and moss are freely interwoven, 
vary from an inch to a couple of inches in thickness ; the 
bottom, loosely put together, is rarely more than from a 
quarter to half-an-inch in depth. It appears to be 
generally placed on the fork of a branch, at a moderate 
height from the ground. 
