MISCELL A NEC US NO TES. 
1131 
a small hole in it and the ants hard at work cleaning it. The hole looked as if, 
the bird, becoming fed up with such a long sitting, had punctured it herself to see 
what was Avrong, and finding the egg a ‘ dud ’ had left in disgust. I had no diffi- 
culty in cleaning it as the contents simply ran out and besides the ants had cleaned 
about half of it already. I sent the whole nest and both eggs to the Colombo 
Museum where they now are but my conscience has pricked me ever since that 
I did not send them to you, still, after all, charity begins at home. 1 took my first 
egg, which as I mentioned was very much incubated, on 9th August 1921, and the 
second egg on 3rd September 1921 so that wretched bird was sitting for over a 
month. The curious part was that they started building again within 200 yards 
of the old site on the 30th September 1921 in a Dadap (shade tree) this time about 
20 ft. up, and on visiting the nest on 1st October found the bird on so did not 
disturb her. On 2nd October the nest contained one egg exactly similar to the 
last only not quite so clouded with brown wash at the large end. I unfortunately 
was prevented from visiting the nest for about 5 days and when I returned, found 
it had been robbed and pulled down by coolies. I am convinced it was the same 
pair as 1 only know of one pair in that particular spot, though I have seen one 
or two more birds in an entirely different part of the estate. The birds are still 
there and I hope to get another nest this year. During the dry weather, 
when most of the leaves had fallen off the albizzias 1 found no less than three old 
nests which goes to prove that I have hit upon their usual breeding locality. 
Dandukelawa, Hatton, Ceylon, 
2ith May 1922. 
T. E. TUNNARD. 
No. XIIL— NIDIFICATION OF THE CEYLON ARRENGA (A. BLIGHI). 
On March 30 of this year (1922) I foimd the nest of Arreaga hlighi containing 
one egg on the point of hatching, the shell being already cracked, so needless to 
say it was useless taking it. I was chmbing up a steep rocky ravine on the hunt 
for this particular nest when I saw one of the birds fly out from under a pro- 
jecting ledge of rock. I could not reach the place from the same side so had to cross 
a slippery face of rock and then recross again higher up stream in order to reach 
the spot from where I saw the bird fly out. I had on rubber soled shoes which 
are excellent for dry rock climbing, but worse than useless where the rock is at 
all wet. I first of all tried bare feet but that was as bad as wet rubber so put on 
my stockings and managed to crawl across on these, finding that wool grips 
quite all right on wet rock. There was the nest, about 7 ft. up, built on a fairly 
wide ledge under another projecting ledge of rock and quite sheltered from 
rain or any drips from above. The nest was a large, but neat and compact, 
structure composed entirely of moss and Uned with fine fern roots. The egg 
a rather broad oval with a large and small end fairly smooth and glossy. The 
ground colour whitish green with a few faint brownish streaks distributed over 
the large end only. I fancy that one egg is the maximum laid (compare previous 
and only Ceylon record, E. Green, Tabrobanian, 1887). Close to this nest on 
other ledges of rock I found three old nests of previous years in good 
preservation owing to their being placed in sheltered spots protected in each 
case from rain. 
Amongst uncommon Ceylon birds, I have seen here Legges Flowerpecker 
(Acmonorhyncus vincens) and the Red- Winged Crested Cuckoo (Coccys es 
coromandus). The latter on migration on 12th January of this year. 
T. E. TUNNARD. 
Dandukelawa, Hatton, Ceylon, 
24th May 1922. 
