cover one of these nocturnal offenders, chasing It through the woods until 
It escapes Into some thicket which baffles the pursuit of Its persecutors. 
NIDI FICATION 
The breeding season of this Drongo Is from March until May; and the nest 
Is almost Invariably built at the horizontal fork of the branch of a large 
tree, at a considerable height from the ground, sometimes as much as forty 
feet. It Is a shallow cup, measuring about two and a quarter Inches in 
diameter by one in depth, and Is compactly put together, well finished round 
the top, but sometimes rather loose on the exterior, which is composed of 
fine grass stalks and bark fibres, the lining being of fine grass or ten¬ 
drils of creepers. The number of eggs varies from two to four, three being 
the most common. They vary very much In shape, and also in the depth of 
their ground tint; some are regular ovals, others are stumpy at the small 
end, while now and then very spherical eggs are laid. They are either red¬ 
dish white, fleshy, or pure white. In some cases marked with small and large 
blotches of faded red confluent at the obtuse end, and openly dispersed over 
the rest of the surface, overlying blots of faint.lilac grey; others have a 
conspicuous zone round the large end, with a few scanty blotches of light 
red and bluish grey on the remainder; in others, again, the markings are 
confined to a few very large roundish blotches of the above colours at one 
end; or again, several still larger clouds of brick red at the obtuse end, 
with a few blotches of the same at the other. 
Dimensions from 1. to .86 inch in length by .72 to .68 in breadtn. 
I once observed a pair in the North of Ceylon very cleverly forming their 
nest on a horizontal fork by first constructing the side furthest from tne 
angle, thus forming ari arch, which was then joined to the fork by the forma¬ 
tion of the bottom of the structure. Tne parent birds in this species dis¬ 
play great courage, vigorously swooping'down on any Intruder who may threat¬ 
en to molest their young. 
The figdre of the Southern bird in the Plate (fig 1) accompanying this 
description is that of a female from Heiieratgoda; that of the Northern oird 
(fig 2) is of a female shot near Trincomalie. 
