While ponrln.fi out Its voluble notes the bird Is all the time on the move, 
attentively scrutinizing every dead stick or rotten leaf in its way. Mr 
Bligh has observed them in the breeding season puffing out the feathers of 
the chest and bowing to eaoh other, and I have noticed that they were of an 
inquisitive nature, alighting close to me when they have chanced to espy me 
watching them in the stillness of the forest, and stretching out their heads 
for a closer inspection of such an unexpected intruder. 
Mr Holdsworth remarks that they are very noisy in pairing time, ana re¬ 
fers to the powerful note of the male as having acquired for the species the 
name of "Gamut Bird** 
NIDIFICATION 
This Babbler breeds from December until February. I have observed one 
collecting materials for a nest in the former month, and at the same period 
Mr McVicar had the eggs brought to him; they were taken from a nest made of 
leaves and grass, and placed on a bank in jungle* 
Mr Bligh has found the nest in crevices of trees, between a projecting 
piece of bark and the trunk, also in a jungle path cutting, and on a ledge a 
of rock; it is usually composed of moss, grass roots, fibre, and a few uead 
leaves, and the structure is rather a slovenly one. 
'The eggs vary from three to five, and are pure white, the shells being 
transparent, and they measure .96 to .98 inches in length oy .7 in oreaath. 
The figures In the drawing accompanying this article represent the nill 
olive coloured form Mo. 1,- and the low country rust coloured one No. 2. 
The former is from the Horton Plains, and the latter from the Kuruwlte 
hills in Gaffragam. 
