Mr. Gammie says:—­“I have only as yet found a single nest of this species, and this was one of the most artfully concealed that I have ever seen.  I found it in forest in the Chinchona reserves, at an elevation of about 5000 feet, on the 14th May.  It was a rather deep cup, composed of moss and fine root-fibres and thickly lined with the latter, and was suspended at a height of about six feet amongst the natural moss, hanging from a horizontal branch of a small tree, in which it was entirely enveloped.  A more beautiful or more completely invisible nest it is impossible to conceive.  It contained three fresh eggs.  The cup itself was exteriorly 3.7 inches in diameter and 1.9 in depth, while the cavity was 2.5 in diameter and 1.5 in depth.”

The Yellow-naped Ixulus breeds, according to Mr. Hodgson’s notes, in the central region of Nepal and the neighbourhood of Darjeeling, laying during the months of May and June.  It builds on the ground in tufts of grass, constructing its nest of moss and moss-roots, sometimes open and cup-like and sometimes globular, and lining it with sheep’s wool.  Mr. Hodgson figures one nest suspended from a branch, and although neither the English nor the vernacular notes confirm this, it is supported to a certain extent by Mr. Gammie’s experience.  At the same time, though the situation and surroundings of both seem to have been similar, Mr. Hodgson figures his nest, not cup-shaped, but egg-shaped, and with the longer diameter horizontal.  Seven nests are recorded as having been taken, and all on the ground.  One, cup-shaped, taken on the 7th June, 1846, which is also figured, in amongst grass and leaves on the ground, measured externally 3.5 inches in diameter, 2.5 in height, and internally 2 inches both in diameter and depth.

The full complement of eggs is said to be four.  Two types of eggs are figured, both rather broad ovals, measuring about 0.75 by 0.6.  The one has a buffy-white ground and is thinly speckled and streaked, except quite at the broad end, where the markings are nearly confluent, with pale dingy yellowish brown; the other has a pale earthy-brown ground, and is spotted similarly to the one just described, but with red and purple.  This latter egg appears on the same plate with the suspended nest, and is, I think, doubtful.

Several nests of this species, which I owe to Captain Masson of Darjeeling, are very beautiful structures, moderately shallow and rather massive cups, externally composed of moss, and lined thickly with fine black moss-roots.  The cavity of the nests may have been about 13/4 inch in diameter by less than 11/2 inch in depth, but the sides of the nests are from one inch to 2 inches in thickness, constructed of firmly compacted moss.

Other nests of this species that have since been sent me show that the bird very commonly suspends its nest to one or two twigs, not unfrequently making it a complete cylinder or egg in shape, with the entrance at one side, but always using moss, in some cases fine, in some coarse, according to the nature of the moss growing where the nest is placed, as the sole material, and lining the cavity thickly with fine black moss and fern-roots.