tree, then on one closer, coming nearer and nearer each time; finally, she will perch on the very tree or bush in which the nest is built, and while taking a look round to see that all is well before making a final ascent, you have yourself to blame if you fail to bag her.  All this sounds very cruel; but if a bird must be shot for scientific purposes, it is surely preferable to kill it outright than to let it die a lingering death.  Thus it was that I eventually succeeded, even at the expense of being devoured alive by midges and mosquitoes; but then had I not the satisfaction of knowing that to become the happy possessor of authentic eggs of Acrocephalus dumetorum was in itself sufficient to repay me for my hill excursion!

“I cannot, however, pretend to lay claim to originality in the discovery of the breeding-habits of this bird, for Hutton’s description of the nest and eggs taken by him so fully accords with my own experience, that it is but fair to conclude he was correct in his identification.  I would add, however, with reference to his remarks, that the nest above alluded to was more elliptical than spherical, being about the size and shape of an Ostrich’s egg, that it was constructed throughout of the largest and coarsest blades of various kinds of dry grass, the egg-cavity being lined with grass-bents of a finer quality, and that it was domed over, having a lateral entrance about the middle of the nest.  The whole structure was so loosely put together as to fall to pieces immediately it was removed.

“The eggs, four in number, are pure while, beautifully glossed, and well covered with rufous or reddish-brown specks, most numerous at the obtuse end.  Owing to its similarity to a number of eggs, particularly to those of the Titmouse group, it is just one of those that I would never feel comfortable in accepting on trust.

“It was a remarkable coincidence that the very day I took this nest my post brought me part iv. of the P.Z.S. for 1874, containing Mr. Dresser’s interesting paper on the nidification of the Hypolais and Acrocephalus groups; and if I understand him rightly, he is certainly correct in his surmise as to the eggs of Acrocephalus dumetorum approaching those of the Hypolais group.

“My good luck, as regards Blyth’s Reed-Warbler, did not end here, for on the following day, at Bagesur, at an elevation of only 3000 feet, I again encountered a pair of these birds, finding their nest on the banks of the Surjoo.  The position, shape, and architecture of this nest were identical with the one I have above described, but the eggs unfortunately had not been laid.  The little birds, on this occasion, were quite fearless, hopping from stem to stem of the dense undergrowth which throughout the Bagesur valley fringes both banks of the river, every now and again making a temporary halt for the purpose of picking insects off the leaves, with an occasional ‘tchick,’ which Hutton resembles to the ’sound emitted by a flint and steel,’ but all the time enticing me away from the site of their dwelling-place.  In this way they led me a wild-goose chase several times up and down the river-bank before I was able to discover the whereabouts of their nest.”