“I found several nests, and they were all placed in small bushes, and from 4 to 6 feet above the ground.  One was in a bush on a small island in the Kangan River, which runs into the Sind River; and this nest I well remember was just so high that I could not look into it as I stood.  The nests precisely resembled in size and structure those of C. garrula which I have seen at home, being formed of grasses, roots, and fine fibres, and I think scantily lined with a few black horsehairs; but I forget this now.  They were slight, thinly formed nests, very neat but strong, and had bits of spider’s web stuck about the outside here and there.  This appears to be the decoration this bird and C. garrula are partial to.  They were not added, I think, for the purpose of rendering the nest inconspicuous, for there were just enough to give the nest a spotted appearance.

“The song of this species strongly resembles that of its congener, and is full, loud, and sweet.  I found the nests by the song of the male, for he generally sings near the nest.  The eggs don’t differ from those of C. garrula in my collection.”

Major Wardlaw Ramsay says, writing of Afghanistan:—­“This Warbler was very common and was breeding by the 27th May.  All the nests found were shallow cups, composed entirely of dried grass, and situated in small bushes, frequently juniper, about 21/2 feet from the ground.  The eggs vary much both in size and colour—­some being long ovals, nearly pure white, spotted with pale brown towards the larger end, and others of a much rounder form and a pale greenish white, thickly spotted in a broad zone near the thicker end and smeared with very pale brown, or else spotted and smeared with olive-brown over the whole of the thicker end.”

The eggs are somewhat broad ovals, typically a good deal pointed towards the lesser end.  They vary, however, much both in size and shape:  some are short and broad, decidedly pointed at the small end; others are more elongated, and some are almost regular ellipsoids.  The eggs have little or no gloss; the ground-colour is white, with a more or less perceptible though very faint greenish tinge.  Typically they are very Shrike-like in their markings, the majority of these being gathered together in a more or less dense zone near the large end.  The markings consist of small spots, blotches, and specks of pale yellowish brown, more or less intermingled with spots and specks of dull inky purple or grey; in many eggs there are very few markings, and these are mere spots except in the zone, while in others full-sized markings are scattered, though thinly, more or less over the whole surface of the egg.  In some the zone is confluent and blurred; in others composed of small sharply defined specks and spots.  Here and there a pretty large yellowish-brown cloud may be met with partially or entirely bounded by a narrow hair-like black line.  Tiny black specks now and then occur, and little zigzag lines that might have been borrowed from a Bunting’s egg; but these are not met with in probably more than one out of ten eggs.