442.  Abrornis albigularis, Hodgs. The White-throated Flycatcher-Warbler.

Abrornis albigularis, Hodgs., Jerd.  B. Ind. ii, p. 204.

A nest of this species found in Native Sikhim, below Namtchu, on the 28th July, is a regular Tailor-bird’s nest, absolutely undistinguishable from the one also sent me by Mr. Mandelli as belonging to Orthotomus atrigularis, so that for the moment I have some doubts as to the authenticity of this nest.  Two leaves, precisely of the same species as those made use of by the Tailor-bird in question, have been sewn together with the same bright yellow silk, and the little deep cup-shaped nest within is composed exactly of the same excessively fine grass.  Another nest, also said to belong to this species, but of a very different character, has been sent me by Mr. Mandelli.  This was found at Yendong, in Native Sikhim, on the 6th July, and contained four fresh eggs precisely of the type of those of A. schisticeps.  The nest was placed in the cavity of a truncated bamboo about 4 feet from the ground, and was a loose cup, the basal portion composed of dry bamboo-leaves, and the rest of the nest being made of excessively fine grass, flower-stems, similar to those used in the Tailor-bird-like nest above described, but with a quantity of feathers mingled with this in the lining of the nest.

The eggs of this species are of precisely the same type as those of A. schisticeps and A. superciliaris, but they are the smallest of all.  They are little regular oval eggs, with a white, greyish, or pinky white ground, with deep red freckled and mottled markings, which are densely set about the large end, where they generally form a cap or zone, and usually much less dense elsewhere.

The eggs sent me measured 0.55 and 0.57 by 0.43.

445.  Scotocerca inquieta (Cretzschm.). The Streaked Scrub-Warbler.

Scotocerca inquieta (Ruepp.), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 550 bis.

The Streaked Scrub-Warbler is a permanent resident of the bare stony hills which, under many names and broken into multitudinous ranges, run down from the Khyber Pass to the sea, dividing the Punjab and Sind from Afghanistan and Khelat.

An account of its nidification is contained in the following note furnished me by the late Captain Cock:—­

“I first discovered this bird breeding in February in the Khuttuck Hills.  It is common throughout the range of stony hills between Peshawur and Attock, and I have seen it on the hills between Jhelum and Pindi, but never took their nest in this latter locality.  At Nowshera it is very common, and towards the end of February a collector could take four or five nests in a day.  It builds in a low thorny shrub, about 11/2 feet from the ground, makes a largish globular nest of thin dry grass-stems, with an opening in the side, thickly lined with seed-down, and containing four or five eggs.  Their nesting-operations are over by the end of March.”