Writing of Nepal, Dr. Scully says:—­“A nest taken on the 29th June contained only two fresh eggs.  The nest was of the shape of a mangoe, the small end being uppermost, and the entrance on one side, near the top; its measurements externally were, in height 5.2, in breadth 3.6 in one direction and 2.65 in the other; the opening was nearly circular, 1.8 in diameter.  It was rather flimsy in structure, composed of grass-down, more or less felted together, and bound round externally with dry green grass-blades; internally it was scantily lined with fine grass-stems, which were used to strengthen the lower lip of the entrance-hole.  The eggs were fairly glossy, moderate or longish oval in shape, and measured 0.65 by 0.5 and 0.7 by 0.49; the ground-colour was pinkish white, the small end nearly free from markings, the middle portion with faint streaks and tiny indistinct spots of brownish red, and the large end with a zone of bright brownish red or a confluent cap of the same colour.”

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:—­“This Suya breeds from May to June in the warmest valleys up to 3500 feet.  It affects open grassy tracts, and builds its nest in a bunch of grass, within a foot or two of the ground.  The nest is an extremely neat egg-shaped structure, with entrance at side, made of fine grass-stems thickly felted over with the white seeds of a tall flowering grass, which gives it a very pretty appearance.  Externally it measures 5 inches in height by 3 in diameter; the cavity is 2.25 wide and 2 deep, from lower edge of entrance.  The entrance is about 2.25 across.

“The usual number of eggs is four.  I have never found more, but on several occasions as few as two and three well-incubated eggs.”

A nest of this species taken by Mr. Gammie near Mongphoo, on the 18th April, at an elevation of about 3000 feet, contained three fresh eggs.  It closely resembles nests that I have taken of S. crinigera in shape, somewhat like an egg, with the entrance on one side, near the top, exteriorly about 5 inches in length, and 23/4 inches in diameter, with an aperture a little less than 2 inches across.  It was built amongst grass, of which a few fine stalks constitute the outer framework, and the whole body of the nest inside this framework consists solely of the flower-down of grass firmly felted together.  It is lined pretty thickly everywhere with the excessively fine stalks which bear this down.

Taking a large series, I should describe the eggs as typically regular but somewhat elongated ovals, often fairly glossy, at times almost glossless.  The ground varies from pale pinky white to pale salmon-colour.  A dense, more or less mottled, zone or cap at the large end, varying in different specimens from reddish pink to almost brick-red, and more or less of speckling, mottling, or freckling of a somewhat lighter shade than the zone spreads in some thinly, in some densely over the rest of the egg.

In length they vary from 0.63 to 0.75, and in breadth from 0.46 to 0.55; but the average of sixty-five eggs is 0.69 by 0.52.