a good deal:  in some they are more speckly, in others more streaky, but taking them as a whole they are intermediate between those of Dendrocitta and those of Garrulus, neither so bold and streaky as the former, nor so speckly as the latter.  The markings are a yellowish olive-brown; they consist of spots, specks, small streaky blotches and frecklings; they are always pretty densely set over the whole surface of the egg, but they are always most dense in a zone or sometimes a cap at the large end, where they are often, to a great extent, confluent.  In some eggs small dingy brownish-purple spots and little blotches are intermingled in the zone.  The eggs differ in general appearance a good deal, because in some almost all the markings are fine grained and freckly, and in such eggs but little of the ground-colour is visible, while in other eggs the markings are bolder (in comparison, for they are never really bold) and thinner set, and leave a good deal of the ground-colour visible.

23.  Platysmurus leucopterus (Temm.). The White-winged Jay.

Platysmurus leucopterus (Temm.), Hume, Cat. no. 678 quint.

Mr. W. Davison writes:—­

“I found a nest of this bird on the 8th of April at the hot springs at Ulu Laugat.  The nest was built on the frond of a Calamus, the end of which rested in the fork of a small sapling.  The nest was a great coarse structure like a Crow’s, but even more coarsely and irregularly built, and with the egg-cavity shallower.  It was composed externally of small branches and twigs, and loosely lined with coarse fibres and strips of bark.  It contained two young birds about a couple of days old.  The nest was placed about 6 feet from the ground.  The surrounding jungle was moderately thick, with a good deal of undergrowth.”

24.  Garrulus lanceolatus, Vigors. The Black-throated Jay.

Garrulus lanceolatus, Vig., Jerd.  B. Ind. ii, p. 308; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 670.

The Black-throated Jay breeds throughout the Himalayas, at elevations of from 4000 to 8000 feet, from the Valley of Nepal to Murree.

They lay from the middle of April until the middle of June.

They build on trees or thick bushes, never at any great height from the ground, and often within reach of the hand.  They always, I think, choose a densely foliaged tree, and place the nest sometimes in a main fork and sometimes on some horizontal bough supported by one or more upright shoots.

All the nests I have seen were moderately shallow cups, built with slender twigs and sticks, some 6 inches in external diameter, and from less than 3 inches to nearly 4 inches in height, with a nest-cavity some 4 inches across and 2 inches deep, lined with grass and moss-roots.  Once only I found a nest almost entirely composed of grass, and with no lining but fine grass-stems.

The eggs vary from four to six, but this latter number is rarely met with.