Dr. Scully, also writing of Nepal, says:—­“This Shrike breeds on the hillsides of the valley, usually in places where there is no tree-forest, and not uncommonly in the neighbourhood of hamlets.  Several nests were obtained in May and June; these were large cup-shaped structures, composed of grass-roots, fibres, and fine seed-down intermixed.  The egg-cavity was circular, lined with fine grass-stems, about 4 inches in diameter, and 2 inches deep in the middle.  The usual number of eggs is five; the ground-colour pale greenish white, boldly blotched and spotted with olive marks in an irregular zone round the large end.  A clutch of five eggs taken on the 14th June gave the following dimensions:—­0.94 to 0.97 in length, and 0.65 to 0.7 in breadth.”

Mr. Gammie found a nest of this species on the 17th May at Mongfoo, near Darjeeling, at an elevation of 3500 feet.  The nest was placed in a wormwood bush, and was supported between several slender upright shoots, to which the exterior of the nest was more or less attached.  The nest was a deep compact cup, externally composed of fine twigs, scraps of roots, and stems of herbaceous plants, intermingled with a great deal of flowering grass.  Internally it was lined with very fine grass and moss-roots.  The cavity measured about 3 inches in diameter, and was fully 2 inches deep.  The external diameter was about 5 inches, and height 31/2 or thereabout.

Subsequently he sent me the following full account of the nidification of this Shrike:—­

“I have found this Shrike breeding abundantly in the Cinchona reserves in May and June, at elevations of from 3000 to 4500 feet above the sea.  It affects open, cultivated places, and builds, from 6 to 20 feet from the ground, in shrubs, bamboos, or small trees.  The nest is often suspended between several upright shoots, to which it is firmly attached by fibres twisted round the stems and the ends worked into the body of the nest; sometimes against a bamboo-stem seated on, and attached to, the bunch of twigs given out at a node; or in a fork of a small tree, or end of an upright cut branch where several shoots have sprung away from under the cut and keep the nest in position, when it has a large pad of an everlasting plant or of the downy heads of a large flowering grass to rest on—­when the former material is handy it is preferred.  The nest is sometimes exposed to view, but generally is tolerably well concealed.  It is of a deep cup-shape, very compactly built of flowering grass and stems of herbaceous plants intermixed with fibry twigs, and lined with the small fibry-looking branchlets of grass-panicles.  Externally it measures 5 inches across by 31/2 inches in depth; internally the cavity is 31/2 inches in diameter by nearly 2 inches deep.  Usually the eggs are either four or five in number.  On one occasion only have I seen so many as six.  The coloration is of two distinct types, but one type only is found in the same nest.  I suspect that the age of the bird has