Mr. Benjamin Aitken writes:—­“You say that the Small Minivet lays during the latter half of June and throughout July and August.  I would therefore remark that on the 11th November, 1871, I saw several newly-fledged young ones at Poona.  There could be no mistake about this, as I stood under the tree, which was a small one, and saw the young ones being fed.”

Messrs. Davidson and Wenden remark that in the Deccan it is “common, and breeds in the rains.”

The latter gentleman subsequently added the following note:—­“In July, my men found a nest with two eggs at Nulwar, Deccan.  It was built on a small branch of a tamarind-tree, 20 feet from the ground.  The nest is similar to that described in the ‘Rough Draft’ as being found at Allyghur.  The whole of the bark used on the outer coating is that of tamarind-tree, and there are a good many feathers and much down incorporated into the structure, inside and out.  The eggs differ considerably in colouring.  In both the ground-colour is greenish white.  One is profusely speckled all over, but more thickly at the smaller end, with brownish red and a few purple blotches, whilst the other egg has the specks less numerous but larger, and chiefly on the larger end, with little or no purple, and the small end almost unsullied.”

Finally, Mr. Oates records that “in Lower Pegu nests of this bird may be found from the end of April to the middle of June.”

The eggs are of a rather broad oval shape, and, as is often the case even in the typical Shrikes, very blunt at both ends.  The ground-colour is a pale delicate greenish white, and they are more or less richly marked with bright, slightly brownish-red specks, spots, and blotches, which, always more numerous at the large end, have a tendency there to form a mottled irregular cap.  In many eggs, besides these primary markings, a number of small faint, patches and blotches of pale inky purple are observable, almost exclusively at the large end.  The eggs appear to be quite devoid of gloss.  I have eggs both of Copsychus saularis and Thamnobia cambaiensis, strange as it may seem, closely resembling, except in size, some types of this bird’s egg; and I have one egg of Merula simillima from the Nilghiris, which, though immensely larger, so far as tint, colour, and character of ground and markings go, is positively identical with eggs that I have of this species.

In length the eggs vary from 0.6 to 0.7 inch, and in breadth from 0.5 to 0.56 inch, but the average of twenty-eight eggs is 0.67 nearly by 0.53 inch.

501.  Pericrocotus erythropygius (Jerd.). The White-bellied Minivet.

Pericrocotus erythropygius (Jerd.), Jerd.  B. Ind. i, p. 424; Hume, cat. no. 277.