The nest above referred to, and now in my museum, was a very shallow, rather broad cup.  The egg-cavity about 21/2 inches in diameter and about 3/4 inch deep, and the nest very loosely put together of very fine twigs, and exteriorly coated and bound together with cobwebs.  The sides of the nest are about 0.6 inch thick, but the bottom is a mere network of slender twigs, not above 1/4 inch thick, and can be readily looked through.

Mr. I. Macpherson writes:—­“This bird is found in the open scrub-forests of the Mysore district, but is nowhere common.

“14th May, 1880.—­While passing a small sandal-wood tree a bird flew out, and on looking into the tree I found a very shallow nest at the junction of two small branches about 10 feet from the ground; the nest contained three eggs.

“Returned again in a quarter of an hour and shot the bird (the male) as it flew out of the tree.  The eggs were within a few days of being hatched off.

“20th May, 1880.—­While out driving this morning saw a male bird of this species fly out of a small sandal-wood tree close to the roadside.  Pulled up to watch, and shortly saw the female bird fly into the tree.  Got out and shot her and took the nest, which was beautifully fixed in a fork with three branches only eight feet from the ground.

“The nest contained three eggs very hard-set.”

Mr. J. Davidson, C.S., remarks:—­“This pretty little Cuckoo-Shrike is one of the earliest migrants in the rains, arriving about the 8th of June, and breeding all along the scrub-jungles which stretch between the Nasik and Khandeish Collectorates.  It appears particularly partial to the Angan forest, and, as far as I remember, all the many nests I have seen have been in forks of angan trees.  The nest is a pretty firm platform composed of fine roots; and the eggs, which much resemble those of the Magpie-Robin, are three in number.”

Colonel Legge writes, in his ’Birds of Ceylon’:—­“With us this Cuckoo-Shrike breeds in April in the Western Province.  Mr. MacVicar writes me of the discovery, by himself, of two nests last year near Colombo.  One was built on the topmost branch of a young jack-tree about 40 feet high.  It was very small and shallow, measuring 2.8 inches in breadth and only 0.8 inch in depth, and the old bird could be seen plainly from beneath sitting across it.  The other was situated on the top of a tree about 20 feet from the ground, and was built in the same manner.  The materials are not mentioned.”

I have only seen two eggs of this species, sent me with the nest and parent bird by Mr. F.R.  Blewitt.  They are oval eggs, moderately broad and obtuse at both ends, about the same size as average eggs of Lanius vittatus.  They are slightly glossy, have a pale greenish-white ground, and are thickly blotched and streaked throughout, but most densely so towards the large end, with somewhat pale brown, much the same colour as the markings on typical eggs of L. erythronotus.  They measure 0.85 inch in length by 0.65 and 0.68 inch in breadth respectively.  Other eggs since received from Calcutta and Mysore measure from 0.87 to 0.81 in length, and from 0.68 to 0.62 in breadth.