509.  Campophaga terat (Bodd.)[A]. The Pied Cuckoo-Shrike.

[Footnote A:  I cannot find any note among Mr. Hume’s papers regarding the discovery of the nest of this bird.  The nest may possibly have been found at Camorta (Nicobar Islands), where this species is not uncommon.—­ED.]

Lalage terat (Bodd.), Hume, cat. no, 269 ter.

The eggs are quite of the Graucalus and Campophaga type, but perhaps a little more elongated in shape.  Very regular, slightly elongated ovals, with scarcely any gloss on them, the ground greenish white, but everywhere thickly streaked and mottled and freckled over, most thickly about the large end, with a dull pale slightly olivaceous brown intermingled with brownish, or in some specimens faintly purplish grey.  The two eggs I possess measure 0.85 and 0.87 in length, by 0.61 and 0.62 respectively in breadth.

510.  Graucalus macii, Lesson. The Large Cuckoo-Shrike.

Graucalus macei, Less., Jerd.  B. Ind. i, p. 417; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 270.

My friend Mr. F.R.  Blewitt seems to be the only ornithologist who has taken many nests of the Large Grey Cuckoo-Shrike.  I never was so fortunate as to find one.  He says:—­“This Shrike begins to pair about May, and in June the work of nidification commences.  The place selected for the nest is the most lofty branch of a tree, and is built near the fork of two outlying twigs.  If this bird has a preference it would appear to be for mango and mowa trees, on which I found most of the nests.  The nest is in form circular, and its exterior is somewhat thickly made; the interior is moderately cup-shaped.  Thin twigs and grass-roots are freely used in its construction, while the outer part of the nest is somewhat thickly covered with what appears to be spider’s web.  Altogether the nest, considering the size of the birds, is of light structure.  I am sorry I did not take the dimensions of each nest secured, but I sent you two very perfect ones.  I found the first eggs in the beginning of July.  They are of a dull lightish green, with brown spots of all sizes, more dense towards the large end.  The maximum number of eggs is three.  The bird breeds from June to August.”

The nests which Mr. Blewitt sent me remind one a good deal of those of the Dicruri.  They are broad shallow saucers, with an egg-cavity about 3 inches in diameter, and 3/4 inch in depth, composed in the only two specimens that I possess of very fine twigs, chiefly those of the furash (Tamarix orientalis).  Exteriorly they are bound round with cobwebs, in which a quantity of lichen is incorporated.  The nests are loose flimsy fabrics, which but for the exterior coating of cobwebs would certainly never have borne removal.

Dr. Jerdon remarks:—­“I once obtained its nest and eggs.  The nest was built in a lofty casuarina tree, close to my house at Tellicherry; it was composed of small twigs and roots merely, of Moderate size, and rather deeply cup-shaped, and contained three eggs, of a greenish-fawn colour, with large blotches of purplish brown.”