The egg is not figured in my collection of Mr. Hodgson’s drawings.

Writing from near Darjeeling, in Sikhim, Mr. Gammie says:—­“I have seen two nests of this bird; both were in bramble-bushes about five feet from the ground, and exactly resembled those of Dryonastes caerulatus, only they were a little smaller.  One nest had three young ones, the other three very pale blue unspotted eggs, which I left in the nest intending to get them in another day or two, as I wanted to see if more eggs would be laid, but when I went back to the place the nest had been taken away by some one.  Both nests were found here in May, one at 3500 feet, the other at 4500 feet.

“I have taken numerous nests of this species from April to June, from the warmest elevations up to about 4000 feet.  They are cup-shaped; composed of dry leaves and small climber-stems, and lined with a few fibrous roots.  They measure externally about 5 inches in width by 3.5 in depth; internally 3.25 across by 2.25 deep.  Usually they are found in scrubby jungle, fixed in bushes, within five or six feet of the ground.  The eggs are three or four in number.”

Many nests of this species sent me from Sikhim by my friends Messrs. Mandelli and Gammie are all precisely of the same type—­deep and rather compact cups, varying from 5 to 6 inches in external diameter, and 3.25 to 3.75 in height; the cavities about 3.25 in diameter and 2.25 in depth.  The nest is composed almost entirely of dry bamboo-leaves bound together loosely with stems of creepers or roots, and the cavity is lined with black and brown rootlets, generally not very fine.  They seem never to be placed at any very great elevation from the ground.

The eggs of this species, of which I have received a very large number from Mr. Gammie, are distinguishable at once from those of all the other species of this group with which I am acquainted.  Just as the egg of Garrulax albigularis is distinguished by its very deep tone of coloration, the egg of the present species is distinguished by its extreme paleness.  In shape the eggs are moderately broad ovals, often, however, somewhat pyriform, often a good deal pointed towards the small end.  The shell is extremely fine and smooth, and has a very fine gloss; they may be said to be almost white with a delicate bluish-green tinge.  In length they vary from 0.95 to 1.1, in breadth from 0.6 to 0.83; but the average of forty-one eggs is 1.02 by 0.75.

65.  Dryonastes caerulatus (Hodgs.). The Grey-sided Laughing-Thrush.

Garrulax caerulatus (Hodgs.), Jerd.  B. Ind. ii, p. 36; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 408.

A nest of the Grey-sided Laughing-Thrush found by Mr. Gammie on the 17th June near Darjeeling, below Rishap, at an elevation of about 3500 feet, was placed in a shrub, at a height of about six feet from the ground, and contained one fresh egg.  It was a large, deep, compact cup, measuring about 5.5 inches in external diameter and about 4 in height, the egg-cavity being 4 inches in diameter and 23/4 inches in depth.  Externally it was entirely composed of very broad flag-like grass-leaves firmly twisted together, and internally of coarse black grass and moss-roots very neatly and compactly put together.  The nest had no other lining.