In length they vary from 0.88 to 1.1, and in breadth from 0.73 to 0.85; but the average of fifty eggs measured is 0.99 by 0.77.

108.  Argya subrufa (Jerd.)[A]. The Large Rufous Babbler.

[Footnote A:  The accompanying incomplete account of the nidification of this bird is all I can find among Mr. Hume’s notes.  I cannot ascertain who was the discoverer of the nest and eggs described.—­ED.]

Layardia subrufa (Jerd.), Hume, Cat. no. 437.

The nest is a deep massive cup placed in the fork of twigs, coarsely and roughly but still strongly built.  The body of the nest is chiefly composed of leaves, some of which must have been green when used.  Outside, the leaves are held in position by blades of grass, creepers, and stems of herbaceous plants, carelessly and roughly wound about the exterior.  The cavity is rather more neatly lined with tolerably fine grass-bents.  Exteriorly the nest is about 7 inches in height and 5 in diameter.  The cavity is about 31/2 inches deep by 3 in diameter.

The eggs are precisely like those of the several species of Argya, moderately broad ovals rather obtuse at both ends, often with a pyriform tendency.  The colour is a uniform spotless clear blue with a faint greenish tinge, and the eggs have usually a fine gloss.  The eggs measure 0.98 by 0.75.

110.  Crateropus canorus (Linn.)[A]. The Jungle Babbler.

[Footnote A:  In the ‘Birds of India,’ I have united C. malabaricus and C. terricolor.  Mr. Hume probably still considers these two races distinct, and others may agree with him.  To avoid confusion, therefore, I have kept the notes appertaining to these two races distinct from each other.—­ED.]

Malacocercus terricolor (Hodgs.), Jerd.  B. Ind. ii, p.
  59; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 432. 
Malacocercus malabaricus, Jerd., Jerd. t.c. p. 62; Hume,
  t.c. no. 434.

C. terricolor.

The Bengal Babbler breeds throughout the plains of the Bengal Presidency (including Bengal, North-Western Provinces, Central Provinces, Oudh, and the Punjab), and I may add in the less desert portions of Sindh, although the race found in that province is not exactly identical with the Bengal bird, and in some respects closely approaches the Malabar race.  In Northern Rajpootana it is rare, and further south in the quasi-desert tracts of Central and Western Rajpootana it disappears according to my experience.

Eastward in Cachar and Assam it appears to occur as a mere straggler, but I have no record of its having bred there.  It lays from the latter half of March until the close of July, but the great majority lay during the first week after the setting in of the rains, which varies according to locality and season, from the 1st of June to the 15th of July.