“I found a nest down at Vythery, Wynaad, in a hole in the bank of a road, in December 1874, made entirely of broad grass, very untidy, and containing three eggs.”

Mr. Rhodes W. Morgan writing from South India, says:—­“Breeds in April, constructing a neat domed nest of leaves on the ground, at the foot of a bush.  The nest is lined with fine grasses, and almost always contains three eggs, which, when fresh, are of a beautiful pink colour, owing to the yolk shining through the shell, which is exceedingly fragile.  The egg, when blown, is of a very beautiful glossy white.  If suddenly approached whilst on its nest, this bird runs out like a rat, and flies when at a distance from the nest.  An egg in my collection measures 1.04 by .7 inch.”

The eggs sent me from the Nilghiris by Miss Cockburn and Mr. Carter are nearly perfect ovals, usually much elongated, but sometimes moderately broad, and very slightly compressed towards one end.  They are very fragile, and perfectly pure spotless white in colour.  Typically, although smooth and satiny in texture, they have but little gloss, but occasionally a fairly glossy egg is to be met with.

In length they vary from 0.98 to 1.12, and in breadth from 0.75 to 0.79; but the average seems to be about 1.08 by 0.77.

122.  Pomatorhinus ferruginosus, Blyth. The Coral-billed Scimitar Babbler.

Pomatorhinus ferruginosus, Blyth,, Jerd.  B. Ind. ii, p. 29; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 401.

The Coral-billed Scimitar Babbler, according to Mr. Hodgson’s notes, breeds in Sikhim, at an elevation of 5000 or 6000 feet.  Its nest is placed about a foot or 2 feet above the ground, in a bamboo-clump or some thick bush, and is firmly wedged in between the twigs and shoots.  It is composed internally of dried bamboo-leaves, grass, and vegetable fibres, outside which bamboo-sheaths are bound on with creepers and fibres of different kinds.  The nest is more or less egg-shaped, with the longer diameter horizontal, some 7 inches or so in length and 5 inches in height, and with the entrance at one end, measuring some 3 inches in diameter.  Four or five eggs are laid, elongated ovals, somewhat pointed towards the small end, pure white, and measuring about 1.08 by 0.7.

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:—­“I took a nest of this bird on the 19th May, at an elevation of about 5000 feet.  It was placed on the ground, among low scrub, near the outskirts of a large forest, and was neatly made, for a Pomatorhinus, of bamboo-leaves and long grass, with a thin lining of fibry strips torn from old bamboo-stems.  In shape it was a cone laid on its side.  Externally it measured 9 inches in length by the same in height at front, while the egg-cavity measured 3.5 inches across, and 1.75 in depth.  The entrance, which was at the end, measured 3 inches in diameter.

“Next to the lining was a layer of broadish grass-blades, placed lengthways, i.e. from base to apex of the cone, then came a cross layer of broad bamboo-leaves succeeded by a second layer of bamboo-leaves placed lengthways.  By this arrangement the nest was kept perfectly water-tight.  So nicely were these simple materials put together that they held each other in their places without the assistance of a single fibre.