Four is the usual number of eggs laid.

Mr. Brooks writes:—­“On the 26th June, 1867, in the broken ground above Chunar, I took two nests in the foot of a thick bamboo-bush about 2 feet from the ground.  The nests were made of bamboo-leaves rolled into a ball with the entrance at the side, and no lining except a few hairs.  There were two eggs in one nest and three in the other.  They were all fresh.  The eggs in the two nests varied somewhat:  the ground of the one was nearly pure white, and it was finely speckled with reddish brown, which at the large end was partly confluent:  the other nest had the eggs with a pinkish-white ground, the spots larger and less neatly defined, and with a rather large confluent spot at the large end.”

Writing from Hoshungabad, Mr. E.C.  Nunn remarks:—­“I found two nests of this species, each containing two eggs, on the 20th July and 6th August, 1868.  Both nests were ball-shaped, of coarse grass very firmly and compactly twisted together, and with numerous dead leaves incorporated in the body of the nest and towards the base, forming the major portion of the material.  They were thinly lined inside with fine grass-roots.  One was placed at the root of a small thorny bush:  the other on the ground in a thick clump of rank grass.”  The nest Mr. Nunn sent to me was peculiarly solidly made.  The cavity was small, about 2.25 inches in depth and 1.5 in diameter.  The bottom of the nest was some 2 inches and the sides 1.25 inch thick.

From Raipoor Mr. F.R.  Blewitt tells us that “in July and August four nests of this Babbler were taken; in two there were four eggs each, in the third, three, and in the fourth, two—­thirteen in all.  The nests were carefully made on the ground, at the base of clumps of long grass growing very near to bamboo thickets.  Three are made exclusively of the dry leaves of the bamboo; the fourth of coarse grass.  They were nearly globular, about 4 inches in diameter, and without any regular lining, although in the interior of the cavity a good deal of fine grass-stems had been incorporated in the nest.  They were well hidden in the grass.”

Mr. Henry Wenden writes:—­“On July 18th, about 15 miles from Bombay, on the line of railway, I found a nest and eggs of the following description:  nest, a rough loose ball of soft flat grasses, lined with hard but fine grass-stems, entrance at side near top; situated in a thorny bush in cactus-hedge, by a narrow lane, not 4 feet wide, through which numerous people passed.  The nest, about 3 feet from the ground, was in no way concealed.  On the 18th there were two eggs, and on the 20th, when there were four eggs, the bird was snared and nest taken.”