22	COEVID^E.
or they are streaky smudges forming a mottled ill-defined cap at
the large end, and running down thence in streaks and spots longi-
tudinally ; in the other type the ground-colour is greenish white
or pale yellowish stone-colour, and the character of the markings
varies as in the preceding iype. Besides these there are a few eggs
with a dingy greyish-white ground, with very faint, cloudy, ill-
defined spots of pale yellowish brown pretty uniformly distributed
over the whole surface. In nine eggs out of ten the markings are
most dense at the large end, where they form irregular, more or
less imperfect caps or zones. A few of the eggs are slightly glossy.
Of the salmon-pink type some specimens in their coloration
resemble eggs of Dicrurus lonyieaudatus and some of our Goat-
suckers, while of those with the greenish-white ground-colour some
strongly recall the eggs of Lanius lalitora.
In length the eggs vary from 1*0 to, 1*3, and in breadth from
0-78 to 0*95; but the average of forty-four eggs is 1-17 by 0-87.
17. Dendrocitta leucogastra, Gould.    The Southern Tree-pie.
Dendrocitta leucogastra, Gould, Jerd. J?. Ind. ii, p. 317; Hume,
Rough Draft N. $ H. no. 678.
Prom Travancore Mr. Bourclillon has kindly sent me an egg and
the following note on the nidification of the Southern Tree-pie :—
" Three eggs, very hard-set, of an ashy-white colour, marked with
ashy and greenish-brown blotches, 1*12 long and 0*87 broad, were
taken on 9th March, 1873, from a nest in a bush 8 or 10 feet from
the ground. The nest of twigs was built after the style of the
English Magpie's nest, minus the dome. It consisted of a large
platform 6 inches deep and 8 or 10 inches broad, supporting a nest
1| inch deep and 3i inches broad. The bird is not at all uncom-
mon on the .Assamboo Hills between the elevations of 1500 and
3000 feet above the sea, seeming to prefer the smaller jungle and
more open parts of the heavy forest."
Later he writes :—" On the 8th April I found another nest con-
taining three half-fledged Magpies (D. Uucogastra). The nest was
entirely composed of twigs, roughly but securely put together;
interior diameter 3 inches and depth 2 inches, though there was a
good-sized base or platform, say, 5 inches in diameter. The nest
was situated on the top fork of a sapling about 12 feet from the
ground. I tried to rear the young birds, but they all died within
a week,"
The egg is very like that of our other Indian Tree-pies. It is
in shape a broad and regular oval, only slightly compressed towards
one end. The shell is fine and compact and is moderately glossy.
The ground is a creamy stone-colour. It is profusely blotched arid
streaked with a somewhat pale yellowish brown, these markings
being most numerous and darkest in a broad, irregular, imperfect
zone round the large end, and it exhibits further a number of pale
inky-purple clouds and blotches, which seem to underlie the brown
markings, and which are chiefly confined io the broader half of the
egg. The latter measures 1-13 by OS6.