] 24	CRA.TEEOPODID JE.
189. ICyiopllOlieTtS horsfieldi. Vigors.    The Malabar Whistling-
Thrush.
Myiophonus horsfieldii, Vig.^ Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 499; Hume, Rough
'Draft N. 8f E. no. 342.
Mr. W. Davison says :—" The Malabar Whistling-Thrush
(rather a misnomer, by the way) breeds on the slopes of the Nil-
ghiris, never ascending higher than 6000 feet. The nest is always
placed on some rock in a mountain torrent; it is a coarse and, for
the size of the bird, a very large structure, and though I have
never measured the nest, I should say that the total height was
about 18 inches or more, and the greatest diameter about 18 inches.
Exteriorly it is composed of roots, dead leaves, and decaying vege-
tation of all kinds; the egg-cavity, which is saucer-shaped and
comparatively shallow, is coarsely lined with roots. It breeds
during March and April."
Miss Cockburn says :—" A nest of this bird was found on the
22nd of March in a hole in a tree situated in a wood at a height
of about 40 feet from the ground. Two bamboo ladders had to be
tied together to reach it, for the tree had no branches except at
the top. The nest consisted of a large quantity of sticks and dried
roots of young trees, laid down in the form of a Blackbird's nest.
The contents of it were three eggs. They were quite fresh, and
the bird might have laid another. The poor birds (particularly the
hen) showed great boldness and returned frequently to the nest,
while a ladder was put up and a man ascended it."
Such a situation for the nest of this bird may seem incredible ;
but my friend Miss Cockburn is a most careful observer, and she
sent me one of the eggs taken from this very nest, and it undoubt-
edly belonged to this species; moreover, there is no other bird on
the Nilghiris that she, who has figured most beautifully all the
Nilghiri birds, could possibly have mistaken for this species. At
the same time, the situation in which she found the nest was alto-
gether unusual and exceptional.
I now find that such a situation for the nest of this bird is not
even very unusual. On the 3rd of July Miss Cockburn took
another nest in a hole in a tree, about thirty feet from the ground,
containing three fresh eggs, which she kindly sent me; and writing
from the Wynaad Mr. J. Darling, jun., remarks that there this
species commonly builds in holes in trees. He says:—"July
22nd. Nest found near Kythery, S. Wynaad, in a crevice of a log
of a felled tree in a new clearing 11 feet from the ground. Nest
built entirely of roots. The foundation was of roots from some
swampy ground and had a good deal of mud about it. Another
nest was in a hole of a dead tree 32 feet from the ground."
Mr. Erank Bourdillon writes from Travancore :—" Very common
from the base to near the summit of the hills, frequenting alike jungle
and open clearings, though generally found in the neighbourhood of
some running stream ; I have known this species to build on ledges
of rock and in a hollow tree overhanging a stream, in either case
constructing a rather loosely put together nest of roots and coarse