HYPSIPETES.	165
the ground, on one of the topmost branches of a tree, contained
three hard-set eggs. This was below Eungbee, at an elevation of
about 3000 feet. The nest was a compact, moderately deep cup,
composed of very fine twigs and stems, and with a quantity of
dead leaves incorporated in the structure, especially towards its
lower surface; it had no lining, but the stems used towards the
interior of the nest were somewhat finer than the rest. Exteriorly
the nest had a diameter of about 4-5 inches, and a height of about
2-5; interiorly a diameter of about 2-5, and a depth of nearly 1-5."
Mr. Hodgson, writing from Nepal, says :—
"May 20tf7i, Jalia PowaJi.—Two nests on the skirts of the forest
in medium-sized trees, placed on the fork of a branch. They are
made, of moss and dry fern and dry elastic twig-tops, and lined
with long elastic needles of Pinus lonyifolia. They are compact
and rather deep, half pensile, that is to say, partly slung between
the brandies of the fork to which they are attached by bands of
vegetable fibres. Each contained four eggs, pinkish-white,'thickly
spotted with dark sanguine." Another year he wrote:—
"May 9zf7i, in tlie Valley.—A. mature female with nest and eggs.
Nest saucer-shaped, the cavity 3'5 wide by 2-5 deep, made of slender
twigs and grass-fibres, with no lining. Eggs three, pale pink,
blotched all over with sanguine brown/'
"Writing from Almorah, Mr. Brooks tells us that " the nest and
eggs were found by Mr. Home on the 27th May near Bheem Tal."
Colonel G-. E. L. Marshall also found a nest in the same place.
He says :—" I have only myself found the nest once at Bheem Tal
(4000 feet); it was situated in a thicket. The nest of this species
is similar in shape but much more substantial than those of the
Common Bulbul. The eggs are much larger and more elongated in
shape, but the colouring is similar to those of the Bulbul, and in
many cases the blotches have a tendency to form a zone near the
thick end. The nest I found was taken on the 10th June and
contained fresh eggs.
" On the 30th May, 1875, I found a nest of this species at
Nairn Tal on Ayarpata, over 7000 feet above the sea. I record
the circumstance, as their breeding at so great an elevation is
exceptional. The nest contained three fresh eggs ; it was made
of leaves and moss, lined with bents of grass, between two branches
but partially resting on a third, in a bush at the outskirts of a
forest on a steep bank and about eight feet from the ground."
From Mussoorie, Captain Hutton recorded the following very
full and interesting note:—
" They breed during April, May, and June, making a rather
neat cup-shaped nest, which is usually placed in the bifurcation
of a horizontal branch of some tall tree; the bottom of it is
composed of thin dead leaves and dried grasses, and the sides of
fine woody stalks of plants, such as those used by the "White-cheeked
Bulbul, and they are well plastered over externally with spiders'
webs ; the lining is sometimes of very fine tendrils, at other times
of dry grasses, fibrous lichen, and thin shavings of the bark of