214	DIORTTRIDJE.
tute of lining. There is a good deal of cobweb on the outsides of
the nests, and they were attached to the supporting branches by
the same material. One was fixed in among several upright sprays,
the other suspended in a slender fork after the manner of an
Oriole. They measured about 6 inches broad by 2| deep externally,
internally 4 by 1|. One nest contained four fresh eggs, the other
three partially-incubated eggs."
Mr. Gates, writing from Pegu, says :—" In the first week of
May I took several nests of this bird, but in all cases the nests
were situated in such dangerous places that most of the eggs got
broken; there were three in each nest. The position of the nest
and the nest itself are very much like those of D. -paradiseus.
Comparing many nests of both species together, the only difference
appears to be that the nests of the Hair-crested Drongo are slightly
larger on the whole.
"The only two eggs saved measure 1-10 by '8 and I'll by -81;
they are slightly glossy, dull white, minutely and thickly freckled
ancl spotted with reddish brown and pale underlying marks of
neutral tint.
__^J-^Cy"McTTtEat at the commmic_ement of May all the eggs were
much incubated."	~~~""-~~
Major C. T. Binghain remarks :—" During i-'ne Orec-ocH^cr-season
in the end of March and in April I saw a great number of nests-
round and about Meeawuddy in Tenasserim, but all inaccessible, as
they were invariably built out at the very end of the thinnest
branches of eng, teak, thingan (Hopea oclorata), ancl other trees.
" Except during those two months, I have not seen the bird
plentiful anywhere."
Mr. 3". R. Cripps has written the following valuable notes
regarding the breeding of the Hair-crested Drongo in the Dibru-
garh district in Assam:—
" 17th May, 1879. Nest with three fresh eggs, attached to a
fork in one of the outer branches of an otinga (Dilknict pentagyna)
tree, and about 15 feet off the ground.
" 15th May, 1880. Three fresh eggs in a nest 20 feet off the
ground, ancl a few yards from my bungalow, in an oorian (BiseJioffia
javanica, BL).
" 5th June, 1880. Nest with three partly-incubated eggs, in one
of the outer branches of a jack (Artocaiyaus inteyrifolia) tree, and
about 15 feet off the ground.
"27th May, 1881. Three fresh eggs in a nest 011 a soorn (Ma-
cldlus odoratissima} tree at the edge of the forest bordering the
tea. The nests are deep saucers, 3 j inches in diameter, internally
1J deep, with the sides about | thick; bub the bottom is so
flimsy that the eggs are easily seen from below, the materials being
grass, roots, and fine tendrils of creepers, especially if these are
thorny, when they are used as a lining. The nest is always situated
in the fork of a branch."
The nests are large, shallow, King-Orow-like structures, often
suspended between forks, sometimes placed between four or five