286
4-5 in diameter externally; internally the nest was 2-4 in diameter,
and the cavity had a total height o£ 3*9, of which 2 inches was
below the lower edge of the entrance. According to my ex-
perience four is the regular complement of eggs. I have repeatedly
(three times this year) shot the female off the nest, and beyond
question Jerdon is wrong about this bird's laying Indian-red
eggs.'^7
According to Mr. Hodgson's notes, this species breeds in groves
and open forest in Sikhim and the central region of Nepal from
April to June, building a large globular nest in clumps of grass, of
dry grass, roots, and moss, lined with fine grass and moss-roots.
The entrance, which is circular, is at one side ; the nest is egg-
shaped, the longer diameter being perpendicular, and is placed at
a height of about 6 inches from the ground. A nest taken on the
30th May measured 6-12 in height and 3*5 in diameter externally,
and the circular aperture, which was just above the middle, was
1*75 in diameter. It contained four eggs, which are represented
as ovals, a good deal pointed towards one end, measuring 0-69 by
0-55. The ground-colour is a pale green, and they are speckled
and spotted with bright red, the markings being most numerous
towards the large end, where they have a tendency to form a zone
or cap.
Dr. Jerdon says that " it makes its nest of fine grass and
withered stalks, large, very loosely put together, globular, with a
hole near the top, and lays three or four eggs of an entirely dull
Indian-red colour." This undoubtedly is a mistake; the eggs he
refers to are, I think, those of Neornis flavolivaeeus. He gave
them to me, but was not certain of the species they belonged to.
The eggs of the present species are of much the same shape as
those of the preceding, and there is a certain similarity in the
colour of both; but in these eggs the ground-colour instead of
being pink or pinky white, is a pale, delicate, sometimes greyish,
green. Then though there is the same kind of zone round the
large end, it is a purple or purplish, instead of a brick-red, and it
is manifestly made up of innumerable minute specks, and has not
the cloudy confluent character of the zone in S. crinigera. Out-
side the zone minute specks of the same purplish red are scattered,
in some pretty thickly, in others sparsely, over the whole of the
rest of the surface. As a body the eggs have a faint gloss, de-
cidedly less, however, than those of JS. crmic/era, but some few are
absolutely glossless.
In length the eggs vary from. 0-63 to 0*79, and in breadth from
0-46 to 0-43; but the average of forty-five eggs is 0-68 by 0-5.
460. Suya khasiana, Grodw.-Aust.   Austen's Hill-Warbler.
Suya khasiana, Godio.-Aust., Hume) Cat. no. 549 bis.
I found this bird high up in the eastern hills of Manipur,
frequenting dense herbaceous undergrowth of balsams and the