peeicbocotus.	337
Mr. J. Darling, junior, sends me the following note:—"I had
the good fortune to find a nest of the Orange Mini vet at Neddivat-
tum, about 6000 feet above the level of the sea, on the 5th September,
1870. It was placed on a tall tree near the edge of a jungle and
was built in a fork, about 30 feet from the ground.
"The nest was built of small twigs and grasses, and covered on
the outside with lichens, moss, and cobwebs, making it appear as
part and parcel of the tree. I noticed it merely from the fact of
seeing the bird sitting on her nest, and even then could not make
up my mind, and came away. Being of an inquisitive nature, next
day I went again and saw the bird in the same place, so I climbed
up* and managecH-o pull the nest towards me with a hook, and took
two eggs, one of which I send you.
" In August 1874 at Vythery I saw a bird sitting on her nest, and
watched her rear aud take away her brood, but could not get at
the nest."
An egg sent me by Mr. Darling is very similar to the eggs sent
me by Miss Cockburn, except that the brown markings are rather
more numerous, especially in a broad zone round the large end, and
that with these a good many pale purple or lilac spots or specks
are intermingled. It measures 0-88 by 0-68 inch.
495. Pericrocotus toevirostris (Vigors).    The JSJiort-bilkd
Minivet.
Pericrocotus brevirostris (Vic/.), Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 421: Hume,
Hough Draft N. $ E. no. 273.
The Short-billed Minivet breeds in the Himalayas at elevations
of from 3000 to 6000 feet in Kumaon, and again in Kulu and the
valley of the Sutlej. It lays in May and June, building a compact
and delicate cup-shaped nest on a hoizontal bough pretty high up
in some oak, rhododendron, or other forest tree. I have never seen
one on any kind of fir-tree.
Sometimes the nest is merely placed on, and attached firmly to,
the upper surface of the branch; but, more commonly, the place
where two smallish branches fork horizontally is chosen, and the
nest is placed just at the fork. I got one nest at Kotgurh, however,
wedged in between two upright shoots from a horizontal oak-branch.
The nests are composed of Sne twigs, fir-needles, grass-roots, fine
grass, slender dry steins of herbaceous plants, as the case may be,
generally loosely, but occasionally compactly interlaced, inter-
mingled and densely coated over the whole exterior with cobwebs
and pieces of lichen, the latter so neatly put on that they appear
to have grown where they are. Sometimes, especially at the base
of the nest, a little moss is attached exteriorly, but, as a rule, there
is nothing but lichen. The nest has no lining. The external
diameter is about 2| inches, and the usual height of the nest from
1| to 2 inches ; but"this varies a good deal according to situation,
YOL. I.	22