350
eggs are all very faint, and, as it were, half washed out, while in
others they are very bright and clear. In some these are com-
paratively sparse and few ; in others close-set and numerous,
especially in a broad zone near the large end ; but this zone is by
no means invariably present; in fact, not above one in five eggs
exhibit it. There is something in these eggs which reminds one
of some of the Terns' eggs ; and although, when compared with a
large series of L. lahtora, individuals of this la'ter species may be
found resembling them to a certain extent, I do not think that at
first sight any zoologist would have felt sure that they were Shrike's
eggs.
They vary in length from 1*12 to 1'41 inch, and in breadth from
0*8 to 0*95 inch, but the average of eight eggs is 1-26 by 0*9 inch
nearly.
Subfamily ARTAMI1SLE.
512. Artamus fuscus, Vieill.    The Ashy Swallow-Shrike.
Artamus fuscus, F"., Jerd.   £. 2nd. i_; p, 441 ; Hume, Rough Draft
N. $E. no. 287.
Mr. Ifc. Thompson says:—"I have frequently found the nests
of the Ashy Swallow-Shrike, and have watched the old birds con-
structing them, but never took down their eggs. Two or three
pairs may always be found nesting on the long-leaved pine, as one
comes up from Kaladoongee to JSTyneetal and passes halfway up
from the first dak chokee at Grhutgurh. They lay in May "and
June, constructing their nest on the horizontal extension of a main
branch of some lofty tree, generally Pinus longifolia. The nest,
composed of fine grasses, roots, and fibres, is a loose, only slightly
cup-shaped structure, some 5 inches in diameter."
l)r. Jerdon says on the other hand:—" I have procured the
nest of this bird situated on a palmyra tree on the stem of the
leaf. It was a deep cup-shaped nest, made of grass, leaves, and
numerous feathers, and contained two eggs, white with a greenish
tinge, and with light brown spots, chiefly at the larger end. I see
that Mr. Layard procured the nest in Ceylon, where this bird is
common, in the heads of cocoanut trees, made of fibres and grasses,
and it was probably the nest of this bird that was brought to
Tickell as that of the Palm-Swift."
According to Mr. Hodgson this species begins to lay in March,
the young being fledged in June; the nest is a broad shallow
saucer, from 6 to 8 inches in diameter, composed of grass and
roots, together with a little lichen, loosely put together, a green
leaf or two being sometimes found as a lining to the nest. The
nest is placed on some broad horizontal branch, where two or three
slender twigs or shoots grow out of it, or on the top of some stump
of a tree, or broken end of a branch, generally, at a considerable