G-AEE.TJLAX* 49

At last, on the 2nd April, I came in for a piece of luck. I was
roaming about in the vicinity of my camp on the Gawbechoung,
the main source of the Thonngyeen river, and moving very slowly
and silently amid the dense clumps of bamboo, when my ears were
saluted by the hearty laughter of a flock of these birds, evidently not
far off. Very quietly I crept up, and looking cautiously from behind
a thick bamboo-clump, saw ten or twelve of them going through a
most intricate dance, flirting their wings and tails, and every now
and then bursting into a chorus of shouts, joined in by a few others
who were seated looking on from neighbouring bushes. During
one of the pauses of the applause, and while the dancers were busy
twining in and out, a single rather squeaky ' bravo ' came from a
bamboo-bush right opposite to me. Looking up I was astonished
to see a nest in a fork of the bamboo, and on the nest a Garrulcuv
who, probably too busy with her maternal duties to watch the
performance going on below her attentively, came in with a solitary
shout of approbation at an unseemly time. I watched the per-
formance a few minutes longer, and then frightened the old hen on
the nest. The terrific scare I caused by my sudden appearance is
beyond description. The dancers scattered with screeches, and the
old hen dropped fainting over the side of her nest with a feeble
remonstrance, and disappeared in the most mysterious way. After
all the nest contained only one egg, very glossy, white, and fresh*
The nest was better and stronger built, though very like that of
GarrulacG moniliger, constructed of twigs, and finely lined with
black hair-like roots; it measured some 6 inches in diameter, the
egg-cavity about 1£ inch deep. Subsequently I took three other
nests, on. the 4th April and 23rd May. The first contained three,
the two latter three and four eggs respectively. A considerable
number of eggs measure from 1-22 to 1-06 in length, and from *92
to -81 in breadth, and average 1-13 by 0-88."

72. Garrulax pectoralis (Gould). The Blaclc-gorgeted
Laughing-Thrush.

Garrulax pectoralis (Gould), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 39; Hume, Hough
Draft N. $ E. no. 412.

Mr. Gates tells us that he "found the nest of the Black-
gorgeted Laughing-Thrush in the Pegu Hills, on the 27th April,
containing three fresh eggs; the bird was sitting. The nest was
placed in a bamboo-clump about 7 feet from the ground, made out-
wardly of dead bamboo-leaves and coarse roots, lined with finer
roots and a few feathers; inside diameter 6 inches, depth 2 inches.
Two eggs measured 1*04 by O83 and 0-86. Colour, a beautiful clear
blue."

One' of these eggs sent by Mr. Gates * seems rather small for

* I fear I may hare made a mistake in identifying the nest referred to.
With this caution, however, I allow my note to stand.—ED.

VOL. I. 4