70 CBATEUOPODIDJE.

Mr. J. Inglis writes from Cachar:—" The Striated Eeed-Babbler
is exceedingly common during the whole year. It breeds from
March onwards, making its nest in longish grass."

The eggs closely resemble those of A. caudata both in colour
and shape, but they are conspicuously larger. To judge from
Hewitson's figure, for I have never seen the egg, they in shape,
size, and colour closely resemble the eggs of Accentor dlpinus, some

1 have being very slightly larger, and others exactly the same size
as the figure referred to.

In length the eggs vary from O7S to 1-01, and in breadth from
0 65 to 0-75, but the average of a large series is 0-88 by 0-7.

105. Argya caudata (Duineril). The Common Babbler.

Chatarrhsea caudata (Bum.\ Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 67; Hume, Rough
Draft N.$E. no. 438. '

The Common Babbler breeds throughout India, not, however,
ascending any of our many mountain-ranges to any great elevation.

They ]ay pretty well all the year round; at any rate from early
ia March to early in September their eggs are common. Mr. "W".
Blewitt took a nest at Hansie on the 3rd January, and single nests
are recorded by others as found in October, December, and
[February. They certainly have two broods a year, and perhaps
more, the first being hatched from March, to May, the second from
June to August.

They build in low thorny bushes, and occasionally in clumps of
high grass, the nest being rarely more than 3 feet from the ground.
The nest itself is cup-shaped, and composed of grass and roots,
often unlined, at times lined with very fine grass-stems or horse-hair.
As a rule, it is neatly and compactly built, with a deep cavity some

2 to 3 inches in diameter, and T75 to 2*25 in depth, but I have
seen straggling, ragged, and comparatively shallow nests of this
species, having an external diameter of fully 7 inches. Three is
the normal number of the eggs, but four are occasionally met with.

Mr. Brooks says :—" This species builds in much the same sort
of places as A. malcolmi, but it chooses a low thick bush, the nest
not being more than 3 feet from, the ground. Nest neatly built of
grass, roots, hair, &c., and the eggs bright bluish green, very glossy,
and much resembling those of Accentor modularise

Mr. R. M. Adam remarks :—" I took a nest of this bird in Oudh
on the 22nd April. It contained a young bird and one unhatched
egg. The nest was made of grass not well worked together, and
had a lining of finer grass. The ground-work was composed of
twigs and stems of creepers interlaced. The exterior diameter of
the nest measured 5 inches, and the egg-cavity was 2 inches deep.
In one case this bird did not lay till the fifth day after the nest was
finished. About Agra this bird breeds during July and August.

" This Bush-Babbler is very common about the Sambhur lake. I
have noted it breeding from the beginning of March till the begin-
ning of July. Although this species generally prefers building in