POMATOEHINUS. 83

" The measurements of two were 1*1 and 1"09 in length by 0-75
in breadth."

Major 0. T. Binghain says:—" This is the PomatorMnus of
the Thoungyeen valley, being found from the sources to the mouth
of that river. A note recorded two years ago of a nest that I
found is given below :—4th March.—Having to go over the ground
along the southern boundary of the proposed Meplay reserve I had
to cut my way through dense bamboo, to go through a long belt of
which is hard work. To make it worse in this case several clumps
had been burnt by fire and blown down. As I was slowly pro-
gressing along, bent almost double, out of a little hollow at my
feet a bird flew with a suddenness that nearly knocked me
down. I looked into the hollow, and there under the ledge of the
sheltering bank was a nest of dry bamboo-leaves lined with strips
of the same, shredded fine. It was cup-shaped, loosely made,
about 1| inches in diameter, and the same in depth, containing
three pure white eggs, perfectly fresh (measured afterwards two
proved respectively, 0'98 x 0-71, 0-99 x 0-73 inch) ; and gun in hand
I watched, hiding myself behind a clump of bamboos about thirty
yards off. For an hour I watched, but the bird did not return, so
I marked the spot and went on. Eeturniug back the same way
just before dusk, I managed to start her again, and to get a hurried
shot; she fell and I secured and recognized her as P. olivaceus"

The eggs, which seem small for the size of the bird, are rather
broad ovals, some fairly regular,- some a good deal compressed just
towards the small end, which is, however, always obtuse, never
pointed; the shell is fine, compact, and thin, smooth and satiny to
the touch, but with scarcely any perceptible gloss. The colour is
pure spotless white.

119. PomatorMnus melannrus, Blyth. The Geylonese Scimitar

Babbler.
Poinatorhinus raelanurus, Blyth, Hume, Cat. no. 404 bis.

Colonel Legge writes of the nidification of this bird in Ceylon :—
" This Babbler breeds from December until February. I have
observed one collecting materials for a nest in the former month,
and at the same period Mr. Mac Vicar had the eggs brought to
him ; they were taken from a nest made of leaves and grass, and
placed on a bank in jungle. Mr. Bligh has found the nest in
crevices in trees, between a projecting piece of bark and the trunk,
also in a jungle-path cutting and on a ledge of rock; it is usually
composed of moss, grass-roots, fibre, and a few dead leaves, and the
structure is rather a slovenly one. The eggs vary from three to
five, and are pure white, the shell thin and transparent, and they
measure O96 to 0-98 in length, by 0*7 in breadth."