DTTMETIA. 93

Mr. Brooks writes :—" On the 26th June, 1867, in the broken
ground above Chunar, I took two nests in the foot of a thick
bamboo-bush about 2 feet from the ground. The nests were made
of bamboo-leaves rolled into a ball with the entrance at the side,
and no lining except a few hairs. There were two eggs in one
nest and three in the other. They were all fresh. The eggs in
the two nests varied somewhat: the ground of the one was nearly
pure white, and it was finely speckled with reddish brown, which
at the large end was partly confluent: the other nest had the eggs
with a pinkish-white ground, the spots larger and less neatly
defined, and with a rather large confluent spot at the large end."

"Writing from Hoshungabad, Mr. E. 0. Nunii remarks:—" I
found two nests of this species, each containing two eggs, on the
20th July and 6th August, 1868. Both nests were ball-shaped,
of coarse grass very firmly and compactly twisted together, and
with numerous dead leaves incorporated in the body of the nest
and towards the base, forming the major portion of the material.
They were thinly lined inside with fine grass-roots. One was
placed at the root of a small thorny bush : the other on the ground
in a thick clump of rank grass." The nest Mr. Nunn sent to me
was peculiarly solidly made. The cavity was small, about 2-25
inches in depth and 1*5 in diameter. The bottom of the nest was
some 2 inches and the sides 1*25 inch thick.

From Eaipoor Mr. E. E. Blewitt tells us that " in July and
August four nests of this Babbler were taken; in two there were
four eggs each, in the third, three, and in the fourth, two—thirteen
in all. The nests were carefully made on the ground, at the base
of clumps of long grass growing very near to bamboo thickets.
Three are made exclusively of the dry leaves of the bamboo ; the
fourth of coarse grass. They were nearly globular, about 4 inches
in diameter, and without any regular lining, although in the
interior of the cavity a good deal of fine grass-stems had been
incorporated in the nest. They were well hidden in the grass."

Mr. Henry "Wenden writes :—" On July 18th, about 15 miles
from. Bombay, on the line of railway, I found a nest and eggs of
the following description: nest, a rough loose ball of soft flat
grasses, lined with hard but fine grass-stems, entrance at side near
top ; situated in a thorny bush in cactus-hedge, by a narrow lane,
not 4 feet wide, through which numerous people passed. The
nest, about 3 feet from the ground, was in no way concealed. On
the 18th there were two eggs, and on the 20th, when there were
four eggs, the bird was snared and nest taken."

The eggs are short, broad ovals, very slightly compressed towards
one end. The ground-colour is white or pinkish white, and it is
streaked, spotted, and speckled most thickly at the large end (where
there is a tendency to form an irregular confluent cap or zone),
and thinly towards the small end, with shades of red, brownish
red, and reddish purple, varying much in different examples. In
some the markings are pretty bold and blotchy, in others they are
small and speckly; in some they are smudgy and ill-defined, in