DEYMOOATAPHTJS,—TUETHNUS. 103

151. Drymocataplms tickelli. Tided?s Balkier.
Trichastoina minus, Hume j Hume, Cat. no. 387 bis.

Major C. T. Bingham found the nest of this bird in the valley
of the Meplay river, Tenasserim, and he says :—" On the 15th
March I found a little domed nest made of dried bamboo-leaves,
and lined .with fine roots, placed in a cane-bush a foot or so above
the ground. It contained three tiny white eggs, with minute pink
dottings chiefly at the larger end; one egg, however, is nearly pure
white."

One of these eggs taken by Major Bingham on the 15th March
is a very regular, somewhat elongated oval. The shell very fine and
delicate, and fairly glossy. The ground is china-white, and it is
everywhere speckled and spotted, nowhere very thickly, but most
so in a zone near one end, with pale ferruginous. It measured
0-67 by 0-51.

160. Turdinus abbotti (BL). Abbott's Babbler.
Trichastoina abbotti (Bl.}^ Jerd. J?. Ind. ii, p. 17.

Abbott's Babbler breeds throughout Burma in suitable localities.
"Writing from Kyeikpadein, in Southern Pegu, Mr. Oates says:—
" On the 22nd May I found a nest with two eggs nearly hatched,
and on 23rd of same month another with two eggs, one of which
was fresh and the other incubated. This bird builds in thick
undergrowth, and the nest is built at a height of about 2 feet from
the ground. I have found very many of their nests, but, with the
above exceptions, the young had flown. It is generally attached
to a stout weed or two, and consists of two portions. First, a
platform of dead leaves about 6 inches in diameter and 1 deep,
placed loosely, and on this the nest proper is built. This consists
of a small cup, the interior diameter of which is 2 inches, and
depth 1|. It is formed entirely of fine black fern-roots well woven
together. Stout weeds appear favourite sites, but I have found old
nests in dwarf palm-trees at the junction of the frond with the trunk,
and in one instance I found an old nest on the ground, undoubtedly
belonging to this bird. Three eggs measured '84 by *66, -82 by
•67, and -87 by -65. They are very glossy and smooth. The
ground-colour is a pale pinkish white. At the cap there are a few
spots and short lines of inky-purple sunk into the shell, and over
the whole egg, very sparingly distributed, there are spots and irre-
gular fine scrawls of reddish brown. A few of the marks are
neither spots nor scrawls, but something like knots. The cap is
suffused with a darker tinge of pink than are the other parts of
the shell.

" A third nest, found on the 10th June, contained three eggs,
and differed from those above described in being very massive. It
was composed of dead leaves and fern-roots, and measured abou
5 inches in exterior diameter, with the egg-cup about 2| inches
broad and 2 inches deep. It was placed on some entangled small