STACHYRHIDOPSIS. 113

creepers and shoots, and is composed almost exclusively of dry
bamboo-leaves neatly, but rather loosely, interwoven, and lined
also with these leaves. One which he measured was rather oval in
shape, 5'25 inches in diameter one way, by 4 'the other, and 3'6 in
height. The leaves used in the rim of the cup were projected a
little inwards, so as to make the mouth of the cavity a little smaller
than the diameter of this latter within. The diameter of the mouth
was 2 inches, that of the cavity 2*5, and the latter is about 1-5
deep. Pour eggs are laid, a sort of brownish white, speckled and
spotted with brown or reddish brown. The egg figured measures
0*7 by O52, and is a moderately broad, regular oval.

Dr. Jerdon says :—" A nest and eggs, said to be of this species,
were brought to me at Darjeeling. The nest was a loose structure
of grass and fibres, and contained two eggs of a greenish-white
colour with some rusty spots."

From Sikhim Mr. G-arnmie writes :—" I took two nests of this
Babbler in April; one of them at an elevation of 3500 feet, the
other at 5000 feet, but it no doubt breeds also both lower and
higher. They are of a neat egg-shape, with entrance at side, and
were fixed vertically between a few upright sprays, within three feet
of the ground, in open situations near large trees. Mr. Hodgson
evidently did not take the one he describes with his own hands,
for he places it horizontally, which gives a height of 3*6 inches
only. The external dimensions are about 5*5 inches in height and
4 in diameter. Internally the diameter is 2 inches, and the depth,
from roof, 3'25. The entrance is 2 across. They are composed of
dry bamboo-leaves only, put neatly and firmly together, and are
lined with a very few grassy fibres. They each contained four
well-set eggs."

Mr. Mandelli, however, took a nest of this species at Lebong on
the 23rd June, in the middle of a tea-bush which grew at the side
of a small ravine, which was neither hooded nor domed. The nest
was about 18 inches from the ground and completely sheltered from
above by tea-leaves. It was a deep cup composed externally chiefly
of bamboo-leaves, but with a good many dead leaves of trees in-
corporated in the base, and lined with very fine grass-stems. It
contained four fresh eggs. It is quite clear that this species, like
S. niyriceps, only domes its nest in certain situations.

The eggs obtained by Mr. Gammie and Mr. Mandelli are very
regular, slightly elongated ovals. The shell is very fine and com-
pact, but has only a faint gloss. The ground is white and round
the larger end is a zone or imperfect cap of specks and spots of
brownish red, generally intermingled with tiny spots, usually very
faint, of pale purple. A few specks and spots brown, yellowish,
or reddish brown, and sometimes also pale purple, are scattered
about the rest of the egg.

In length the eggs vary from 0'64 to 0-72, and in breadth from
0-50 to 0-53, but the average of eight eggs was 0'68 by 0*52
nearly.

TOL. i. 8