126 CEA.TEEOPODID.ZE.

the nests were in every case near to running water. The bird
stays with us all the year, and is one of our commonest species.
Its clear whistle is always to be heard the first thing in the morn-
ing before the other birds get up, and daring the violent rains of
the S.W. monsoon it seems almost the only bird which does not
lose heart at the incessant downpour. April and May appear to
be the breeding months."

Messrs. Davidson and Wenclen remark:—"Scattered all over
the Deccan in suitable localities. "W. got two nests, one on the
Bhore Grhat on 5th August, and one on the Thull Grhat on 17th of
same month. That on the Bhore Grhat was built on a ledge of
rock some 15 feet in from the face of a railway tunnel where 30 or
40 trains daily passed within a few feet of it. That on the Thull
Ghat was in a cutting at the entrance of a tunnel, and about the
same height above and from the rails as the one on the Bhore Grhat.
In both cases the eggs were much discoloured by the smoke from
engines, but on being washed, "W. observed that one of the three eggs
in each nest was of a decidedly greenish Hue, finely speckled and
splashed with pinky brown, while the others were of the pale
salmon-pink^ as described in Mr. Hume's Bough Draft of ' Nests
and Eggs.7 The male bird was sitting on one of the nests and
was shot. W. saw numerous other nests, some high up on cliffs,
beyond the reach of a 15-foot ladder. Two nests in holes in trees
were reported to him, but he could not go to examine them. The
nests were about 4 inches diameter by 2| inches deep inside and
8 to 10 inches broad outside, and not more than 10 inches high.
The foundation portion contained a great deal of clay and earth,
which seemed to be necessary to secure the nests in positions so
exposed to the heavy gusts of wind which prevail on these
ghats during the monsoon."

Mr. Ehodes W". Morgan, writing from South India, says :—" I
found the nest of this Thrush on the Seeghoor Grhaut of the JSTeil-
gherries. Mr. Davison was with me at the time; and the nest
being built on an open ledge of rock, we both sighted it at the
same moment; and I having managed to make better use of my
legs than my friend, was fortunate enough to secure it, and one
egg, which was of a pale flesh-colour, with a few faint spots and
blotches of claret towards the larger end. The nest was made of
leaves and moss mixed with day, and lined with fine roots. The
dimensions of the egg are 1-3 inch in length by "85 in breadth. It
was in May that I found this egg; but the nest had evidently
been deserted for some time; for the egg has a hole in its side,
through which the contents had escaped or been sucked by a snake
or some animal."

Dr. Jerdon says :—" I once procured its nest, placed under a
shelf of a rock on the Burliar stream, on the slope of the Nilghiris.
It was a large structure of roots, mixed with earth, moss, &c., and
contained three eggs of a pale salmon or reddish-fawn colour, with
many smallish brown spots;'7 and such is unquestionably the usual
situation of the nest.