BRACHYPTERYX.—DBYMOCIIAEES. 129

fine fern-roots. Inside 1-75 inch deep and 2'5 inches across;
outside a shapeless mass of moss filling up the hole it was built in.
The nest was very conspicuous to any one passing by."

194. Brachypteryx rirfiveiitris (Blyth). The liufous-Mlied
Short-iving.

Callene rufiventris, Blyth. Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 496: Hume, HouaJi
Draft N. $ R no. 339.

I have been favoured with nests of the Eufous-bellied Short-
wing by Mr. Carter, who took them from holes or depressions of
banks in the Nilghiris in April and May. They closely resemble
nests of Niltava maccjriyorice from Darjeeling. They are soft
masses of green moss, some 4 or 5 inches in diameter externally,
with more or less of a depression towards one side, lined with very
fine dark moss-roots. This depression may average about 2|
inches across and | inch in depth; but they vary a good deal.
Mr. Carter says :—" I have found the nests of this species about
Conoor in May, in holes of banks, on roads running through thick
sholas (i. e. jungles not amounting to forests). The nests are of
moss, shallow, lined with fine root-fibres, the cavity about 3*5
inches in diameter. They lay two eggs, pale olive, shading into a
decided brownish red at the larger eucl. The old birds are very
shy in returning to the nest when watched; indeed, they are
always shy, hiding in the brushwood of jungles or amongst fallen
timber, along which they almost creep."

Mr. Davison informs me that " this species breeds on the Nil-
ghiris from about 5500 feet to about 7000 during April and May,
building in holes of trees, crevices of rocks, &c., seldom at any
great elevation above the ground. The nest is composed of moss,
lined with moss and fern-roots. Two or three eggs are laid."

The few eggs I possess, which I owe to Messrs. Carter and
Davison, and which were taken by them in the Nilghiris, have a
pale olive-brown ground with, at the large end, an ill-defined
mottled reddish-brown cap. In some specimens the mottling
extends more or less over the whole egg, though always most dense
about the larger end. Though much larger and of a more elongated
shape, the)r not a little resemble some specimens of the eggs of
Pratincola indica that I possess. In shape they are long ovals,
recalling in that respect those of Myioplioneiis temmincLi; they
have less gloss than the eggs of inosfc of the Thrushes.

In length they vary from 0*97 to 1-02 inch, and in breadth frDm
0-65 to 0-69 inch.

197. Drymocliares cruralis (Blyth). The WJdte-lroived
Sliort-winy.

Brachypteryx ciuralis (Bl,), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 495; Hume, Ruuyh
Draft N. fy E. no. 338.

According to Mr. Hodgson's notes and drawings, the White-
YOL. i. 9