136 CRATEEOPODI-DJE.

211. Actinodura egertoni, Gould. TJie Rufous Bar-winy.

Actinodura egertoni, Gould, Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 52; Hume, Hough
Draft N. $ E. no. 427.

There is no figure of the Rufous Bar-wing's nest or eggs amongst
the original drawings of Mr. Hodgson now in my custody, but in
the British Museum series there appears to be, since Mr. Blyfch
remarks :—" Mr. Hodgson figures the nest of this bird like that of
an English Redbreast, with pinkish-white eggs."

Prom Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes :—" On the 27th April I took
a nest of this Bar-wing in a large forest at an elevation of about
5000 feet. It was placed about 20 feet from the ground, in a
leafy tree, between several upright shoots, to which it was firmly
attached. It is cup-shaped, mainly composed of dry leaves held
together by slender climber-stems, and lined with dark-coloured
fibrous roots. A few strings of green rnoss were twined round the
outside to assist in concealment. Externally it measures 4*2 inches
wide by 4 deep; internally 2*8 wide and 2*4 deep. It contained
but two slightly-set eggs.

"I killed the female off the nest."

Several nests have been obtained and sent me by Messrs. G-ammie
and Manclelli. One was taken on the 4th May by Mr. Mandelli,
at Leboug, at an elevation of 5500 feet, which contained three fresh
eggs; this was placed on the branches of a small tree, in the midst
of dense brushwood, at a height of about 4 feet from the ground.

Another, taken in a similar situation at the same place on the
22nd May, contained two fresh eggs, and was at a height of about
12 feet from the ground.

These nests vary just in the same way as do those of Trochalo-
pierum niyrimentum; some show only a sprig or two of moss about
them, while others have a complete coating of green moss. They
are cup-shaped, some deeper, some shallower; the chief material
of the nest seems to be usually dry leaves. One before me is com-
posed entirely of some Poly podium, on which the seed-spores are all
fully developed; in another, bamboo-leaves have been chiefly used;
these are all held together in their places by black fibrous roots;
occasionally towards the upper margin a few creeper-tendrils are
intermingled. The whole cavity is lined more or less thickly, and
the lip of the cup all round is usually finished of with these same
black fibrous roots ; and then outside all moss and selagiuella are
applied according to the taste of the bird and, probably, the situa-
tion—a few sprigs or a complete coating, as the case may be.

Two eggs of this species sent me by Mr. Gammie are regular,
slightly elongated ovals, with very thin and fragile shells, and fairly
but not highly glossy. The ground is a delicate pale sea-greaa,
and they are profusely blotched, spotted, and marked with curious
hieroglyphic-tike figures of a sort of umber-brown ; while about
the larger end numerous spots and streaks of pale lilac occur.

These eggs measure 0-98 in length by 0-65 and 0-68 in breadth.