140 CEATEEOPODIDJE.

226. Zosterops palpeforosa (Temm.). The Indian WJiite-eye.

Zosterops palpebrosus (Temm.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 265 j Hume,
Rough Draft N. $ K no. 631.

The Indian "White-eye, or "White-eyed Tit as Jerdon terms it,
breeds almost throughout the Indian Empire, sparingly in the
hotter and more arid plains, abundantly in the Nilghiris and other
ranges oŁ the Peninsula to their very summits, and in the Hima-
layas to an elevation of 5000 or 6000 feet.

The breeding-season extends in different localities from January
to September, but I think that everywhere April is the month in
which most eggs are to be met with.

Sometimes they have two broods 5 whether this is always the
case 1 do not know.

The nest is placed almost indifferently at any elevation. I have
taken one from amongst the topmost twigs of a huge mohwa tree
(Bassia latifolia) fully 60 feet high, and I have found them in a
tiny bush not a foot off the soil. Still I think that perhaps the
majority build at low elevations, say between 2 and 6 feet from
the ground.

The nest is always a soft, delicate little cup, sometimes very
shallow, sometimes very deep, as a rule suspended between two
twigs like a miniature Oriole's nest, but on rare occasions propped
in a fork. The nest varies much in size and in the materials with
which it is composed.

Pine grass and roots, tow, and a variety of vegetable fibres,
thread, floss silk, and cobwebs are all made use of to bind the little
nest together and attach it to the twigs whence it depends. Grass
again, moss, vegetable fibre, seed-down, silk, cotton, lichen, roots
and the like are used in the body of the nest, which is lined with
silky down, hair, moss, and fern-roots, or even silk, while at times
tiny silvery cocoons or scraps of rich-coloured lichen are affixed as
ornaments to the exterior.

One nest before me is a very perfect and deep cup, hung
between two twigs of a mohwa tree and almost entirely hidden by
the surrounding leaves. The exterior diameter of the nest is 2%
inches, and the depth 2 inches. The egg-cavity measures scarcely
more than 1| inch across and very nearly as much in depth. It is
composed of very fine grass-stems and is thinly coated exteriorly
with cobwebs, by which also it is firmly secured to the suspending
twigs, and externally numerous small cocoons and sundry pieces
of vegetable down are plastered on to the nest. Another nest,
hung between two slender twigs of a mango tree, is a shallow cup
some 2J inches in diameter, and not above an inch in depth
externally. The egg-cavity measures at most 1| inch across by
three-fourths of an inch in depth. The nest is composed of fine
tow-like vegetable fibres and thread, by which it is attached to the
twigs, a little grass-down being blended in the mass, and the cavity
being very sparsely lined with very fine grass-stems. In another