144 CEATEROPODIJDJ3.

at Delhi; breeds in both places in May* June, and July. All nests
I have seen have been finely made little cups of fibres, bits of thread
and cobwebs, lined interiorly with horsehair, generally suspended
between two slender twigs at no great height from the ground."

Mr. E. Aitken writes :—" I have only actually taken one nest of
the White-eye. That was in Poona (2000 feet above the sea)
on the 21st July. The bird, however, builds abundantly in Poona
about gardens, trees on the roadside, <fcc.

" This particular nest was fixed to a thin branch of a tamarind-
tree on the side of a lane among gardens. It was within reach of
my hand, and was attached both to the thin branch itself and to
two twigs. It was well sheltered among leaves.

" The nest was a cup rather narrower at the month than in the
middle. Its external diameter at the top was 24 inches ; internal
diameter 1| inch ; depth 1| inch internally. It was composed of
a variety of fibres closely interwoven, with some kind of vegetable
silk, and was lined principally with horsehair and very fine
fibres. It contained three eggs."

Mr. Davison tells us that " the White-eye breeds on the Nil-
ghiris in [February, March, April, and the earlier part of May.

" The nest is a small neat cup-shaped structure suspended
between a fork in some small low bush, generally only 2 or 3 feet
from the ground, but sometimes high up, about 20 or 30 feet
from the ground. It is composed externally of moss and small
roots and the down from the thistle; the egg-cavity is invariably
sparingly lined with hair. The eggs, two in number, are of a pale
blue, like skimmed milk."

From ELotagherry Miss Cockburn remarks :—" Their nests are, 1
think, more elegantly finished than those of any of the small birds I
have seen up here. They generally select a thick bush, where,
when they have chosen a horizontal forked branch, they construct
a neat round nest which is left quite open at the top. The
materials they commence with are green moss, lichen, and fine
grass intertwined. I have even found occasionally a coarse thread,
which they had picked up near some Badagar's village and used in
order to fasten the little building to the branches. The inside is
carefully lined with the down of seed-pods. White-eyes' nests
are very numerous here in the months of January, .February,
and March. They are extremely partial to the wild gooseberry
bush as a site to build on. One year I found ten out of eleven
nests on these bushes, the fruit of which is largely used by the
aborigines of the hills. A pair once built on a thick orange-tree
in our garden. We often stood quite close to one of them while
sitting on the eggs, and it never showed the slightest degree of
fear. They lay two eggs of a light blue colour."

Mr. Wait, writing from Conoor, says that " Z. palpebrosa breeds
in April and May, building in bushes and shrubs, and making a
deep round cup-shaped nest very neatly woven in the style of the
Chaffinch, composed of moss, grass, and silk cotton, and sparsely