150 CEA.TEEOPODEDJE.

should mention that all the eggs have a faint gloss, and that some
are decidedly glossy.

They vary in length from 0-76 to 0*95, and in breadth from 0"59
to 0-66; but the average of thirty-four eggs is 0-85 by 0'62.

237. PterutMus erythropterus (Vig.). Tlie Eed-iuinged
Shrike-Tit.

Pteruthius erythropterus (Viq.\ Jerd. B.Ind. ii; p. 245; Hume,
Rough Draft N. % E. no. 609.

Writing from Murree, Colonel C. H. T. Marshall says :—" There
is no record about the modification of this species. Its nest is
exceedingly difficult to find, and it was only by long and careful
watching through field-glasses that Captain Cock discovered that
there was a nest at the top of a very high chestnut-tree, to and
from which the birds kept flying with building-materials in their
beaks. The nest is most skilfully concealed, being at the top of the
tree, with bunches of leaves both above and below. The nest, like
that of the Oriole, is built pendent in a fork. It is somewhat
roughly made of moss and hair. The eggs are pinky white, blotched
with red, forming in some a ring round the larger end. They
average *9 in length and *65 in breadth. We were fortunate enough
to secure two nests; both were more than 60 feet from the ground.
Breeds in the end of May, at an elevation of 7000 feet."

Captain Cock says :—" I first found this bird building its nest on
the top of a high chestnut-tree at Murree in the month of May.
When the nest was ready I took my friend Captain C. H. T.
Marshall to be present at the taking of it, as it had never, I think,
been taken before. We took the nest on the 30th May.

" It was an open flattish cup, like the nest of 0. Jcwidoo in structure,
only shallower. It contained three eggs, pinky white, covered with
a shower of claret spots that at the larger end formed a cap of dark
claret colour. Another nest, which I took in June from the top
of an oak, contained two eggs."

To Colonel Marshall and Captain Cock I am indebted for a nest
and egg of this species.

The nest is a moderately deep cup, suspended between two prongs
of a horizontal fork. Externally it is about 4 inches in diameter
and about 3 inches in depth. The egg-cavity is nearly hemispherical,
3 inches in diameter and 1'5 in depth. It is a very loosely made
structure, composed internally of not very fine roots and externally
coated with green moss. Along the lines of suspension a good deal
of wool is incorporated in the structure, and it is chiefly by this
wool that the nest is suspended. The fork is a slender one, the
prongs being from 0'3 to 0-4 in diameter.

The egg is a broad oval, a good deal pointed towards the small
end. The shell is very fine and compact, and has a fine gloss.
The ground-colour is white or pinky white, and is pretty thickly
speckled and finely spotted all over with brownish red and a little