PTBETJTHIUS.—^EGITHINA. 151

pale inky purple. Just towards the large end the markings are
very dense, and form more or less of a confluent cap of mingled
brownish red and pale lilac, the latter everywhere appearing to
underlie the former.

The egg was taken on the 10th June, and measures 0*9 by 0*68.

239. PterutMusmelanotis,Hodgs. The Chestnut-throated Shrike-
Tit.

Allotrius oenobarbus, Temm. apud Jerd. J5. 2nd. ii, p. 246.
Allotrius melanotis, Hodgs., Hume^ Rough Draft N. fy E. no. 611.

According to Mr. Hodgson's notes and figures, the Chestnut-
throated Shrike-Tit breeds in Sikhim and Nepal up to an elevation
of 6000 or 7000 feet. The nest is placed at a height of 6 to 10 feet
from the ground, between some slender, leafy, horizontal fork,
between which it is suspended like that of an Oriole or White-eye.
It is composed of moss and moss-roots and vegetable fibres,
beautifully and compactly woven into a shallow cup some 4 inches
in diameter, and with a cavity some 2-5 in diameter and less
than 1 in depth. Interiorly the nest is lined with hair-like fibres
and moss-roots; exteriorly it is adorned with pieces of lichen. The
eggs are two or three in number, very regular ovals, about 0*77 in
length by 0-49 in width. The ground-colour is a delicate pinky
lilac, and they are speckled and spotted with violet or violet-purple,
the markings being most numerous towards the large end, where
they have a tendency to form a mottled zone.

243. JSgithina tipMa (Linn.). The Common Fora.

lora zeylonica(6rm.) et I. typkia (Linn."), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, pp. 101,103.
JEgithina tiphia (Linn.\ Hume, Hough Draft N. fy JS. nos. 467,468.

I have already on several occasions (see especially ' Stray Feathers/
1877, vol. v, p. 428) recorded my inability to distinguish as dis-
tinct species JE. tiphia and d&. zeylonica. I am quite open to convic-
tion; but believing them, so far as my present investigations go, to
be inseparable, I propose to treat them as a single species in the
present notice.

The Common lora (the genus, though possibly nearly allied, is
too distinct from Ghloropsis to allow me to adopt, as Jerdon does,
one common trivial name for both) breeds in different localities
from May to September. I have taken nests and eggs of typical
examples of both supposed species, and have had them sent
me with the parent birds by many correspondents; and though
both vary a good deal, I am convinced that all the variations
which occur in the nests and eggs of one race occur also in
those of the other. If one gets only two or three clutches of
the eggs of each, great differences, naturally attributed to difference
of species (see Captain Cock's remarks, infra), may be detected;