162 CRATEEOPODIM.

not appear to ascend above 5500 to 6000 feet, and is therefore
more properly an inhabitant of the warm valleys. I do not remem-
ber seeing it at Mussoorie, which is 6500 to 7000 feet, although
at 5200 feet on the same range it is abundant during summer.
Its notes and flight are very much those of the Starling (Stumus
wlgaris), and it delights to take a short and rapid flight and return
twittering to perch on the very summit of the forest trees. ^ I have
never seen it on the ground, and its food appears to consist of berries.
"Like the two species of Acridotfieres, it nidificates by itself in
the holes of trees, lining the cavity with bits of leaves. The eggs
are usually three, or sometimes four or five, of a delicate pale sea-
green speckled with blood-like stains, which sometimes tend to
form a ring near the larger end ; shape oval, slightly tapering."

The eggs are so different in character from, those of all the
Starlings that doubts might reasonably arise as to whether this
species is placed exactly where it ought to be by Jerclon. and others.
I possess at present only three eggs of this bird, which I owe to
Captain Hutton. They are decidedly long ovals, much pointed
towards the small end, and in shape and coloration not a little recall
those of Myioplioneus temmincJci. The eggs are glossless, of a
greenish or greyish-white ground, more or less profusely speckled
and spotted with red, reddish brown, and dingy purple. In two of
the eggs the majority of the markings are gathered into a broad ir-
regular speckled zone round the large end. In the third egg there is
just a trace of such a zone and no markings at all elsewhere. In
length they vary from 1-03 to 1-08, and in breadth from 0-68 to 0*74.*

* HYPOCOLIUS AMPELINUS, Bonap. The Grey Hypocolius.
Hypocolius ampelinus, #£>., Hume, Cat. no. 269 quat.

Although this bird has not yet been found breeding within Indian limits,
the following account of its nidification at Fao, in the Persian Gulf, by Mr. W.
D. Gumming (Ibis, 1886. p. 478) will prove interesting:—

" It is not till the middle of June that they breed.

" In 1883, first eggs were brought by an. Arab about the 13th of June, and on
the 15th of the same month I found a nest containing two fresh eggs. In. 1884,
011 the 14th of June a nest was brought me containing four fresh eggs, and on
the loth I found a nest containing also four fresh eggs.

" 2nd July, I came across four young birds able to fly. On the 3rd, three
nests were brought, one containing two fresh eggs, another three young just
fledged, and the other four eggs slightly incubated. On the 9th, another nest,
containing four young just fledged was brought. On the 15th I saw a flock of
small birds well able to fly ; on the 18th I found a nest containing four young
about a couple of days old, and on the 20th a nest containing three eggs well
incubated was brought from a place called ' Ooosba' on the opposite bank
(Persian side) of the river.

" The nests are generally placed on the leaves of the date-palin, at no very
great height. The highest I have seen was built about ten feet from the ground
but from three to five feet is the average height. '

" They are substantial and cup-shaped, having a diameter of about 3i inches
by 2i inches in depth, lined inside with fine grass, the soft fluff from the willow
when in seed, wool, and sometimes hair.

"The eggs are of a glossy leaden white, with leaden-coloured blotches and
spots towards the larger end, sometimes forming a ring round the larger end
arid at times spreading over the en tire egg. '