204 DICRTTODJE.

elevation of 6000 to 7000 feet, and lays during the months of May
and June.

They build generally in large trees, at a considerable height from
the ground, placing their somewhat shallow cup-shaped nests in
some slender fork towards the summit or exterior of the tree.

The nest is neatly and firmly built, of fine grass-stems,' slender
twigs, and grass-roots, closely interwoven, and externally bound
together with cobwebs, in which, as in the body of the nest, lichens
of several species are much intermingled. Exteriorly the nests are
from 4 to 5 inches in diameter, and from 2 to 2| in height. In-
teriorly-they are lined with moss, roots, hairs, and fine grass ; the
cavity measuring from 3 to 3%5 inches in breadth, and from I'l to
1*4 inch in depth. The normal number oŁ the eggs is four.

Mr. Brooks says:—"The nest is usually fixed on the upper
surface of a thin branch about 15 to 20 feet from the ground, and
at its junction with another branch, the nest being partly embedded
in the fork of two horizontal branches. It is composed of grass,
fibres, and roots, and lined with finer grasses and a few hairs.
The nest is broader and much shallower than that of D. ater; out-
side it is covered with spiders' webs and small bits of lichen.

" The eggs are four in number, sometimes only three, and vary
much in size, shape, and colour; size 1-0 by 0'7 inch : some are
buff, blotched with light reddish brown and pale purple-grey ;
others are lighter buff, almost white in fact, spotted and marked
more sparingly than the first described with the same two colours,
but each of a darker tint; others are white, marked sparingly with
spots and blotches of dark purple-brown and reddish brown, and
intermixed with larger blotches of deep purple-grey, the markings
principally forming a zone at the larger end. Others, again, are
pale purplish white, spotted with dark and light purple-brown,
and intermixed with spots and blotches of purple-grey. The shape
of the egg varies as much as the colouring, some being of a fine
oval form, while others are quite pyriform. Laying in Kumaon
from the middle to end of May."

As I shall notice further on, I think that Mr. Brooks is mistaken
about some of his eggs.

Captain Hutton remarks:—"This species, the only one that
visits Mussoorie, arrives from the Doon about the middle of March,
and retires again about September. It is abundant during the
summer months, and breeds from the latter end of April till the
middle of June, making a very neat nest, which is placed in the
bifurcation of a horizontal branch of some tall tree, usually an oak
tree; it is constructed of grey lichens gathered from the trees, and
fine seed-stalks of grasses, firmly and neatly interwoven ; with the
latter it is also usually lined, although sometimes a black fibrous
lichen is used; externally the materials are kept compactly to-
gether by being plastered over with spiders' webs. It is altogether
a light and elegant nest. The shape is circular, somewhat shallow;
internal diameter 3 inches. The eggs are three or four, generally
the latter number, and so variable in colour and distribution of