OBTHOTOMUS. 235

" The Tailor-bird breeds, I fancy, at least twice in the year, as I
have seen young birds early in the hot weather both at Mount
Aboo and in Deesa, and I have also taken nests in the rains. The
nest is usually constructed with much skill and ingenuity. One
nest which I. took on the 3rd September at Mount Aboo consisted
of three leaves cleverly sewn together with raw cotton, leaving a
moderate-sized entrance on one side near the top, the inside being
lined exclusively'with horsehair and fine dry fibres.

" I captured the hen bird with a horsehair noose fixed to the
end of a long thin rod as she left the nest. Another nest which I
took in Deesa on the 3rd September, 1876, was composed almost
entirely of raw cotton with a scanty lining of horsehairs and dry
grass-stems. It was fixed to the outside twigs of a lime-tree, two
of the leaves of which were sewn to it; two dead leaves were also
attached to the nest, one being sewn on each side as a support to
the cotton. It was cup-shaped and open at the top, much like a
Chaffinch's nest."

Mr. Gates remarks :—" This is a common bird in Burma in the
plains, and possibly also on the hills, though I did not observe it
on the latter. I found the nest of this species containing young
birds in the Thayetmyo cantonment on the 12th August. In the
Pegu plains it appears to nest from the middle of May to the end
of August."

The eggs are typically long ovals, often tapering much towards
the small end. The shells are very thin, delicate, and semitrans-
parent, and have but little gloss.

The ground-colour is either reddish white or pale bluish green.
Of the two types, the reddish white is the more common in the
proportion of two to one. The markings consist of bold blotchings
or sometimes ill-defined clouds (in this respect recalling the eggs
of Prinia inornata\ chiefly confined to the large end; and specks,
spots, and splashes, extending more or less over the whole surface,
typically of a bright brownish red, varying, however, in different
examples both in shade and intensity. The markings have a strong
tendency to form a bold, irregular zone" or cap at the large end,
and in some specimens the markings are entirely confined to this
portion of the egg's surface.

The eggs, which have a reddish-white ground, though smaller
and of a much more elongated shape, closely resemble those of
Suya fulic/inosa.

In length the eggs vary from 0*6 to 0-7, and in breadth from
0-45 to 0*5; but the average of fifty eggs measured is 0-64
by 0-46.

375. Orthotomus atrigularis, Ternm. T7ie Blaclc-necked

Tailor-bird.
Orthotomus atrigularis, Temm., Hume, Cat. no. 530 bis.

Mr. Mandelli sends me a nest which he assures me belongs to
this species, and the bird he sent me for identification certainly