238 SYLYIID.&.

more than half the cases the eggs were partly incubated. I have
no record of more than five, and though I have any number of
notes of nests containing one, two, three, and four eggs, yet these
latter in almost all these cases were fresh.

Mr. Blyth says that this species is " remarkable for the beautiful
construction of "its nest, sewing together a number of growing stems
and leaves of grass, with a delicate pappus which forms also the
lining, and laying four or five translucent white eggs, with reddish-
brown spots, more numerous and forming a ring at the large end,
very like those of Ortliotomus sutorius. It abounds in suitable
localities throughout the country."

I must here note that Mr. Blyth never paid special attention to
eggs, or he would have hardly said this, because the character of
the markings are essentially different. Those of the Tailor-bird
are typically blotchy, of the present species specldy.

Colonel W. Vincent Legge writes to me from Ceylon that u in
the "Western Province it breeds from May until September, and
constructs its nest either in paddy-fields or in guinea-grass plots
attached to bungalows.

44 The nest is so beautiful and so neatly constructed that perhaps
a short description of it will not be out "of place. 'A framework of
cotton or other fibrous material is formed round two or three
upright stalks, about 2 feet from the ground, the material being
sewn into the grass and passed from one stalk to the other until a
complete net is made. This takes the bird from one to two days
to construct *. Several blades, belonging to the stalks round
which the cotton is passed, are then bent down and interlaced
across to form a bottom on which, and inside the cotton network, a
neat little nest of fine strips of grass torn off from the blade is
built; this is most beautifully lined with cotton or other downy
substance, which appears to be plastered with the saliva of the bird,
until it takes the appearance and texture of soft felt.

" The average dimensions of the interior or cup are 2 inches in
depth by 1| in breadth. The whole structure is generally com-
pleted in about five days, and the first egg laid on the fifth or sixth
day from the commencement. The number of eggs varies from
two to four, most nests containing three. The time of incubation
is, as a rule, from nine to eleven days.

" I have found but little variation in the eggs of this species
either as regards size or colour. They are white or pale greenish
white, spotted and blotched in a zone round the larger end with
red and reddish grey, a few spots extending towards the point:
axis 0-63 inch ; diameter 0*51 inch.

" Eroni close observation I can certify that this and many other
small birds do not here sit daring the daytime. I scarcely ever
found a Gisticola on the nest between sunrise and sunset/'

* Numbers of these birds used to build in a guinea-grass field attached to
my bungalow at Colombo, and I had full opportunity of watching the con-
struction of the nesfc on many occasions.—W. V. L.