245

is the commonest bird, breeding about Dhulia in July, August, and
September.

Colonel E. A. Butler writes :—" I found a nest oĢ the Rufous-
fronted Wren-Warbler at Deesa on the 27th July, 1875. It was
in a grass beerh, and placed in a heap of dead thorns overgrown
with grass and about a foot from the ground. It was composed
externally of dry grass-sterns, with lumps of silky white vegetable
clown (Cdlotropis) scattered sparingly over the whole nest. The
lining consisted of very line dry grass neatly put together and
felted with silky down, and a considerable amount of the dull
salmon-coloured fungus or lichen referred to in the * .Rough Draft
of Nests and Eggs,' p. 359. In shape the nest is nearly spherical,
being slightly oval however, with a small aperture near the top.
The entrance was 1 finches in diameter, and the nest itself roughly
measured from the outside 4| inches in length and 4 in width.
The eggs, usually four in number, are white, closely speckled over
with pale rusty red, intermingled with a few pale washed-out inky
markings, in some cases at the large end, which is surrounded by a
zone clear and well-marked in some instances, less distinct in
others. I found other nests in the same neighbourhood as
below:—

" Aug. 24, 1875. A nest containing 4 fresh eggs.

"July 20,1876. 4 „ „

" July 28, 4 young birds.

" Aug. 4, 4 fresh eggs.

" Aug. 5, 4

"Aug. 5, 4

"Aug. 5,

"Aug. 8,

"Aug. 14,

5
5
5

" In every one of the above instances the nest was exactly similar
to the one I have described, and built in the same kind of situation,
i. e. in heaps of dead thorns overgrown with long grass. The
eggs are all much the same, the spots being larger in some than in
others and more numerous in some cases than in others. In one
set I have the ground is very pale bluish white (skimmed milk)
instead" of being pure white. As a rule the eggs are almost
exactly like the eggs of 0. cursitans, and if mixed I doubt very much
if any person could separate them. On examining the salmon-
coloured fungus-lining it appears to me to be nothing more nor
less than small pieces of dried ber leaves, and I have never
examined a nest without finding some of this material at the
bottom of it."

"The Rufous-fronted "Wren-Warbler," writes Lieut. Barnes,
" breeds in Rajpootana during July, August, and the early part of
September. The nest, composed of grass, is loosely constructed,
and placed in low bushes or scrub."

The eggs vary somewhat in size and shape ; a moderately broad
oval, slightly compressed towards the larger end, being, however,