CRYPTOLOPHA. 271

the shells are very fine and compact. The eggs are moderately
broad ovals, much pointed towards the small end, and vary from
0-6 to 0'65 in length, and from 0'4S to O52 in breadth; but the
average of twenty eggs measured is 0*63 by 0*5 nearly.

435. Cryptolopha jerdoni (Brooks). B rooks's Gfrey-Jieaded

Flycatcher- Warbler.

Abrornis xanthoschistos (Hodys.), Jerd. B. Lid. ii, p. 202 j Hume,
Rough Draft N. $ JE. no. 572.

This Warbler breeds, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes *, both
in Nepal and Sikhim up to an elevation of (5000 or 7000 feet.
They lay in May three or four pure white eggs. They make
their nest on the ground in thick bushes, or in holes in banks, or
under roots of trees. The nest is a large mass of moss and
dry leaves, somewhat egg-shaped, with the entrance at one end,
some 6 inches in length, 4 inches in breadth, and 3-5 in height
externally, and with an oval entrance about 1-5 high and 2-25
wide. Inside it is carefully lined with moss-roots. Both sexes
assist in hatching and rearing the young, which, are ready to fly in
July.

Prom Sikhim Mr. Gammie says :—" I found one nest of this
species at Eishap, at an elevation of 5000 feet, on the 20th May. The
nest was in thin forest, near its outer edge, and placed on the ground
beside a small stem. It was domed, and composed entirely of moss,
with the exception of a few fibres in the hood or dome portion, and
was lined with thistle-down. The" exterior diameter was 3*3, the
height 3-2: the cavity was 1-6 in diameter, and only an inch in
depth below the lower margin of the entrance, which was the rim
of the true cup, over which the hood was drawn. The nest con-
tained four fresh eggs."

Several nests of this species that have been sent me from Sikhim
were all of the same type—beautiful little cups, some placed on the
ground, some amongst the twigs of brushwood a little above the
ground, composed entirely of fine moss and a little fern-root, and
with the interior of the cavity not indeed regularly lined but dotted
about with tufts of silky seed-down.

The eggs are very similar to but smaller than those of the pre-
ceding species—very broad ovals, a good deal pointed towards one
end, pure white, and faintly glossy. In length they vary from
0-53 to 0-58, and in breadth from 0*45 to 0-49.

* Mr. Hodgson's specimens in the British Museum are C. xanthosckista ; but
C. jerdoni also occurs in Nepal, and Mr. Hodgson mat/ have found the nests of
both. I leave the note as it appeared in the * Bough JDraft,' as the two species
are not likely to differ in their habits, and it matters little to which species
Mr. Hodgson's note refers, provided the above remarks are borne in
mind.—ED.