290 SYLYITDJ5.

which grows abundantly in these swamps, whence he gives forth a
rather pleasing song, erecting his tail at the same time, after which
he drops into the jungle and is seen no more. It is almost
impossible to make him show himself again."

The nest, which I owe to Mr. Parker, and which was found in
the neighbourhood of the Salt-Water Lake, Calcutta, on the 26th
July, is of an oval shape, very obtuse at both ends, measuring
externally 4 inches in length and about 2| inches in diameter.
The aperture, which is near the top of the nest, is oval, and mea-
sures about 1 inch by 1| inch. The nest is fixed against the side
of two or three tiny leafy twigs, to which it is bound lightly in one
or two places with grass and vegetable fibre ; and two or three leafy
lateral twiglets are incorporated into the sides of the nest, so that
when fresh it must have been entirely hidden by leaves. The nest
was in an upright position, the major axis perpendicular to the
horizon. It is a very thin, firm, close basket-work of fine grass,
flower-stalks, and vegetable fibre, and has no lining, though the
interior surface of the nest is more closely woven and of still finer
materials than the outside. The cavity is nearly 2^ inches deep,
measuring from the lower edge of the entrance, and is about
2 inches in diameter.

During this present year (1874) Mr. Parker obtained several
more nests of this species, all built in the low jungle that fringes
the mud-banks of the congeries of channels and creeks that are
known in Calcutta by the name of the " Salt Lake."

This jungle consists chiefly of the blue-flowered holly-leaved
Acanthus Hid folia and of the trailing semi-creeper-like Derris
scandens. It is in amongst the drooping twigs of the latter that
the nest is invariably made.

The nests vary a good deal in shape ; some are regular cylinders
rounded oft' at both ends, with the aperture on one side above the
centre—a small oval entrance neatly worked. Such a nest is
about 4'5 inches in length externally from top to bottom, and 2-75
in diameter; the aperture 1*3 in height, and barely 1*0 in width.

Others are still more egg-shaped, with a similar aperture near
the top, and others are more purse-like. The material used
appears to be always much the same—fine grass-stems intermingled
with blades of grass, and here and there dry leaves of some rush, a
little seed-down, scraps of herbaceous plants, and the like; the
interior, always of the finest grass-stems, neatly arranged and-
curved to the shape of the cavity. The nests are firmly attached
to the drooping twigs, to and between which they are suspended,
sometimes by fine vegetable fibre, but more commonly by cobwebs
and silk from cocoons, a good deal of both of which are generally
to be seen wound about the surface of the nest near the points of
suspension or attachment.

Four appears to be the full number of the eggs.
Mr. Doig, writing from Sind, says:—" This bird is tolerably
common all along the Narra, but as it keeps in very thick jungle it
is not often seen unless looked for. I took my first nest on the