AETAMTJS. 351

height from the ground. The eggs are figured as white, spotted
and blotched almost exclusively at the large end with yellowish
brown, and measuring 0*8 by 0*52 inch, but no actual measurements
are recorded.

Mr. Grainmie, however, himself found, and kindly sent me, a
nest and eggs of this species, at Mongpho near Darjeeling, at an
elevation of about 3500 feet, on the 13th May, 1873. It was
placed in the hole of a trunk of a dead tree at a height of about
40 feet from the ground, and it contained three hard-set eggs.
The nest was a loose shallow saucer of coarse roots devoid of lining.
The eggs were rather narrow ovals, a good deal pointed towards
one end; the shell fine and with a slight gloss. The ground-colour
was creamy white, and the markings, which are almost entirely
confined to a broad ring round the large end and the space within
it, consisted of spots and clouds of very pale yellowish brown, in-
termingled with clouds and specks cf excessively pale, nearly washed
out, lilac.

He subsequently furnished me with the following note from
Sikhim :—" In the hills this bird is migratory, coming about the
last week in February and leaving in the last week of October. It
is exceedingly abundant on the outer ridges running in from the
Teesta Valley, and most numerous about the elevation of 3000 feet,
but stragglers get up as high as 5000 feet. It prefers dry ridges on
which there are a few scattered tall trees, from the tops of which it
can make short flights, over the open country, after insects. It
goes very little abroad in the height of the day, and feeds principally
in the evenings. It rarely keeps on the u ing for more than a
minute or two at a time, but occasionally will ily for ten minutes
on end. It is quite as bold and persevering in its habit of attacking
and driving off hawks and kites as the king-crow. Towards the
end of September it begins to congregate in rows along dead branches
in the tops of trees.

" It begins to lay in April and, I think, has only one brood in the
year. It builds in holes of trees, on surfaces of large horizontal
branches 30 or 40 feet up, or in depressions in ends of lofty stumps.
The nest is a shallow saucer, made entirely of light-coloured roots
and twigs loosely put together. The usual number of eggs appears
to be three.7'

Mr. J. E-. Cripps informs us that at Furreedpore in Eastern
Bengal this species is " common, and a permanent resident, very
partial to perching on the tips of bamboos, and I have seen as
many as 13 sitting side by side on a bamboo tip. I took seven
nests this season, all from date-trees (PJiceniaj sylvestris), which
trees are very common in the district. The nest is generally
built at the junction of the leaf-stem and the trunk of the tree,
though in two instances the nest was placed on a ledge from, which
all leaves had been removed to enable the tree to be tapped for its
juice. In every instance the nest was exposed, and if any bird, even
a hawk, came near, these courageous little fellows would drive it
off. My nests were found from the 5th April to 6th June ; shallow