ETTLABETIDJE. 363

resemble those oĢ 0. melanocepTialus. In shape they are regular
moderately elongated ovals ; the shell is strong, firm, and moderately
glossy. The ground is white with a creamy or brownish-pink
tinge; the markings are blackish-brown spots and specks, almost
confined to a zone about the large end, where they are all more or
less enveloped in a brownish-red haze or nimbus. In length they
measure 1-12 by 0-82, and 1-14 by 0*83.

Family EULABETIIME,

523. Eulabes religiosa (Linn.). TJie Southern Grackle.

Eulabes religiosa (Linn.}, Jerd. B. 2nd. ii, p. 337; Hume, Rough
Draft N. §• E. no. 092.

The Southern G-rackle breeds in Southern India and Ceylon from
March to October.

Mr. Frank Bourdillou, writing from Travancore, gives me the
following account of the eggs. He says :—" This bird, an abun-
dant resident, lays a blue egg pretty evenly marked with brown
spots, some light and some darkish, in a nest of straw and feathers
in a hole of a tree generally a considerable height from the ground.

" I have only taken one nest, which contained a single egg
slightly set, on 23rd March, 1873, the egg measuring 1-37 long
and 0-87 broad."

Later Mr. Bourdillon says:—" Since writing the foregoing I
took on 21st April two fresh eggs from the nest of a Southern
Hill-Mynah (Eulabes religiosa). The nest was of grass, feathers,
and odds and ends in a hole in a nanga (Mesua coromandeliana)
stump, abour 25 feet from the ground. The eggs of this Mynah
are blue, with purplish and more decided brown spots.

" I am positive as to the identity of the egg. Eoth the eggs
taken last year and the two taken the other day were obtained
under my personal supervision. In both instances I watched the
birds building, and when we robbed the nests saw the female fly
off them."

These two eggs sent me by Mr. Bourdillon are very beautiful.
In shape they are very gracefully elongated ovals; the shell is
very fine and smooth, but has only a rather faint gloss. The
ground-colour is a delicate pale sea-green or greenish blue, and
the eggs are more or less profusely spotted or splashed with
purplish, or, in some spots, chocolate-brown and a very pale
purple, which looks more like the stain that might be supposed to
be left by one of the more decided coloured markings that had
been partially washed out than anything else.

The eggs measure 1-37 by 0-9 and 1-35 by 0-87.

Mr. J. Darling, junior, writes :—"The Southern Q-rackle breeds
in the S. W)naad rather plentifully, and I have had numbers of