grasses."

I am not at all sure that there is not some mistake here. The nest
described is rather that of _L. erythronotus_ than of any of the
_Pericrocoti_, and but for the excellent authority on which the above
rests, I should certainly not have accepted it.

This species breeds in the forests of the central hills of Nepal;
recording to Mr. Hodgson's notes and drawings they begin laying about
April, and lay three or four eggs, which are neither described nor
figured. The nest is a beautiful deep cup externally about 3.25 inches
in diameter, and rather more than 2 inches high, composed of moss
and moss-roots lined internally with the latter, and entirely coated
exteriorly with lichen and a few stray pieces of green moss firmly
secured in their places by spiders' webs. The nest is placed in some
slender branch between three or four upright sprays. This, I may note,
is just the kind of nest one would have expected this Large Minivet to
build.

The only specimens, supposed to be the eggs of this species, that I
possess I owe to Captain Hutton. They closely resemble the eggs of _L.
erythronotus_, but are perhaps shorter, and hence _look_ broader than
those of this latter. They are slightly bigger than the eggs of _L.
vittatus_. In shape they seem to be typically a slightly broader oval
than those of any of our true Shrikes, but elongated and pointed
examples occur. Their ground-colour is a very pale greyish white,
thickly spotted all over the large end, and thickly dotted elsewhere,
with specks, spots, and tiny blotches of pale yellowish brown and pale
inky-purple. Compared with the eggs of the other _Pericrocoti_, they
are very dingily coloured. The eggs are devoid of gloss. I am doubtful
about these eggs.

In length they vary from 0.88 to 0.93 inch, and in breadth from 0.72
to 0.75 inch; but the average of five eggs is 0.9 by 0.72 inch.

494. Pericrocotus flammeus (Forst.). _The Orange Minivet_.

Pericrocotus flammeus (_Forst.), Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 420; _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 272.

The Orange Minivet lays, I believe, in June and July on the Nilghiris.
I have never taken a nest myself, but I have received several, with a
few words in regard to them, from Miss Cockburn.

The nests are comparatively massive little cups placed on, or
sometimes in, the forks of slender boughs. They are usually composed
of excessively fine twigs, the size of fir-needles, and they are
densely plastered over the whole exter