ould not get at the
nest."

An egg sent me by Mr. Darling is very similar to the eggs sent me
by Miss Cockburn, except that the brown markings are rather more
numerous, especially in a broad zone round the large end, and that
with these a good many pale purple or lilac spots or specks are
intermingled. It measures 0.88 by 0.68 inch.

495. Pericrocotus brevirostris (Vigors). _The Short-billed Minivet_.

Pericrocotus brevirostris (_Vig._), _Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 421; _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 273.

The Short-billed Minivet breeds in the Himalayas at elevations of from
3000 to 6000 feet in Kumaon, and again in Kulu and the valley of the
Sutlej. It lays in May and June, building a compact and delicate
cup-shaped nest on a horizontal bough pretty high up in some oak,
rhododendron, or other forest tree. I have never seen one on any kind
of fir-tree.

Sometimes the nest is merely placed on, and attached firmly to, the
upper surface of the branch; but, more commonly, the place where two
smallish branches fork horizontally is chosen, and the nest is placed
just at the fork. I got one nest at Kotgurh, however, wedged in
between two upright shoots from a horizontal oak-branch. The nests are
composed of fine twigs, fir-needles, grass-roots, fine grass, slender
dry stems of herbaceous plants, as the case may be, generally loosely,
but occasionally compactly interlaced, intermingled and densely coated
over the whole exterior with cobwebs and pieces of lichen, the latter
so neatly put on that they appear to have grown where they are.
Sometimes, especially at the base of the nest, a little moss is
attached exteriorly, but, as a rule, there is nothing but lichen. The
nest has no lining. The external diameter is about 21/2 inches, and the
usual height of the nest from 11/2 to 2 inches; but this varies a good
deal according to situation, and the bottom of the nest, which in some
may be at most 1/4 inch thick, in another is a full inch. The sides
rarely exceed 1/4 inch in thickness. The egg-cavity has a diameter of
about 2 inches, and a depth of from 1 to 1.25 inch.

Five seems to be the maximum number of eggs laid, but I have now twice
met with three, more or less incubated, eggs.

Mr. Hodgson notes:--"May 16th: At the top of the great forest of
Sheopoori, secured a nest built near the top of a kaiphul tree, and
laid on a thick branch amongst smaller twigs. The nest is about 2
inches deep and the same in diameter: inside i