d. Out of
the five at Delhi I managed to get six eggs; three of the nests when
found being empty, were afterwards deserted by the birds. Of the two
nests with eggs, one contained four and the other two. The nests are
tiny little cups, made of very fine grass, and coated externally with
cobwebs, to which are attached bits of bark and dry leaves. The eggs
are a greenish stone-colour, thickly speckled with light purple and
brownish red. The earliest nest I have found was on the 21st March,
on the banks of the canal at Delhi, so that the bird occasionally, at
Delhi at least, lays in spring. The average of eggs I have is 0.68 in
length, and 0.55 in breadth."

Colonel E.A. Butler furnishes us with the following interesting
note:--"Found a nest at Belgaum, containing two fresh eggs, on the 3rd
September, 1879. It was situated in the fork of one of the small outer
top branches of a tall mango-tree, and was on the whole about the
prettiest nest I have seen in India. It consisted of a tiny cup about
11/4 x 2 inches measured interiorly, and 1-7/8 x 21/2 inches exteriorly.
Depth inside 1 inch, outside 11/2 inches from rim to proper base,
excluding about an inch of lichen continued down one side of the bough
below the fork in which the nest was built. It was composed, so far as
I could judge after a very minute examination, almost entirely of the
white lichen which grows so freely on the bark of every tree during
the rains, with a few cobwebs incorporated and wound round the outside
to keep it together, assimilating so perfectly with the branch upon
which it was placed, which was also overgrown with the same kind of
lichen, that without watching the old birds closely it never could
have been discovered.

"It contained no regular lining, though a few coarse dry leaf-stems
of a dark colour were encircled within. I observed the birds building
first on the 21st August, and the nest from below looked then almost
finished. The cock and hen worked together, flying to and fro very
busily with bits of lichen picked off the branches of another tree
adjoining. On the 25th I watched the nest for some time, but the birds
only came to it once, and then the hen bird went on and smeared some
cobwebs round the outside, at least that is what she seemed to me to
be doing. On the 28th I watched it again, and although both birds were
in the adjoining tree, I did not see them go to the nest. On the 31st,
about 10 A.M., I found the hen on the nest, and