Other eggs that I have since obtained have been quite similar, but
have not had the markings quite so densely set: the secondary markings
have been greyer and less purple, and several eggs have exhibited
an appreciable gloss; others, again, were quite like those first
described and entirely devoid of gloss. They measured 0.9 to 0.98 in
length by 0.65 to 0.71 in breadth.

508. Campophaga sykesi (Strickl.). _The Black-headed Cuckoo-Shrike_.

Volvocivora sykesii (_Strickl.), Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 414; _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 268.

Mr. F.R. Blewitt took the eggs of Sykes's Cuckoo-Shrike many years
ago. He furnishes the following note:--

"I first met with this bird in the southern part of Bundlekund.
Nowhere here is it common, and I have never seen more than a pair
together. It is to be found in wooded tracts of country, but more
frequently among thin large trees surrounding villages. Dr. Jerdon has
correctly described its restless habits, and its careful examination
of the foliage and branches of trees for food. It is usually a silent
bird, but during the earlier portion of the breeding-season the male
bird may frequently be heard repeating for minutes together his clear
plaintive notes. Each time, as it flies from one tree to another, the
song is repeated. The flight is easy, slightly undulating, and the
strokes of the wing somewhat rapid. In the latter end of July I
procured one nest. It was found on a mowa-tree (_Bassia latifolia_),
placed on and at the end of two small out-shooting branches. When my
man, mounting the tree, approached the nest the parent birds evinced
the greatest anxiety, flew just above his head, uttering all the while
a sharply repeated cry. Even when one of the birds was shot the other
would not leave the spot, but remained hovering about and uttering its
shrill cry. The nest is slightly made, and constructed of thin twigs
and roots; the exterior is covered slightly with spider's web. If we
except the size, the formation of this Cuckoo-Shrike's nest is almost
identical with that of _Graucalus macii_. I secured two eggs in the
nest. In colour they are, when fresh, of a deepish green, mottled
with dark brown spots; indeed the eggs, when first taken, a good deal
resemble those of _Copsychus saularis_. The maximum number of eggs, no
doubt, is three, as those I secured were fresh-laid. The bird breeds
from June to August."

The nest above referred to, and now in my museum, was a very shal