was placed on a dead horizontal limb near the top
of a large tree. It contained four eggs slightly set; it is a somewhat
shallow cup, interiorly 3 inches in diameter by nearly 11/2 in depth,
and composed almost entirely of fine roots, pretty firmly interwoven.
It has no lining, but at the bottom exteriorly it is coated partially
with a sort of plaster, composed apparently of strips of bark and
vegetable fibre partially cemented together in some way.

The egg sent me by Miss Cockburn is of quite the same type as those
found by Mr. Gammie, but it is a trifle longer, measuring 1.0 by 0.7,
and the colouring is much brighter. The ground is a sort of creamy
white. There is a strongly marked though irregular zone round the
large end of more or less confluent brownish rusty patches (amongst
which a few pale grey spots may be detected), and a good many spots
and small blotches of the same are scattered about the whole of the
rest of the surface of the egg.

Numerous eggs subsequently obtained by Mr. Gammie correspond well with
those already described as procured by himself and Miss Cockburn.

In length the eggs vary from 0.82 to 1.0, and in breadth from 0.6 to
0.72, but the average is 0.94 by 0.68.

513. Artamus leucogaster (Valenc.). _The White-rumped
Swallow-Shrike_.

Artamus leucorhynchus (_Gm.), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 287 bis.

The White-rumped Swallow-Shrike breeds, we know, in the Andamans and
Great Cocos, and that is nearly all we do know. Mr. Davison says:--"On
the 2nd of May I saw a bird of this species fly into a hollow at the
top of a rotten mangrove stump about 20 feet high. The next day I
went, but did not like to climb the stump, as it appeared unsafe, so
I determined to cut it down, and after giving about six strokes that
made the stump shake from end to end, the bird flew out. I made sure
that as the bird sat so close the nest must contain eggs, so I ceased
cutting and managed to get a very light native, who voluntered to
climb it; but on his reaching the top, he found, to my astonishment,
that the nest, although apparently finished, was empty. The nest was
built entirely of grass, somewhat coarse on the exterior, finer on the
inside; it was a shallow saucer-shaped structure, and was placed in a
hollow at the top of the stump."

Family ORIOLIDAE.

518. Oriolus kundoo, Sykes. _The Indian Oriole_.

Oriolus kundoo, _Sykes, Jerd. B. Ind._ ii. p. 107; _Hume, Rough Draft
N. & E._ no. 470.