mity
of the bough. Nest deep, cup-shaped, solidly built of grass, roots,
and twigs; the bird sits close. Eggs light greenish blue, sparingly
spotted with pale purple, the same size as those of _Merula
castanea_."

92. Trochalopterum squamatum (Gould). _The Blue-winged
Laughing-Thrush_.

Trochalopteron squamatum (_Gould), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 46; _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 420.

From Sikhim my friend Mr. Gammie writes:--"I have never as yet found
more than one nest of the Blue-winged Laughing-Thrush, and this one
was found on the 18th May at Mongphoo, at an elevation of about 3500
feet. The nest was placed in a bush (one of the _Zingiberaceae_),
growing in a marshy place, in the midst of dense scrub, at a height
of about 4 feet from the ground, and was firmly attached to several
upright stems. It was composed of dry bamboo-leaves, held together by
the stems of delicate creepers, and was lined with a few black fibres.
It was cup-shaped, and measured externally 5.7 in diameter by 3.6
in height, and internally 3.7 in width by 2.6 in depth. The nest
contained three eggs, which were unfortunately almost ready to hatch
off, so that three is probably the normal number of the eggs."

According to Mr. Hodgson's notes the Blue-winged Laughing-Thrush
breeds in May and June in the central region of Nepal in forests, at
elevations of from 2000 to 6000 feet. The nest is placed in a fork of
a branch on some small tree, and is a large mass of dry leaves and
coarse dry grass, 7 or 8 inches in diameter externally, mortar-shaped,
the cavity about 2.5 deep, and lined with hair-like fibres. The nest,
though composed of loose materials, is very firm and compact. They lay
four or five eggs, unspotted, verditer-blue, one of which is figured
as a broad regular oval, only slightly compressed towards one end,
measuring 1.2 by 0.9.

One of the eggs taken by Mr. Gammie (the others were unfortunately
broken) is a long, almost cylindrical, oval, very obtuse at both ends
and slightly compressed towards the smaller end, so that the egg has
a pyriform tendency. It measures 1.25 by 0.82. The colour is an
excessively pale greenish blue, precisely the same as that of the eggs
of _Sturnia malabarica_; but then this present egg was nearly ready to
hatch off when taken, and the fresh eggs are somewhat deeper coloured.

Subsequent to his letter above quoted, Mr. Gammie on the 10th June
found a second nest of this species similar to the first, co