the hedges of
prickly-pear, I have taken the nests in orange-trees, the karounda,
the babool, &c."

Messrs. Davidson and Wenden state that in the Deccan it is "very
common and breeds."

Major C.T. Bingham says:--"This bird, uncommon at Allahabad, is
plentiful here at Delhi. I found several nests between March and June,
all of the Babbler type, deep cups, rather more firmly built than
those of the preceding bird, but constructed like them of coarse roots
of grass, with finer ones for the inside. They are never placed at any
great height from the ground, and generally in some thorny bush. I
have found mostly three, rarely four eggs in any one nest."

Mr. Benjamin Aitken writes:--"I never saw the Common Babbler in Poona,
and it certainly does not occur in Bombay. But it is very abundant on
the arid plains of Berar, breeding in the low babool-bushes, where
large numbers of its eggs are destroyed by lizards. I have found four
eggs in a nest oftener than three."

Colonel Butler writes:--"The Common Babbler breeds in the
neighbourhood of Deesa principally during the monsoon; but I have
found nests occasionally at other seasons of the year, as the
following table of dates will show:--

"April 29, 1876. A nest containing 3 fresh eggs.
"May 16, 1876. " " 3 fresh eggs.
"May 21, 1876. " " 2 fresh eggs.
"Nov. 15, 1876. " " 4 young birds.

"I found numerous nests from the middle of July to the beginning of
September. On the 26th July, 1876, I saw upwards of a dozen nests,
some containing fresh eggs, and others incubated. In many instances
they contained eggs of _Coccystes jacobinus_. The nest is usually
placed 3 or 4 feet from the ground in low thorny bashes (_Zizyphus
jujuba_ preferred) or in a tussock of sarpat grass. It is built of
twigs, roots, grass, &c., loosely put together exteriorly but closely
woven interiorly, the lining being composed of fine roots and
grass-stems. The eggs vary in number from three to five."

Lieut. H.E. Barnes, writing of Rajputana, says:--"The Striated
Bush-Babbler breeds from March to July. The nest is usually placed in
a low thorny bush, and is composed of grass-roots and stems; it is
deep cup-shaped, neatly and compactly built."

The eggs are typically of a moderately elongated oval shape, slightly
compressed towards one end, but more or less spherical and pyriform
varieties occur; and I have one specimen, a very long pointed egg,
wh