h I took the nest. When
fresh the eggs are beautifully pink from the thinness of the shell."

Mr. J. Darling, junior, remarks:--

"Mr. Davison makes a very good remark on the nest of this bird, but I
found one once under the roots of a tree at Neddivattam, and it was
a most beautiful nest, built entirely of the fibrous bark of the
Nilghiri nettle, in the shape of an oven, with a hole to go in at one
side. It contained four pure white delicate eggs. Another one found
near the same place was of the same nature, only resting on some
fern-leaves and under a rock, and contained five eggs.

"I found a nest down at Vythery, Wynaad, in a hole in the bank of a
road, in December 1874, made entirely of broad grass, very untidy, and
containing three eggs."

Mr. Rhodes W. Morgan writing from South India, says:--"Breeds in
April, constructing a neat domed nest of leaves on the ground, at the
foot of a bush. The nest is lined with fine grasses, and almost always
contains three eggs, which, when fresh, are of a beautiful pink
colour, owing to the yolk shining through the shell, which is
exceedingly fragile. The egg, when blown, is of a very beautiful
glossy white. If suddenly approached whilst on its nest, this bird
runs out like a rat, and flies when at a distance from the nest. An
egg in my collection measures 1.04 by .7 inch."

The eggs sent me from the Nilghiris by Miss Cockburn and Mr. Carter
are nearly perfect ovals, usually much elongated, but sometimes
moderately broad, and very slightly compressed towards one end.
They are very fragile, and perfectly pure spotless white in colour.
Typically, although smooth and satiny in texture, they have but little
gloss, but occasionally a fairly glossy egg is to be met with.

In length they vary from 0.98 to 1.12, and in breadth from 0.75 to
0.79; but the average seems to be about 1.08 by 0.77.

122. Pomatorhinus ferruginosus, Blyth. _The Coral-billed Scimitar
Babbler_.

Pomatorhinus ferruginosus, _Blyth,, Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 29; _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 401.

The Coral-billed Scimitar Babbler, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes,
breeds in Sikhim, at an elevation of 5000 or 6000 feet. Its nest is
placed about a foot or 2 feet above the ground, in a bamboo-clump or
some thick bush, and is firmly wedged in between the twigs and shoots.
It is composed internally of dried bamboo-leaves, grass, and vegetable
fibres, outside which bamboo-sheaths are bound on with creepers and