fibres of different kinds. The nest is more or less egg-shaped, with
the longer diameter horizontal, some 7 inches or so in length and 5
inches in height, and with the entrance at one end, measuring some
3 inches in diameter. Four or five eggs are laid, elongated ovals,
somewhat pointed towards the small end, pure white, and measuring
about 1.08 by 0.7.

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"I took a nest of this bird on the
19th May, at an elevation of about 5000 feet. It was placed on the
ground, among low scrub, near the outskirts of a large forest, and was
neatly made, for a _Pomatorhinus_, of bamboo-leaves and long grass,
with a thin lining of fibry strips torn from old bamboo-stems. In
shape it was a cone laid on its side. Externally it measured 9 inches
in length by the same in height at front, while the egg-cavity
measured 3.5 inches across, and 1.75 in depth. The entrance, which was
at the end, measured 3 inches in diameter.

"Next to the lining was a layer of broadish grass-blades, placed
lengthways, _i.e._ from base to apex of the cone, then came a
cross layer of broad bamboo-leaves succeeded by a second layer of
bamboo-leaves placed lengthways. By this arrangement the nest was
kept perfectly water-tight. So nicely were these simple materials
put together that they held each other in their places without the
assistance of a single fibre.

"The nest contained four partially incubated eggs: three of them
pointed and exactly alike, but the fourth rounded, and apparently of a
different texture, so that it may have been introduced by a Cuckoo."

Two eggs sent by Mr. Gammie are moderately elongated ovals, somewhat
obtuse even, at the smaller end. The shell is very fine, pure white,
and has a fine gloss. They measure 1.1 by 0.83, and 1.06 by 0.78.

125. Pomatorhinus ruficollis, Hodgs. _The Rufous-necked Scimitar
Babbler_.

Pomatorhinus ruficollis, _Hodgs., Jerd, B. Ind._ ii, p. 29; _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 400.

The Rufous-necked Scimitar Babbler breeds in Nepal, the Himalayas
eastward of that State, and in the various ranges running down from
Assam to Burmah.

The breeding-season appears to be April and May. They lay five, or
sometimes only four, eggs.

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"This species breeds, I think, from
the middle of April to the middle of May; but I have only as yet
taken a single nest, and this I found at Rishap on the 5th May, at an
elevation of about 4500 feet. The nest was pl