June with young ones a few days old. The nest
was placed on the ground in the centre of a low but very thick thorny
bush."

Subsequently he wrote from Pegu, further south:--"The nest is placed
in the fork of a shrub, very near to, or quite on, the ground, and is
surrounded in every case by long grass. A nest found on the 4th July,
on which the female was sitting closely, contained three eggs slightly
incubated. The breeding-season seems to be in June and July.

"The nest is made entirely of bamboo-leaves and is lined sparingly
with fine grass. No other material enters into its composition. It
is oval, about 7 inches in height and 4 in diameter, with a large
entrance at the side, its lower edge being about the middle of the
nest.

"When the bird frequents elephant-grass, where there are no shrubs, it
builds on the ground at the edge of a clump of grass, and I have found
two nests in such a situation, only a few feet from each other.

"In looking for the nest a good deal of grass is necessarily trodden
down; the consequence is that if you do not find eggs, there is little
chance of their being laid later on. I have found some ten nests, more
or less completed, but only three eggs."

And again, later on:--"This bird would appear to have two broods a
year, for I procured two sittings of three eggs each this year in
April, former nests having been found in June and July. With many eggs
before me I find that the density of the markings varies considerably.
The size is very constant; for the length of numerous eggs varies only
from .75 to .72, and the breadth from .6 to .54 inch."

I was, I believe, myself the first to obtain the eggs of this species,
but the first of my contributors who sent me eggs, nest, and a note on
the nidification of this species was Mr. J.C. Parker. Writing to me in
September 1875, he said:--

"On the 14th August I took a nest of _Timelia pileata_ on my old
ground in the Salt Lakes. I discovered this by a mere accident, for I
happened to see a female _Prinia flaviventris_ (whose eggs I was in
quest of for you) perched on the top of a bush inland about 10 feet
from the bank of the canal, and from her movements I thought she must
have a nest near at hand.

"Accordingly I landed, although not in trim for wading through a
bog. Sure enough I was not mistaken; the _Prinia_ had a nest, but it
contained only _one_ egg. Close by, however, I saw a nest, from out of
which a bird flew, and although I di