ed out of their shells. I retired a little
way off, and she immediately reseated herself. The eggs, to judge by
the fragments, were of a vinous claret tinge, spotted and streaked
with a darker shade of the same."

These eggs closely resemble those of _A. nepalensis_. They are neither
broad nor elongated ovals, often with a _slight_ pyriform tendency,
always apparently very blunt at both ends.

The ground-colour, of which but little is visible, in some eggs varies
from pinky white to pale reddish pink, and the egg is profusely
smeared and clouded with pinky or purplish red, varying much in
shade and tint. Here and there, in most eggs, are a few spots, or
occasionally short, crooked or curved lines, where the colour has
been laid on so thick that it is almost black, and such spots are
generally, though not always, more or less surrounded with a haze of a
rather deeper tint than the rest of the smear in which they occur. The
markings are often deepest coloured, or most conspicuous, about the
large end, where occasionally a recognizable cap is formed and there
a decided purplish tinge may be noticed in patches. The general
character of the eggs is very uniform; but the eggs vary to such a
degree _inter se_, that it is hopeless to attempt to describe all the
variations. They vary in length from 0.68 to 0.78 and in breadth from
0.53 to 0.59, but the average of nine eggs is 0.75 by 0.58.

166. Rhopocichla atriceps (Jerd.) _The Black-headed Babbler_.

Alcippe atriceps (_Jerd._), _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 19; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 390.

Writing from Coonoor in the Nilghiris, Mr. Wait tells me that
the Black-headed Babbler breeds in his neighbourhood in June and
July:--"It builds in weeds and grass beside the banks of old roads, at
elevations of from 5000 to 5500 feet. The nest is placed at a height
of from a foot to 2 feet from the ground, is domed and loosely built,
composed almost entirely of dry blades of the lemon-grass, and lined
with the same or a few softer grass-blades. In shape it is more or
less ovate, the longer axis vertical, and the external diameters 4 and
8 inches. They lay two or three rather broad oval eggs, which have a
white ground, speckled and spotted, chiefly at the large end, with
reddish brown."

Miss Cockburn sends me a nest of this species which she found on the
17th June amongst reeds on the edge of a stream, about 2 or 3 feet
above the water's edge. It appears to have been a globular m