-bellied Short-wing by
Mr. Carter, who took them from holes or depressions of banks in the
Nilghiris in April and May. They closely resemble nests of _Niltava
macrigoriae_ from Darjeeling. They are soft masses of green moss,
some 4 or 5 inches in diameter externally, with more or less of a
depression towards one side, lined with very fine dark moss-roots.
This depression may average about 21/2 inches across and 3/4 inch in
depth; but they vary a good deal. Mr. Carter says:--"I have found the
nests of this species about Conoor in May, in holes of banks, on
roads running through thick _sholas_ (i.e. jungles not amounting to
forests). The nests are of moss, shallow, lined with fine root-fibres,
the cavity about 3-5 inches in diameter. They lay two eggs, pale
olive, shading into a decided brownish red at the larger end. The old
birds are very shy in returning to the nest when watched; indeed, they
are always shy, hiding in the brushwood of jungles or amongst fallen
timber, along which they almost creep."

Mr. Davison informs me that "this species breeds on the Nilghiris from
about 5500 feet to about 7000 during April and May, building in holes
of trees, crevices of rocks, &c., seldom at any great elevation
above the ground. The nest is composed of moss, lined with moss and
fern-roots. Two or three eggs are laid."

The few eggs I possess, which I owe to Messrs. Carter and Davison, and
which were taken by them in the Nilghiris, have a pale olive-brown
ground with, at the large end, an ill-defined mottled reddish-brown
cap. In some specimens the mottling extends more or less over the
whole egg, though always most dense about the larger end. Though much
larger and of a more elongated shape, they not a little resemble some
specimens of the eggs of _Pratincola indica_ that I possess. In shape
they are long ovals, recalling in that respect those of _Myiophoneus
temmincki_; they have less gloss than the eggs of most of the
Thrushes.

In length they vary from 0.97 to 1.02 inch, and in breadth from 0.65
to 0.69 inch.

197. Drymochares cruralis (Blyth). _The White-browed Short-wing_

Brachypteryx cruralis (Bl.), _Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 495; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 338.

According to Mr. Hodgson's notes and drawings, the White-browed
Short-wing breeds in April and May. It constructs its nest a foot or
so above the ground amongst grass and creeping-plants at the base of
trunks of trees; it is composed of moss and moss-ro