s belonged to _Pnoepyga
pusilla_, Hodgs.

Subfamily SIBIINAE.

203. Sibia picaoides, Hodgs. _The Long-tailed Sibia_.

Sibia picaoides, _Hodgs. Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 55; _Hume, Rough Draft
N. & E._ no. 430.

Mr. Gammie obtained a nest of the Long-tailed Sibia from the top of
a tall tree, situated at an elevation of about 4000 feet, in the
neighbourhood of Rungbee, near Darjeeling. This was on the 17th June,
and the nest contained five fresh eggs. The nest is as perplexing as
are the eggs; for the nest is that of a Bulbul, the eggs those of a
Shrike or Minivet. The nest is a deep compact cup, about 41/2 inches in
diameter and 23/4 inches in depth. The egg-cavity is 3 inches across and
fully 13/4 inch in depth. Interiorly the nest is composed of excessively
fine grass-stems very firmly interwoven; externally of the stems of
some herbaceous plant, a Chenopod, to which the dry blossoms are still
attached, intermingled with coarse grass, a single dead leaf, and one
or two broad grass-blades more or less broken up into fibres.

The eggs, for the authenticity of which Mr. Gammie positively vouches,
are very unlike what might have been expected. They are absolutely
Shrike's eggs--broad ovals, pointed towards one end, with a slight
gloss, the ground a slightly greyish white, with a good many small
spots and specks of pale yellowish brown and dingy purple, chiefly
confined to a large irregular zone towards the larger end. They vary
in length from 0.86 to 0.93, and in breadth from 0.7 to 0.73.

204. Lioptila capistrata (Vigors). _The Black-headed Sibia_.

Sibia capistrata (_Vig.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 54; _Hume, Rough Draft
N. & E._ no. 429.

The Black-headed Sibia lays throughout the Himalayas from Afghanistan
to Bhootan, at elevations of from 5000 to 7000 feet.

It lays during May and June, and perhaps part of July, for I find that
on the 11th of July I found a nest of this species a little below the
lake at Nynee Tal, on the Jewli Road, containing two young chicks
apparently not a day old.

They build on the outskirts of forests, constructing their nests
towards the ends of branches, at heights of from 10 to 50 feet from
the ground. The nest is a neat cup, some 4 or 5 inches in diameter and
perhaps 3 inches in height, composed chiefly of moss and lined
with black moss-roots and fibres. In some of the nests that I have
preserved a good deal of grass-leaves and scraps of lichen are
incorporated in the moss.