March, when the males
may be heard uttering a feeble kind of rambling song, which in reality
is merely modified repetitions of a single note."

Mr. A. Anderson remarked that "the White-eye breeds throughout the
North-Western Provinces and Oudh during the months of June, July, and
August. The nest is a beautiful little model of the Oriole's; and
according to my experience it is invariably _suspended_, and _not
fixed in the fork of small branches_ as stated by Jerdon. I have on
several occasions watched a pair in the act of building their nest.
They set to work with cobwebs, and having first tied together two or
three leafy twigs to which they intend to attach their nest, they then
use fine fibre of the _sun_ (_Crotalaria juncea_), with which material
they complete the outer fabric of their very beautiful and compact
nest. As the work progresses more cobwebs and fibre of a silky kind
are applied externally, and at times the nest, when tossed about by
the wind (sometimes at a considerable elevation), would be mistaken by
a casual observer for an accidental collection of cobwebs. The inside
of the nest is well felted with the down of the madar plant, and then
it is finally lined with fine hair and grass-stems of the softest
kind. Sometimes the nest is suspended from only two twigs, exactly
after the fashion of the Mango-birds (_Oriolus kundoo_); and in this
case it is attached by means of silk-like fibres and fine fibre of
_sun_ for about 11/2 inch on each side; at others it is suspended from
several twigs; and occasionally I have seen the leaves fixed on to the
sides of the nest, thus making it extremely difficult of detection.

"In shape the nest is a perfect hollow hemisphere; one now before me
measures (inside) 1.5 in diameter. The wall is about 0.3 in thickness.

"Almost all my nests have been built on the neem tree, the long
slender _petioles_ of which are admirably adapted for its suspension.

"As a rule the nest is built at a considerable height, and owing
to its situation there is not a more difficult nest to take. Great
numbers get washed down in a half-finished state in a heavy fall of
rain.

"The eggs are, exactly as Jerdon describes them, of a pale blue,
'almost like skimmed milk,' and the usual number is three, though four
are frequently laid."

"On the 7th September," writes Mr. E.M. Adam, "in my garden in
Lucknow, I discovered a nest of this bird in course of construction,
but when it was nearly finis