y are dull white with brick-red spots
openly disposed in form of a rude ring at the larger end; at other
times the spots are rufescent claret, with duller indistinct ones
appearing through the shell; others are of a deep carneous hue,
clouded and coarsely blotched with deep rufescent claret; while again
some are faint carneous with large irregular blotches of rufous clay
with duller ones beneath the shell."

Some of Captain Hutton's eggs which he sent me were clearly those of
_Hypsipetes psaroides_ (of which also be sent me specimens), and the
fact is that in thick foliage where the Red-bill is not seen nothing
is easier than to mistake this bird for _D. longicaudatus_. I have
taken a great many of these nests, and I never found eggs other than
of the two types to be below described.

Colonel G.F.L. Marshall writes:--"In Kumaon this species breeds from
4000 to 5000 feet above the sea; the eggs are laid in the last week of
May. I have never seen a nest at Naini Tal itself (6000 to 7000 feet),
but at Bheem Tal (4000 feet) I found numerous nests within three days,
in the first week of June; all without exception had young. The next
season I visited the place in the last week of May, and found the eggs
just laid.

"The nests were of the usual _Dicrurus_ type, wedged in a fork at
heights varying from fifteen to fifty feet from the ground, but as far
as my experience goes always in conspicuous places and generally on
trees almost or quite bare of leaves. The nests are usually only to be
obtained by sawing off the bough they are built on."

Long ago Captain Cock, writing from Dhurmsala, said:--"I took a
nest on the 8th of May, containing four eggs. The eggs are regular,
roundish ovals, somewhat pointed towards one end. The ground-colour is
white, here and there suffused with a faint pinkish tinge, and it is
spotted and blotched with purplish red and pale lilac, most of the
spots being gathered into an irregular zone about the large end."

Colonel C.H.T. Marshall, writing from Murree, says:--"Breeds in May,
in almost inaccessible places, about 7000 feet up, choosing a thin
fork at the outermost end of a bough about 50 or 60 feet from the
ground, and always on trees that have no lower branches. The nest is
almost invisible from below, as it is very neatly built on the top of
the fork; and when the female sits on it, she places her tail down the
bough so as entirely to hide herself. The eggs are only to be obtained
either b