wrote,
but he really referred to the Formosan bird, which he has since
separated.

[Footnote A: The Indian and European birds are now generally allowed
to be perfectly identical, notwithstanding the alleged difference
in the colour of the eggs; and Mr. Hume is now, I think, of this
opinion.--ED.]

[Footnote B: But _C. volitans_, or the closely allied race which
occurs in Pegu, assuredly lays spotted eggs. I found two nests of this
bird, both with spotted eggs _vide_ (p. 236).--ED.]

The eggs of course vary somewhat. Of one nest I wrote at the time I
found it--"The eggs are a rather short oval, slightly pointed at one
end, with a white ground, thickly sprinkled with numerous specks and
tiny spots of pale brownish red. They measured .58 by .46." Of
another I say--"The ground had a faint pearly tinge, and there was a
well-marked, though, irregular and ill-defined, zone towards the large
end, formed by the agglomeration there of multitudinous specks, which
in places were almost confluent." Of another set--"The eggs were much
glossier and had a china-white ground; but instead of a multitude
of small specks over the whole surface, they had nearly the whole
colouring-matter gathered together at the large end in a cap of bold,
almost maroon-red spots, only a very few spots of the same colour
being scattered over the rest of the egg."

The eggs measure from .53 to .62 in length, and from .43 to .48 in
breadth; but the average dimensions of a large number measured were
.59 by .46.

382. Franklinia gracilis (Frankl.). _Franklin's Wren-Warbler_.

Prinia gracilis, _Frankl. Jerd. B. Ind._ ii. p. 172; _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 536.
Prinia hodgsoni, _Bl., Jerd. t.c._ p. 173; _Hume, t.c._ no. 538.

I have never myself succeeded in finding a nest of Franklin's
Wren-Warbler, but my friend Mr. F.R. Blewitt has sent me no less than
forty nests and eggs, with the parents; so that, although the eggs
belong to two, I might even say three, very different types, I
entertain no doubt that he is correct in assigning them to the same
species, the more so as, although the eggs vary, the nests are
identical. He has sent me several notes in regard to this species.
He says:--"On the 1st July, three miles south of the village of
Doongurgurh in the Raipoor District, I found a nest of Franklin's
Wren-Warbler, containing three fresh eggs. It was on rocky ground
between a footpath and a water-course, about 2 feet from the ground,
and fir