omposed of coarse grass, the inside being
composed of the finer parts; they are 4 to 5 inches external diameter
and 21/2 inches internal diameter, the cavity being about 11/2 inches
deep. The months in which they breed are, as far as I at present know,
March, June, and September. The eggs vary in size from .65 to .80 in
length and from .50 to .55 in breadth. The average of seven eggs is
.72 in length and .54 in breadth."

The eggs of this species vary somewhat in size and shape, but they are
typically regular rather elongated ovals, rather obtuse at both ends,
and often slightly compressed towards the small end. The shell is fine
and compact and has a slight gloss; the ground-colour is sometimes
greenish white, sometimes faintly creamy. The eggs are generally
pretty thickly and finely speckled and scratched all over, and besides
the fine markings there are a greater or smaller number of more or
less large irregular blotches and splashes, chiefly confined to the
large end. These markings, large and small, are brown, very variable
in shade, in some eggs reddish, in some chocolate, in some raw sienna,
&c. Besides these primary markings most eggs exhibit a number of
paler subsurface secondary markings, varying in colour from sepia to
lavender or pale purple; these are mostly confined to the large end
(though tiny spots of the same tint occur occasionally on all parts of
the egg), where with the large blotches they often form a more or less
conspicuous and more or less confluent but always ill-defined zone or
even cap. Here and there an egg absolutely wants the larger blotches,
but even in such cases the specklings are more crowded about the large
end, and these with the lilac clouds still combine to indicate a sort
of zone.

The eggs I possess of this species, sent me by Mr. Doig, vary from
0.71 to 0.81 in length by 0.52 to 0.59 in breadth; but the average of
seven eggs is 0.72 by 0.55.

388. Graminicola bengalensis, Jerd. _The Large Grass-Warbler_.

Graminicola bengalensis, _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 177.
Drymoica bengalensis (_Jerd.), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 542.

Long ago the late Colonel Tytler gave me the following note on this
species:--"I shot these birds at Dacca in 1852, and sent a description
and a drawing of them to Mr. Blyth. They were named after my esteemed
friend Jules Verreaux, of Paris. They are not uncommon at Dacca in
grass-jungle. I think the bird Dr. Jerdon gives in his 'Birds of
India' as _G