Babbler.

They are very restless, soaring about and singing a monotonous song of
two notes, somewhat resembling that of a Pipit, but clear and loud.
They do not soar in one spot like a Sky-Lark, as Jerdon says, but rise
to the height of from 30 to 50 yards, fly rapidly right and left, over
perhaps one fourth of a mile, and then suddenly drop on to the top of
some little bush or other convenient post, and there continue their
song.

Mr. Brooks remarks:--"On the 28th August, 1869, I observed at the side
of the railway, at Jheenjuck Jheel, on the borders of the Etawah and
Cawnpoor Districts, several pairs of _Chaetornis_. A good part of the
jheel was covered with grass about 18 inches high, and to this they
appeared partial, though occasionally I found them among the long
reeds. The part of the jheel where they were found was drier than the
rest, there being only about an inch of water in places, while other
portions were quite dry.

"I noticed the bird singing while seated on a bush or large clump of
grass, and sometimes it perched on the telegraph-wires alongside of
the line of railway, continuing its song while perched.

"By habits and song it seems more nearly allied to the Pipits than the
Babblers. Males shot early in September were obviously breeding, and
a female shot on the 13th of that month contained a nearly full-sized
egg."

It does not do to be too positive, but I should be inclined to believe
that the eggs are not uniform coloured, blue and glossy like a
Babbler's, but dull, dead, or greenish white, with numerous small
specks and spots[A].

[Footnote A: The discovery of this bird's eggs has proved Mr. Hume to
be right in his conjecture.--ED.]

Colonel E.A. Butler, who was the first to discover the eggs of the
Bristled Grass-Warbler, writes:--

"The Grass-Babbler is not uncommon about Deesa in the rains, at which
season it breeds. I found a nest containing four eggs on the 18th
August, 1876. It consisted of a round ball of dry grass with a
circular entrance on one side, near the top, was placed on the ground
in the centre of a low scrubby bush in a grass Bheerh, and when the
hen-bird flew off, which was not until I almost put my foot on the
nest, I mistook her for _Argya caudata_. On looking, however, into the
bush, I saw at once by the eggs that it was a species new to me. I
left the spot and returned again in about an hour's time, when, to my
disappointment, I found that three of the eggs had hatc