hed. The fourth
egg being stale, I took it and added it to my collection. The eggs are
about the size of the eggs of _A. caudata_, but in colour very like
those of _Franklinia buchanani_, namely, white, speckled all over with
reddish brown and pale lavender, most densely at the large end. This
bird has a peculiar habit in the breeding-season of rising suddenly
into the air and soaring about, often for a considerable distance,
uttering a loud note resembling the words 'chirrup, chirrup-chirrup,'
repeated all the time the bird is in the air, and then suddenly
descending slowly into the grass with outspread wings, much in
the style of _Mirafra erythroptera_. This bird is so similar in
appearance, when flying and hopping about in the long grass, to _A.
caudata_, that I have no doubt it is often mistaken for that species.
I have invariably found it during the rains in grass Bheerhs overgrown
with low thorny bushes (_Zizyphus jujuba_, &c.). Whether it remains
the whole year round I cannot say; at all events, if it does, its
close resemblance to _A. caudata_ enables it to escape notice at other
seasons."

Mr. Cripps, writing from Fureedpore, says:--"Very common in long grass
fields. Permanent resident. It utters its soft notes while on the
wing, not only in the cold season but the year through; it is very
noisy during the breeding-time. Breeds in clumps of grass a few inches
above as well as on the ground. I found five nests in the month of May
from 23rd to 28th: one was on the ground in a field of indigo; the
rest were in clumps of 'sone' grass and from the same field composed
of this grass. One nest contained three half-fledged young, and the
rest had four eggs slightly incubated in each. Although they nest in
'sone' grass which is rarely over three feet in height, it is very
difficult to find the nest, as the grass generally overhangs and hides
it. Only when the bird rises almost from your feet are you able to
discover the whereabouts. On several occasions I have noticed this
species perching on bushes."

The eggs, which, to judge from a large series sent me by Mr. Cripps,
do not appear to vary much in shape, are moderately broad ovals, more
or less pointed towards one end. The shell is fine and fragile but
entirely devoid of gloss; the ground-colour is white with a very faint
pinky or lilac tinge, and they are thickly speckled all over with
minute markings of two different shades--the one a sort of purplish
brown (they