.

Abrornis flaviventris, _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 203.

Writing from Tenasserim, Major T.C. Bingham says:--

"I have shot this bird on the Zammee choung, where I got a nest with
eggs; and I have more than once seen it in the Thoungyeen forests.

"The following is an account of the nest I found, recorded in my
note-book:--

"Khasat village--Khasat choung, Zammee river, 9th March, 1878.--My
camp to-day was pitched in the midst of a dense bamboo-break, close to
a path leading to the village.

"About ten feet from my tent on this path, passers-by had cut one
of the bamboos in a clump and left it leaning up against the clump;
between two knots of this a rough hack had broken an irregular hole
into a joint.

"Sitting outside my tent and looking carelessly about, my attention
was attracted by what I took to be a leaf flutter down close to the
above-mentioned bamboo, and to my surprise disappear before it reached
the ground. Wondering at this, I got up and approached the place, when
from the aforementioned hole in the bamboo out darted a little bird;
and looking in I saw a neat little nest of fibres placed on the lower
knot with three eggs, white densely speckled, chiefly in a ring at the
larger end, with pinkish claret spots.

"I went back to my tent, watched the bird return, and shot her as on
being frightened off she flew out a second time. It proved to be the
above species.

"I took the nest and eggs. The latter, I regret to say, were lost
subsequently through the carelessness of a servant, but I had luckily
measured and taken a description of them.

"Their dimensions were respectively 0.57 x 0.42, 0.59 x 0.42, and 0.59
x 0.44."

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"I took a nest of this Warbler on the
15th June at 1800 feet elevation. It was inside a bamboo-stem near the
banks of the Ryeng stream. Just under a node some one had cut out a
notch, which the birds made their entrance. The nest rested on the
node below and fitted the hollow of the bamboo. It was made of dry
bamboo-leaves, and lined with soft, fibrous material. It measured
5 inches deep and 3 inches wide, with an egg cavity of 2 inches in
depth, by 13/4 inch in width. The eggs, which were hard-set, were but
three in number."

The eggs are rather long ovals, the shell fine but with very little
gloss; the ground-colour is a dull white or pinky white, and it is
thickly freckled and mottled about the large end and thinly elsewhere
with red, in some cases