l-incubated eggs. The nest was placed in a wild ginger-plant, about
two feet from the ground, in forest at the very summit of the Makhi
hill.

462. Prinia lepida, Blyth. _The Streaked Wren-Warbler_

Burnesia lepida (_Blyth), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 185.
Burnesia gracilis, _Ruepp., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 550.

I have never happened to meet with the nest of the Streaked
Wren-Warbler, and all the information I possess in regard to its
nidification I owe to others.

The late Mr. Anderson remarked:--"Although this species was far
from uncommon, I found it very local and confined entirely to the
tamarisk-covered islands and 'churs' along the Ganges.

"The first nest was taken on the 13th March last, and contained three
well-incubated eggs; of these I saved only one specimen, which is now
in the collection of Mr. Brooks. The second was found on the following
day, and contained two callow young and one perfectly fresh egg.

"The nest is domed over, having an entrance at the side; and the
cavity is comfortably lined, or rather felted, with the down of the
madar plant. It is fixed, somewhat after the fashion of that of the
Reed-Warbler, in the centre of a dense clump of surpat grass, about 2
feet above the ground. On the whole the structure is rather large
for so small a bird, and measures 6 inches in height by 4 inches in
breadth.

"But while the _nest_ corresponds exactly with Canon Tristram's
description[A] of those taken by him in Palestine, there are
differences, oologically speaking, which induce me to hope that our
Indian bird may yet be restored to specific distinction[B]. In
the first place, my single eggs from each nest have a _green_
ground-colour, and are covered all over with reddish-brown spots. Now
Mr. Tristram describes his Palestine specimens as 'richly coloured
_pink_ eggs, with a zone of darker red near the larger end, and
in shape and colour resembling some of the _Prinia_ group.' Is it
possible for the same birds to lay such widely different eggs? If I
had taken only one specimen, it might have been looked upon as a mere
variety. Again, our Indian bird lays three eggs, and I have never
seen the parent birds feeding more than this number of young ones,
occasionally only two. Mr. Tristram, _per contra_, mentions having met
with as many as five and six. The egg is certainly the prettiest, and
one of the smallest, I have ever seen; indeed, I found it too small to
risk measurement."

[Footnote A