structed of similar materials.
The latter of the two was placed at the bottom of a large bunch of
lemon-grass, and was constructed of root-fibre and grass, grass-bents,
and down of thistle and hawkweed, all intermixed. Exteriorly it
measured between 3 and 4 inches in diameter. The nests contained three
and five eggs, all highly glossy and of a deep brownish-red, deeper
than brick-red, mottled with a still deeper shade."

Colonel "W.Y. Legge, writing from Ceylon, tells us that "_P. socialis_
breeds with us in the commencement of the S.W. monsoon during the
months of May, June, and July. It nests in long grass on the Patnas in
the Central Province, in guinea-grass fields, and in sugarcane-brakes
where these exist, as in the Galle District for instance. I can
scarcely imagine that Jerdon is correct about this Warbler's nesting.

"Nothing can be more un-Tailor-bird-like than the nest which it builds
in _this_ country, and this led me to think that ours was a different
species until my specimens were identified by Lord Walden. In May 1870
a pair resorted to a large guinea-grass field attached to my bungalow
at Colombo, for the purpose of breeding. I soon found the nest, which
was the most peculiarly constructed one I have ever seen. It was, in
fact, an almost shapeless ball of guinea-grass roots, _thrown_ as it
were between the upright stalks of the plant at about 2 feet from
the ground: I say 'thrown,' because it was scarcely attached to the
supporting stalks at all. It was formed entirely of the roots of the
plant, which, when it is old, crop out of the ground and are easily
plucked up by the bird, the bottom or more solid part being interwoven
with cotton and such-like substances to impart additional strength.
The entrance was at the side in the upper half, and was tolerably
neatly made; it was about an inch in diameter, the whole structure
measuring about 6 inches in depth by 5 inches in breadth. I found the
nest in a partial state of completion on the 10th of May; by the 19th
it was finished and the first of a clutch of three eggs laid. The nest
and eggs were both taken on the evening of the 24th, and the following
day another was commenced close at hand. This was somewhat smaller,
but constructed in the same peculiar manner as the first. This was
completed, and the first of another clutch laid. The eggs are somewhat
pointed at the smaller end, and of an almost uniform dull mahogany
ground-colour, showing indications o