in breadth from 0.49 to
0.52, but the average appears to be 0.7 by 0.5.

466. Prinia inornata, Sykes. _The Indian Wren-Warbler_.

Drymoipus inornatus (_Sykes_), _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii. p. 178;
_Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 543.
Drymoipus longicaudatus (_Tick._), _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 180.
Drymoipus terricolor, _Hume_; _Hume, Rough Draft N, & E._ no. 543 bis.

The breeding-season of this Wren-Warbler commences with the first fall
of rain, and lasts through July and August to quite the middle of
September.

The birds construct a very elegant nest, always closely and compactly
woven, of very fine blades, or strips of blades, of grass, in no nests
exceeding one-twentieth of an inch in width, and in many of not above
half this breadth. The grass is always used when fresh and green,
so as to be easily woven in and out. Both parents work at the nest,
clinging at first to the neighbouring stems of grass or twigs, and
later to the nest itself, while they push the ends of the grass
backwards and forwards in and out; in fact, they work very much like
the Baya (_P. baya_), and the nest, though much smaller, is in texture
very like that of this latter species, the great difference being that
the Baya, with us, more often uses _stems_, and _Prinia_ strips of
_blades_ of grass. The nest varies in shape and in size, according to
its situation: a very favourite locality is in amongst clumps of the
_sarpatta_, or serpent-grass, in which case the bird builds a long
and purse-like nest, attached above and all round to the surrounding
grass-stems, with a small entrance near the top. Such nests are
often 8 or 9 inches in length, and 3 inches or even more in external
diameter, and with an internal cavity measuring 11/2 inch in diameter,
and having a depth of nearly 4 inches below the lower margin of the
entrance-hole. At other times they are hung between bare twigs, often
of some thorny bush, or are even placed in low herbaceous plants; in
these cases they are usually nearly globular, with the entrance-hole
near the top; they are then probably 31/2 inches in external diameter
in every direction. In other cases they are hung to or between two or
more leaves to which the birds attach the nest, much as a Tailor-bird
would do, using, however, fine grass instead of cobwebs or cotton-wool
for ligaments. I have never found more than five eggs in any nest, and
four is certainly the normal number.

Mr. R.M. Adam remarks:--"I had a nest brought