re, generally in similar
situations. The nest was strongly attached to the stems and leaves
of four herbaceous plants growing close together. In many cases the
strips of grass had been passed through and pierced the leaves. The
nest is deep and purse-shaped; the sides were prolonged upwards,
except in front where the entrance was, and joined above so as to
form a canopy. The nest has no lining, and none of the nests of this
species that I ever saw have ever had any lining. The whole nest
inside and out is composed of fine strips of blades of grass
interwoven. The eggs, five in number, varied much in size. In colour
they were bright blue, most irregularly blotched with various shades
of purplish brown: some of the blotches very large, some mere specks.
Each egg had also washed-out stains or blotches. The smaller eggs were
by far the brighter.

"By reason of the roof and walls the entrance to the nest was at one
side, but there was nothing that could be called a hole. The roof
projected over the entrance, forming a porch.

"Six or eight nests which I have seen of this species were all over
water. But the birds are by no means confined to marshy localities.

"Even in the middle of the rains the nests are invariably made of dry
yellow grass.

"One nest found in Berar was in a babool bush, where of course there
could have been no leaves pierced."

Mr. E. Aitken writes:--"I have found a good many nests in Bombay, and
it breeds in Poona too. My notes only mention two nests with eggs, on
the 22nd and 25th August, but I found some much later; and I am
almost certain it begins to lay much earlier, if not actually at the
beginning of the monsoon, like _Orthotomus_ and _Prinia_.

"It builds in gardens and cultivated fields, especially in the
vicinity of water, and often among plants growing in water.

"The nest is very firmly attached to the twigs of some plant where
long grass or other plants completely surround and conceal it. It
is usually about 3 foot from the ground. It varies much in size and
shape, some being much deeper than others, and some having the top
open; others an entrance somewhat to one side.

"I have always found three or four eggs--bright blue, with large
irregular purplish-brown blotches and no hair-lines. I should have
said that the nest is a bag, very uniformly woven, of fine grass, and
_never with any lining_--at any rate in none that I have ever found.
They never use the same nest twice, always bu