with, and in this manner a cradle or hammock is formed.
On it a slender cup-shaped nest is superimposed. This is composed of
grasses and fibres, some of which are wound round the limbs of the
forked branch, while others are made fast to the strands of bark. The
completed nest is nearly five inches in diameter. From below it looks
like a ball of dried grass wedged into the forked branch.

The oriole lays from two to four white eggs spotted with dull red. The
spots can be washed off by water; sometimes their colour "runs" while
they are in the nest, thereby imparting a pink hue to the whole shell.
Both sexes take part in nest construction, but the hen alone appears
to incubate. She is a very shy creature, and is rarely discovered
actually sitting, because she leaves the nest with a little cry of
alarm at the first sound of a human footfall.

May and June are the months in which to look for the nests of that
superb bird--the paradise flycatcher (_Terpsiphone paradisi_). This is
known as the rocket-bird or ribbon-bird because of the two long
fluttering tail feathers possessed by the cock. The hen has the
appearance of a kind of bulbul, being chestnut-hued with a white
breast and a metallic blue-black crest. For the first year of their
existence the young cocks resemble the hens in appearance. Then the
long tail feathers appear. In his third year the cock turns white save
for the black-crested head. This species spends the winter in South
India. In April it migrates northwards to summer in the shady parts of
the plains of Bengal, the United Provinces and the Punjab, and on the
lower slopes of the Himalayas. The nest is a deep, untidy-looking cup,
having the shape of an inverted cone. It is always completely covered
with cocoons and cobweb. It is usually attached to one or more of the
lower branches of a tree. Both sexes work at the nest and take part in
incubation. The long tail feathers of the sitting cock hang down from
the nest like red or white satin streamers according to the phase of
his plumage. In the breeding season the cock sings a sweet little
lay--an abridged version of that of the fantail flycatcher. When
alarmed both the cock and the hen utter a sharp _tschit_.

May is perhaps the proper month in which to describe the nesting of
the various species of myna.

According to Hume the normal breeding season of the common myna
(_Acridotheres tristis_) lasts from June to August, during which
period two broods are