"I have found numerous nests of this species, but always after the young had flown. They appear almost always to be placed in shrubs at heights of 2 to 10 feet from the ground. One nest, however, on which I watched the birds at work, was in a pineapple plant between the stalk of the fruit and one of the leaves, almost on the ground."
The eggs are regular ovals, moderately elongated, only very slightly compressed towards the smaller end, which is only just appreciably smaller.
The shell is very fine and delicate, excessively smooth and fragile, but with only a faint gloss. The ground is a dead white, with perhaps the least possible pinkish tinge. The markings consist of tiny specks of brownish or purplish red and pale yellowish brown, thinly scattered over the rest of the surface, but comparatively densely clustered round the larger end, where they form a rather conspicuous though irregular and imperfect zone, apparent enough in all, but much more strongly marked in one egg than in the others.
In some eggs the markings are all rather bright red and dull purplish grey; some have a very fair amount of gloss, and a very pure china-white ground.
The eggs vary in length from 0·65 to 0·71, and in breadth from 0·5 to 0·53.
177. Mixornis gularis (Raffl.). The Sumatran Yellow-breasted Babbler.
Mixornis gularis (Horsf.), Hume, cat. no. 395 bis.
The eggs[A] are very similar to those of M. rubricapillus, but are, perhaps, as a rule, better marked. They are very regular ovals, typically rather slightly elongated, often slightly compressed towards the small end; the shell is very fine and fragile, and has usually a fair amount of gloss. The ground is usually pure white, at times with a pinkish tinge. Round the large end is a more or less conspicuous, more or less continuous zone of specks, spots, and small irregular blotches of two colours, the one varying in different eggs from almost brick-red to brownish orange, the other from reddish purple to purplish grey. In some cases a very few, in others a good many, specks and tiny spots of the same colours are scattered about the other portions of the egg. The eggs measure 0·7 by 0·51.
[Footnote A: I cannot find any note about the nest of this species.
Mr. Davison was probably the finder of the eggs described.—ED.]
178. Schoeniparus dubius (Hume). Hume's Tit-Babbler.