From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:—"A nest of this bird, with one fresh egg and female, was brought to me in May. The man said he found the nest in the Rungbee forest, at 6000 feet, among the moss growing on the trunk of a large tree, a few feet from the ground. It was a solid cup, made of green moss, with an inner layer of fine dark-coloured roots, and lined with grassy fibres. Externally it measured 4 inches in width by the same in depth; internally 1·5 wide by 1·25 deep."
Three eggs sent by Mr. Gammie measure 0·7 to 0·75 in length and 0·55 to 0·59 in breadth.
Mr. Davison says:—"On the 20th of February, when encamped just under the summit of Muleyit, on its N.W. slope, I found a nest of this bird containing three eggs, but so hard-set that it was only with the greatest difficulty that I managed to preserve them.
"The nest, a deep cup, was placed about 5 feet from the ground, in a mass of creepers growing up a sapling. It (the nest) was composed externally of green moss and lined with fibres and dry bamboo-leaves.
"On the 29th of the same month I took another nest, also containing three eggs, precisely similar to those in the first nest; but these were so far incubated and the shell was so fragile that they were all lost. This nest was also composed externally of green moss, beautifully worked into the moss growing on the trunk of a large tree, and it was only with considerable difficulty, and after looking for some time, that I found it. The egg-cavity of this nest was also lined with fibres and dried bamboo-leaves.
"The first nest found was open at the top, and measured 5·5 inches in depth, 3 across the top externally, the egg-cavity 3·5 in depth by 1·8 in diameter at top.
"The second nest was completely domed at the top, and measured externally 7 inches in depth by about 3·5 at top. The egg-cavity was 2·5 inches deep by 1·5 across the mouth.
"Three eggs measured 0·7 to 0·75 in length, and 0·55 to 0·59 in breadth."
The eggs are broad ovals, a little pointed towards the small end, the shell white, almost devoid of gloss. A dense ring or zone of excessively small black spots surrounds the large end, and similar specks are rather sparsely distributed over the whole of the rest of the surface of the egg, having, however, a tendency to become obsolete towards the small end. Sometimes a little brown and sometimes a little lilac is intermingled in the zone.
183. Proparus vinipectus (Hodgs.). The Plain-brown Tit-Babbler.