"Almost all my nests have been built on the neem tree, the long slender petioles of which are admirably adapted for its suspension.
"As a rule the nest is built at a considerable height, and owing to its situation there is not a more difficult nest to take. Great numbers get washed down in a half-finished state in a heavy fall of rain.
"The eggs are, exactly as Jerdon describes them, of a pale blue, 'almost like skimmed milk,' and the usual number is three, though four are frequently laid."
"On the 7th September," writes Mr. E.M. Adam, "in my garden in Lucknow, I discovered a nest of this bird in course of construction, but when it was nearly finished the birds left it. The nest was a beautiful little cup made of fine grass and cobwebs. It was situated in a slender fork of a mango-tree about 15 feet from the ground."
Major C.T. Bingham says:—"Common both at Allahabad and at Delhi; breeds in both places in May, June, and July. All nests I have seen have been finely made little cups of fibres, bits of thread and cobwebs, lined interiorly with horsehair, generally suspended between two slender twigs at no great height from the ground."
Mr. E. Aitken writes:—"I have only actually taken one nest of the
White-eye. That was in Poona (2000 feet above the sea) on the 21st
July. The bird, however, builds abundantly in Poona about gardens,
trees on the roadside, &c.
"This particular nest was fixed to a thin branch of a tamarind-tree on the side of a lane among gardens. It was within reach of my hand, and was attached both to the thin branch itself and to two twigs. It was well sheltered among leaves.
"The nest was a cup rather narrower at the mouth than in the middle. Its external diameter at the top was 2½ inches; internal diameter 1½ inch; depth 1½ inch internally. It was composed of a variety of fibres closely interwoven with some kind of vegetable silk, and was lined principally with horsehair and very fine fibres. It contained three eggs."
Mr. Davison tells us that "the White-eye breeds on the Nilghiris in
February, March, April, and the earlier part of May.
"The nest is a small neat cup-shaped structure suspended between a fork in some small low bush, generally only 2 or 3 feet from the ground, but sometimes high up, about 20 or 30 feet from the ground. It is composed externally of moss and small roots and the down from the thistle; the egg-cavity is invariably sparingly lined with hair. The eggs, two in number, are of a pale blue, like skimmed milk."