A bird unquestionably belonging to this species[A], the Brown Bush-Warbler, was sent me along with a single egg from Native Sikhim. The bird was said to have been killed off the nest (which was not preserved), which was found, at an elevation of about 12,000 feet, in low brushwood about 3 feet from the ground.
[Footnote A: I do not place much confidence in the authenticity of the egg of this bird sent to Mr. Hume. Being a Warbler with twelve tail-feathers, it is unlikely to lay a red egg, and besides this the eggs of the allied species, T. thoracica, as found by trustworthy observers like Messrs. Gammie and Mandelli, are known to be white speckled with red, in spite of Mr. Hodgson's figure representing them to be deep cinnabar-red.—ED.]
The egg is a very regular, rather broad oval, has only a faint gloss, and is of a very rich deep maroon-red, slightly darker at the large end.
The egg measures 0·62 by 0·49.
374. Orthotomus sutorius (Forst.). The Indian Tailor-bird.
Orthotomus longicauda (Gm.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 165; Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E. no. 530.
The Indian Tailor-bird[A] breeds throughout India and Burma, alike in the plains and in the hills (e.g., the Himalayas and Nilgiris), up to an elevation of from 3000 to 4000 feet.
[Footnote A: The notes on this bird's breeding are so very numerous that I am compelled to omit several of them.—ED.]
The breeding-season lasts from May to August, both months included; but in the plains more nests are to be found in July, and in the hills more, I think, in June, than during the other months.
The nest has been often described and figured, and, as is well known, is a deep soft cup enclosed in leaves, which the bird sews together to form a receptacle for it.