Writing again this year (1874) he says:—"I have only found two more nests this year, and both in the last week of April; the one contained three partially incubated eggs, the other three young birds. These nests were at Gielle, at an elevation of about 2500 feet. As a rule, these birds nest in open country, immediately adjoining moist thickly wooded ravines, in which they feed, and take refuge if disturbed from the nest. The nest is usually placed on sloping ground, more or less concealed by overhanging herbage, and is composed, according to my experience, of dry grass sparingly lined with fibres. It is large; one I measured in situ was 8 inches in height and 7 inches in diameter; the vertical diameter of the cavity was 4 inches and the horizontal 3½ inches. I have not yet found more than three eggs or young ones in any nest."
Dr. Scully remarks of this bird in Nipal:—"It lays in May and June; two nests, taken on the 30th May and 6th June, were large loosely-made pads, not domed, and with the egg-cavity saucer-shaped, each nest contained three pure white eggs."
The eggs of this species are long, and at times narrow, ovals, pure white and fairly glossy, but occasionally almost glossless, without any marks or spottings.
In length they vary from 1·0 to 1·2, and in breadth from 0·73 to 0·85, but the average of twenty eggs is about 1·11 by nearly 0·8.
133. Xiphorhamphus superciliaris (Blyth). The Slender-billed Scimitar Babbler.
Xiphorhamphus superciliaris (Blyth), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 33; Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E. no. 406.
The Slender-billed Scimitar Babbler, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes, breeds in Sikhim, at elevations of 3000 to 6000 feet, during the months of May and June. The nest is a large globular one, composed of dry bamboo-leaves and green grass, intermingled and lined with fine roots and fibres. The entrance, which is about 2 to 2·5 inches in diameter, is at one end. A nest containing four eggs, obtained on the 12th June, measured about 7 inches in diameter externally, and it was placed in the crown of a stump from 2 to 3 feet from the ground. Sometimes the nests are placed in tufts of high grass or in thick bushes, but never at any great elevation above the ground. They lay three or four eggs, which are pure white, and one of which is figured as a broad oval, measuring 0·95 by 0·7.
From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:—"I took a nest of this Scimitar Babbler on the 29th May, in the middle of the large forest on the top of the Mahalderam ridge, at about 7000 feet elevation. It was built on the ground, on top of a dry bank by the side of a path, and was overhung by a few grassy weeds. In shape it was a blunt cone laid on its side, with the entrance at the wide end. It was loosely made of the dead leaves of a deciduous orchid (Pleione wallichiana), small bamboo, chestnut, and grass, intermixed with decaying stems of small climbing-plants. It measured externally 6 inches long, with a diameter of 5·5 at front, and of 1·75 at back. The cavity was quite devoid of lining and measured 3·5 in length by 2·5 wide at entrance, slightly contracting inwards. It contained three partially incubated eggs."
Two eggs of this species obtained by Mr. Gammie are elongated ovals, pure white, and with only a faint gloss. They measure 0·99 and 1·05 in length, by 0·68 and 0·75 in breadth respectively.
Subfamily TIMELIINAE.