Alcippe nigrifrons, _Bl., Hume, cat._ no. 390 ter.
Colonel Legge writes regarding the nidification of the Black-fronted
Babbler in Ceylon:--"After finding hundreds of the curious dry-leaf
structures, mentioned in 'The Ibis,' 1874, p. 19, entirely void of
contents, and having come almost to the conclusion that they were
built as roosting-places, I at last came on a newly-constructed one
containing two eggs, on the 5th of January last; the bird was in the
nest at the time, so that my identification of the eggs was certain.
The nest of this Babbler is generally placed in a bramble or
straggling piece of undergrowth near a path in the jungle or other
open spot; it is about 3 or 4 feet from the ground, and is entirely
made of dead leaves and a few twigs; the leaves are laid one over
another horizontally, forming a smooth bottom or interior. In external
form it is a shapeless ball about 8 or 10 inches in diameter, and has
an unfinished opening at the side. The birds build with astonishing
quickness, picking up the leaves one after another from the ground
just beneath the nest. When fresh the eggs are fleshy white, becoming
pure white when emptied; they are large for the size of the bird,
rather stumpy ovals, of a smooth texture, and spotted openly and
sparingly with brownish red, over bluish-grey specks; in one specimen
the darker markings are redder than in the other, and ran mostly in
the direction of the axis. Dimensions: 0·74 by 0·56 and 0·74 by 0·55."