"I got this nest in rather a singular way which is perhaps worth
relating. At a dance last year in Karachi, in a short conversation I
had with Colonel Renny, who was then commanding the Artillery in Sind,
he mentioned that he had three Blue-winged Thrushes in his house that
he had procured at Purandhur the year before. The following day I went
over to his bungalow, and after inspecting them and satisfying myself
of their identity, ascertained from him where the nest they were taken
from was situated and the season at which it was found. Possessed with
this information I wrote in May to the Staff Officer at Purandhur,
and told him where and when the bird built and asked him if he would
kindly assist me in procuring the eggs. In reply I received a very
polite letter saying 'that he knew nothing about eggs or birds
himself, but that he would be most happy to offer me any assistance in
his power in procuring the eggs referred to, and that he would employ
a shikarri to keep the hill-side that I had mentioned watched when the
breeding-season arrived.' I wrote and thanked him, sending him at the
same time a drill and blowpipe by post, with full instructions how to
blow the eggs, in case he got any; and to my delight, at the end of
July a bhanghy parcel arrived one morning with the nest and eggs above
described.
"Colonel Renny told me that the birds built on this cliff-side every
monsoon."