Ixus davisoni, _Hume; Hume, cat._ no. 452 quat.
Mr. Oates writes from Kyeikpadein in Pegu:--"A nest of this bird was
found on the 1st June, and another on 6th of the same month, each
containing two fresh eggs. The females, which were shot off the nest,
showed, however, no signs on dissection of being about to lay more.
"The nest is a flimsy structure, built of the stems of small weeds and
lined with grass. A few fine black tree-roots are twisted round the
inside of the egg-chamber. The outside and inside diameters measure 4
and 3 inches, and the depths are similarly 3 and 1·25. Both nests were
placed low down about 4 feet from the ground--one in a bush, and the
other in a creeper.
"The eggs vary much in size. One pair measure ·92 and ·88 by ·60
and ·65, and the other ·83 and ·82 by ·65 and ·61 respectively;
the ground-colour of all is a pinkish white. In one pair the
shell-blotches of washed-out purple are spread over the whole egg, and
the surface-spots and clashes of carneous red are also equally spread
over the whole shell. In the other pair the shell-marks are grouped
round the larger end to form a broad ring, and the whole egg is
thickly speckled and spotted with bright reddish. The eggs are very
slightly glossy."