Orthotomus atrigularis, _Temm., Hume, cat._ no. 530 bis.
Mr. Mandelli sends me a nest which he assures me belongs to this
species, and the bird he sent me for identification certainly did so
belong. The nest was found near the great Ranjit River on the 18th
July, and then contained three fresh eggs. The nest, which is a
regular Tailor-bird's, composed entirely of the finest imaginable
panicle-stems of flowering grass, is a deep cup placed in between two
living leaves, which have been sewn together at the tips and along the
margins from the tip for about half their length, so as to provide a
perfect pocket in which the nest rests. The leaves of which the pocket
is composed were the terminal ones of the twigs of a sapling, and only
about 3 feet from the ground. The leaves are large oval ones, each
about 7 inches in length; they have been sewn together with wild
silk carefully knotted, exactly as is the practice of the common
Tailor-bird.
The eggs of this species are not separable from others of _O.
sutorius_, and though they may possibly average somewhat larger, I
have not seen enough of them to be able to make sure of this; and as
regards shape, colours, and markings the description given of the eggs
of _O. sutorius_ applies equally to eggs of this species.