Horeites pallidus, _Brooks, Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 527 bis.
The Pale Bush-Warbler breeds in Cashmere, according to Mr. Brooks,
during May. I know nothing either of the bird or its nidification
myself. I have never even closely examined a specimen, and merely
accept the species on Mr. Brooks's authority.
He tells me that he found a nest on the 25th May at Kangan in
Cashmere.
Mr. Brooks writes:--"The nest of _Horornis pallidus_, which I found
near Kangan in Cashmere, up the Sind Valley, was placed in tangled
brushwood, and about five feet above the ground. It was on a slightly
sloping bank, and close to the edge of a patch of jungle, not far from
the right bank of the river.
"It was composed of coarse dry grass externally, with fine roots and
fibres towards the inside of the nest, and was profusely lined with
feathers. It was large for the bird, being 7 or 8 inches in external
diameter, of a globular form, with the entrance at the side. I don't
remember the size of the cavity of the nest, but its walls were very
thick.
"In external appearance it was rough and clumsy, and looked more like
a Sparrow's nest than that of a small Sylvine bird. The entrance was
about 1¾ inch in diameter, and was with the interior of the nest neat
and strong. _Horornis pallidus_ occurs at from 5600 feet elevation up
to 7000 and even 8000 feet. It was abundant at Suki up the Bhagirutti
Valley, and I heard of one even at Grangootree."
The shape of the egg is peculiar, being rather flattened in outline
at the sides and then suddenly rounded at the smaller end. There is
a considerable amount of gloss on the surface, which is of a dull
purple-brown, rather darker in tint at the large end. There are a very
few indistinct cloudy markings of brown scattered here and there
over the egg. In general appearance the egg puts one in mind of a
_Prinia's_.
The egg measured 0·64 by 0·49.