166. Rhopocichla atriceps (Jerd.) _The Black-headed Babbler_. Alcippe atriceps (_Jerd._), _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 19; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 390. Writing from Coonoor in the Nilghiris, Mr. Wait tells me that the Black-headed Babbler breeds in his neighbourhood in June and July:--"It builds in weeds and grass beside the banks of old roads, at elevations of from 5000 to 5500 feet. The nest is placed at a height of from a foot to 2 feet from the ground, is domed and loosely built, composed almost entirely of dry blades of the lemon-grass, and lined with the same or a few softer grass-blades. In shape it is more or less ovate, the longer axis vertical, and the external diameters 4 and 8 inches. They lay two or three rather broad oval eggs, which have a white ground, speckled and spotted, chiefly at the large end, with reddish brown." Miss Cockburn sends me a nest of this species which she found on the 17th June amongst reeds on the edge of a stream, about 2 or 3 feet above the water's edge. It appears to have been a globular mass very loosely put together, of broad reed-leaves, between 3 or 4 inches in diameter, and with a central unlined cavity. Mr. Iver Macpherson, writing from Mysore, says:--"I have only met with this bird in heavy bamboo-forest, and have only found two nests, viz., on the 25th May and 2nd July, 1879. Both nests were fixed low down (2 to 3 feet) in bamboo-clumps, and each contained two eggs, which, for the size of the bird, I considered very large. Nest globular, and very loosely constructed of bamboo-leaves and blades of grass." An egg sent me from Coonoor by Mr. Wait is a moderately broad, very regular oval, only slightly compressed towards the smaller end. The shell is very fine and satiny, but has only a slight gloss. The ground-colour is white or slightly greyish white, and towards the large end it is profusely speckled with minute dots of brownish and purplish red, a few specks of the same colour being scattered about the rest of the surface of the eggs. Another egg sent me from Kotagherry by Miss Cockburn exactly corresponds with the above description. Both are precisely the same in size, and measure 0·75 by 0·55. Other eggs measure from 0·75 to 0·79 in length by 0·53 to 0·58 in breadth[A]. [Footnote A: Mr. T. Fulton Bourdillon (S.F. ix, p. 300) gives an interesting account of the nest and eggs of a species of _Rhopocichla_, which he failed to identify satisfactorily. It may have been _R. atriceps_ or _R. bourdilloni_. Most probably, judging from the locality, it was the latter. As, however, there is a doubt about it, I do not insert the note.--ED.] 167. Rhopocichla nigrifrons (Bl.). _The Black-fronted Babbler_. Alcippe nigrifrons, _Bl., Hume, cat._ no. 390 ter.