being examined. Five is the ordinary number of eggs, which differ very
much in appearance and size: the longest I have measures 1·25 and the
shortest 1·1. Some are paler, some darker; some are of a uniform pale
greenish-ash colour with a darker ring, while others are thickly
speckled and freckled with a darker shade of the same colour. Some
lack the odd ink-scratch which is so often to be seen on the larger
end, and is the most peculiar feature of the egg, while a few have it
at the thinner end.

"I should describe the average type as a long egg for its breadth;
ground-colour greenish ashy with very thick sprinklings of spots of a
darker and more greenish shade of the same colour, a ring of a darker
dull olive round the large end, on which are one or two lines that
look like a haphazard scratch from a fine steel pen."

From Dhurmsala Captain Cock wrote to me that this was "a most common
bird at Dhurmsala; appears in large flocks during the winter, and
often mixes with _Garrulus bispecularis_ and _Urocissa flavirostris_.
Pairs off about the end of April, when nidification begins. Builds a
rather rough nest of sticks, generally placed on a tall sapling oak
near the top; sometimes among the thicker branches of a pollard oak:
outer nest small twigs roughly put together; inner nest dry roots and
fibres, rather deep cup-shaped. Eggs number from four to five and vary
in shape. I have found them sometimes nearly round, but more generally
the usual shape. They vary in their colour, too, some being much
lighter than others, but most of them have a few hair-like streaks on
the larger end."

From Mussoorie Captain Hutton tells us that "the Black-throated Jay
breeds in May and June, placing the nest sometimes on the branch of a