tuated on a
steeply sloping hill facing the south, at an elevation of about 6500
feet. The nest was about 50 feet from the ground, and placed on _two_
side branches just where, about 6 inches apart, they shot out of the
trunk. The nest was just like a Crow's--a broad platform of sticks,
but rather more neatly built, and with a number of green juniper twigs
with a little moss and a good deal of grey lichen intermingled. The
nest was about 11 inches across and nearly 4 inches in external
height. There was a broad, shallow, central depression 5 or 6 inches
in diameter and perhaps 2 inches in depth, of which an inch was filled
in with a profuse lining of grass and fir-needles (the long ones of
_Pinus longifolia_) and a little moss. This was found on the 11th May,
and the young, four in number, were sufficiently advanced to hop
out to the ends of the bough and half-fly half-tumble into the
neighbouring trees, when my man with much difficulty got up to the
nest.
29. Graculus eremita (Linn.). _The Red-billed Chough_.
Fregilus himalayanus, _Gould, Jerd. B.I._ ii, p. 319.
Mr. Mandelli obtained three eggs of this species from Chumbi in
Thibet; they were taken on the 8th of May from a nest under the eaves
of a high wooden house.
Though larger than those of the European Chough, they resemble them so
closely that there can be no doubt as to their authenticity.
In shape the eggs are moderately elongated ovals, very slightly
compressed towards the small end. The shell is tolerably fine and has
a slight gloss. The ground-colour is white with a faint creamy tinge,
and the whole egg is profusely spotted and striated with a pale,
somewhat yellowish brown and a very pale purplish grey. The markings
are most dense at the large end, and there, too, the largest streaks
of the grey occur.
One egg measures 1.74 by 1.2.
Subfamily PARINAE.
31. Parus atriceps, Horsf. _The Indian Grey Tit_.
Parus cinereus, _Vieill, Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 278.
Parus caesius, _Tick., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 645.
The Indian Grey Tit breeds throughout the more wooded mountains of
the Indian Empire, wherever these attain an altitude of 5000 feet, at
elevations of from 4000 or 5000 to even (where the hills exceed this
height) 9000 feet.
In the Himalayas the breeding-season extends from the end of March to
the end of June, or even a little later, according to the season. They
have two broods--the first clutch of eggs is generally
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