the hole in which it is placed, but the
egg-cavity or depression is about 3 inches in diameter and an inch in
depth.

"It lays four, five, and sometimes six eggs, but I think more commonly
only four."

Dr. Jerdon remarks:--"I once found its nest in a deserted bungalow at
Kallia, in the corner of the house. It was made chiefly of the down of
hares (_Lepus nigricollis_), mixed with feathers, and contained six
eggs, white spotted with rusty red."

The eggs resemble in their general character those of many of our
English Tits, and though, I think, typically slightly longer, they
appear to me to be very close to those of _Parus palustris_. In shape
they are a broad oval, but somewhat elongated and pointed towards the
small end. The ground-colour is pinkish white, and round the large end
there is a conspicuous, though irregular and imperfect, zone of red
blotches, spots, and streaks. Spots and specks of the same colour, or
occasionally of a pale purple, are scantily sprinkled over the rest of
the surface of the egg, and are most numerous in the neighbourhood of
the zone. The eggs have a faint gloss. Some eggs do not exhibit the
zone above referred to, but even in these the markings are much more
numerous and dense towards the large end.

In length the eggs vary from 0.65 to 0.78, and in breadth from 0.5 to
0.58; but the average of thirty-eight is 0.71 by 0.54, so that they
are really, as indeed they look _as a body_, a shade shorter and
decidedly broader than those of _P. monticola_.

34. Parus monticola, Vig. _The Green-backed Tit_.

Parus monticolus, _Vig., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 277; _Hume, Rough Draft
N. & E._ no. 644.

The Green-backed Tit breeds through the Himalayas, at elevations of
from 4000 to 7000 or 8000 feet.

The breeding-season lasts from March to June, and some birds at any
rate must have two broods, since I found three fresh eggs in the
wall of the Pownda dak bungalow about the 20th June. More eggs are,
however, to be got in April than in any other month.

They build in holes, in trees, bamboos, walls, and even banks, but
walls receive, I think, the preference.

The nests are loose dense masses of soft downy fur or feathers, with
more or less moss, according to the situation.

The eggs vary from six to eight, and I have repeatedly found seven
and eight young ones; but Captain Beavan has found only five of
these latter, and although I consider from six to eight the normal
complement, I believe