510 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



No. I —NOTES ON THE BREEDING OF CERTAIN BIRDS NEAR 



DARJEELING. 



101. Grammatoptila striata. — This is one of the commonest of the laugh- 

 ing thrushes in this district. It frequents high forest, chiefly from 5 to 

 7,000 feet, and is found sometimes in pairs, but more often in parties, which keep 

 more to the crowns of the trees than most of their allies. They are very 

 noisy birds, with a variety of more or less' discordant calls. 

 • I found a nest of this species on the 7th June in a dense thicket 

 of oak and symplocos poles and saplings in a lofty forest at about 

 6,500 feet. 



The nest was in a fork near the top of a sapling of the latter species, about 

 10 feet from the ground. It is a somewhat neat but massive structure made 

 of moss with a few bents, and lined first with twigs and then with a layer of thin 

 brown roots. 



It measures 7" in external diameter and 6" in height, the cavity being 3|" 

 across and 2£" deep. 



The eggs, two in number, were slightly incubated. They are of a uniform 

 rather pale, blue and fairly glossy. 



They measure l'28"x-91" and 1-26" x # 90" respectively. 



182. Sittiparus castanelceps. — These little birds are common in the forests 

 from 6,000 to 8,000 feet in these hills. They hunt in parties together with 

 various species of Cryptolopha, Phylloscopus, Abrornis, &c. 



The name Sittiparus (or better still Certhiparus proposed by Hodgson) is most 

 appropriate, for in addition to their tit-like habits they frequently climb upon the 

 vertical trunks of trees, clinging to the bark or moss, and searching every cranny 

 or crevice for insects. 



I found a nest of this species on the 25th May at about 6,500 feet on Mt. 

 Tonghe. It was built up against the moss-covered trunk of a tree, 9 feet from 

 the ground. It was domed and roughly spherical (not cup-shaped as described 

 in the Fauna of B. I.), 6" in diameter, and composed externally of moss 

 followed by a layer of dry bamboo leaves and lined scantily with black hair-like 

 rhizomorph. 



This latter substance, which is often mistaken for hair or black roots, is really 

 the mycelium of a fungus, which hangs down from the branches of trees in 

 damp shady jungle in the form of long thin strands which are tough, black and 

 shiny. 



It is used by many kinds of birds, e.g. Liothrix lutea, &c, as a lining for 

 their nests, often to the exclusion of all other substances. 



The nest contained 4 rather hard-set eggs, broad ovals, white, blotched and 

 speckled, in a dense, dark ring towards the large end, with two shades of brown, 

 and some underlying pale purplish-black markings. 



The measurements of the 4 eggs gave a mean of '70"X*55". 



