MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 191 



orchard. There was a pair and I shot one (the female), and sent it to 

 Mr. Bowdler Sharpe who identified it as being of this species. 



This year, on the i 1th February, I again saw one near the same place ; 

 it was a male in good plumage. 



Major Magrath, 51st Sikhs, F. F., very kindly exhibited both the Linnet and 

 Chaffinch at a meeting of the British Ornithologists Club (vide Bulletin 

 B. O. C„ XIX) last October. 



(2). Ampelis garrulus. The Waxwing. I saw this beautiful bird on 11th 

 December 1906 near Fort Lockhart (Sanana Range, alt. 6,500'), but only got a 

 glimpse of it. Just as I had got my glasses on to it, a Rock of Himalayan 

 Gold Finches came up and began mobbing it, and off it flew, uttering a low 

 whistling note, and I never expected to see it again. Though from its crest 

 and general appearance I was pretty sure of its identity, I could not be 

 absolutely so. However on going to this same place five days later, I was 

 agreeably surprised to find it again there and lost no time in making certain of 

 it. It was a female, in lovely plumage, with 4 wax-like tips to the secondaries 

 of each wing. 



This is not a solitary occurrence. Major Magrath procured a male at Bannu, 

 40 miles south, in March, and it looks as if there had been an irruption of 

 Wax wings into N.-W. India this winter. 



C. H. T. WHITEHEAD, Lt., 56th Rifles, F.F. 

 Fort Lockhart, N.-W. Frontier, 0th April 1907. 



No. XI— NESTING NOTES FROM THE N.-W. FRONTIER. 



^Egithaliscus leucogenys. White-Cheeked Tit. 



Mr. Oates in the " Fauna of India, Birds, 1 ' says that this species is appar- 

 ently confined to a small tract to the north of Gilgit (Kashmir). However in 

 the Upper Kurram Valley some 400 or 500 miles south-west of Gilgit it is 

 common in the ilex scrub between 0,000 ft. and 8,000 ft. alt., and is probably a 

 resident. It breeds early ; a nest found on the 1st May contained fully fledged 

 young, and five others found within the next 2 or 3 days all held young — only 

 1 nest was found with eggs. 



The nest resembles a Long-tailed Tit's, but is much smaller and is not quite 

 so beautifully finished. It is composed of moss, intertwined with cobwebs, and 

 is well-lined with hair with a thick inner lining of feathers. How so tiny a 

 dwelling can accommodate a big fledged family with a parent is difficult to 

 imagine. 



It is generally placed close to the top of a small ilex, 4 to 8 ft. from the 

 ground, and is not, as a rule, too difficult to find. 



The eggs of the one clutch I got were pure white, 3 having a very faint 

 zona of pink spots round the large end, the other two being unmarked, they 



