BIRD .VOTES FROM MURREE. 147 



Skinner described the song to me us consisting of four or five double notes 

 descending in the scale. 



434. Cri/ptoiopha xanthoschista (Hodgson's Grey-headed Flycatcher- 

 Warbler). — In April Hodgson's Grey-headed Flycatcher Warbler was very 

 common in Murree and a fair number appear to have remained to breed. 

 This handsome little Warbler is very often seen accompanying parties of 

 tits, and indeed its habits are if anything more tit than flycatcher like. The 

 note is a plaintive •' tyee-tyee". 



450. Hororuis paUidus (The Pale Bush -Warbler). — I am able to confirm 

 my description of this bird's notes, published in " Notes on the Birds of Than- 

 diani " except that at the end of the first prolonged whistle the note is more 

 like " Tewyit— atweet," and occasionally the first whistle is pitched in a lower 

 key. " The Pale Bush-Warbler " was quite common on the south side of the 

 Murree ridge. It keeps to thick scrub jungle and each pair appear to have a 

 beat of 2t or 300 yards square into which no others of the species are permitted 

 to intrude. The male is constantly patrolling his beat and warbling his wonderful 

 song. The nest is very difficult to find, but in Murree it was out of the question 

 making much of a search as they were evidently mostly ni unsavoury spots 

 below the bungalows. A nest I found on the 1st of June, and from which 

 the young had evidently only just flown, was a globular stiucture about 4 

 inohis i i dia/nauer of moss, wool, hair, and a little fine grass all felted together 

 and built about a foot from the ground among some soft rank weed with 

 an oleaidsr-shaped leaf. The entrance was a small hole near the top just 

 big enough to admit two fingers. The inside was densely lined with feathers. 

 An egg taken below Changla Gali, from a nest in which there were 2 young, 

 by Captain Skinner's collector, was deep chocolate brown in colour. 



These birds appear to breed later in the inner hills than they do in Murree, 

 as it was only in the third week in June that they were met with in Dunga 

 Gali, Captain Skinner not having heard them before this, and at Thandiani it 

 was not till the second week in July that I heard the song. I do not think 

 that this is due to the birds moving into the inner hills for a second brood, as 

 there was no diminution in the number of birds in Murree up to the middle of 

 August. The volume of sound emitted by this little bird, when singin'j, is truly 

 marvellous. On an open hillside it can be heard quite 200 yards away. Fair or 

 foul weather does not affect its spirits and the song was to be heard all through 

 the heavy monsoon of the present season and right up to the end of August. 



476. Lanius eri/thi'onolus (The Rufous-backed Shrike). — At least two pairs 

 of " The Rufous-backed Shrike " bred in Murree about the bungalows on the 

 top of the hill. I did not find nests, which must have been on private ground ; 

 but the birds were often in evidence and then- note of " gerlek " " gerlfek " oi 

 '• julek " " julek " followed by a yapping " yaon " " yaon " was a common 

 sound near the water tanks. I also heard a male singing beautifully on one or 

 two occasions. This is a high elevation (7,500 feet) for this Shrike. In the 

 Kurram Valley I did not meet with it much above 6,000 feet. 



