158 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVI. 



succinctum, wherever I have met with it living quietly at home, is a yellow, or 

 yellowish green. Only the underwings have a rosy tinge. I have lately dis- 

 covered, however, that A. peregrinum is subject to a similar change of colour. 

 When a swarm arrives, its uniform is red ; but when it has passed away, the 

 stragglers that remain soon acquire a pale yellow tint. Some become grey. 

 Is the red colour of both species a symptom of the migratory fever, or the result 

 of a long journey in the sun ? 



E. H. AITKEN. 

 Kurrachee, 30 th June 1904. 



No. VIII.— THE HIMALAYAN NUTCRACKER (NUCIFRAGA 



HEM1SPILA). 



Regarding the round holes made in walnuts, concerning which there has 

 been much discussion in the Journal, may I venture to disagree with those who 

 assign the cause to the action of a woodpecker. 



During last season I had a house in Simla, and there was near it and over- 

 shadowing an outside " bachelor quarter," a large walnut tree in very full 

 bearing. Every morning on the path below the tree and on the roof of the 

 quarter were any number of walnuts with a neat circular hole driven com- 

 pletely through about the size of a two or four anna bit. The hole was 

 evidently bored from outside of one side and the nut turned round to enable 

 similar action to be taken with the other half. 



I used to have the bored nuts carefully swept up daily and the tree watched. 

 Never, did we see a nut fall during the day, nor did a woodpecker visit the 

 tree but at dusk regularly flying squirrels came to the tree, and I am decidedly 

 of opinion that they and not birds are the "culprits." Birds do not feed in this 

 manner at night — the squirrels I refer to do. 



Besides, look at the front upper teeth of this squirrel — they are long and 

 hooked, and if I may say so, almost hinged to the jaw and are just the instru- 

 ments to produce the noted result. 



The squirrel, too, holds nuts in his paws when at work. How is the wood- 

 pecker going to manage ? 



WILLIAM CAPPER, Colonel, 



D. M. E. in India. 



Simla, 17th July 1904. 



No. IX.— THE HIMALAYAN NUTCRACKER (NUCIFRAGA 



HEMISP1LA). 

 When my copy of the Journal arrived I had the pleasure of seeing Mr. W. P. 

 Masson and we read with interest Lt.-General Osborn's note on this bird and its 

 walnut-eating propensities. I asked Mr. Masson to see if he had any notes on the 

 subject, and he kindly sent me the following : — 



" Anent that article in the Bombay Natural History Society's Journal, regard- 

 ing the nutcracker (Nucifraga hemisirila) breaking the shell of the walnut to get 



