194 SITTID.i;. 



opening, whicb \\as originally a large one, and ])robably caused by 

 water wearing into the site of a broken branch, narrowed by an 

 edging of clay. The young lay on a layer of brokeu leaves. As they 

 were featherless, blind little things 1 left them alone, and ^^•as 

 delighted to see the parents continuing to feed them." 



321. Sitta castaneiventris, Frankl. The Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch. 



Sitta castaneoventris, Frankl., Jerd. B. Incl. i, p. 380. 



The late Captain Cock furnished me with the following note a 

 long time ago regarding the breeding of this Nuthatch : — " A very 

 common bird at Sitapur in Oudh, every mango-tope containing 

 one or more pairs. They pair early and commence making their 

 nests in February, laying their eggs in March. The nests are in 

 cavities of trees, at no great height from the ground, and unless 

 observed in course of construction are difficult to find — the bird 

 filling the ^liole cavity up with mud consolidated \\ith some viscid 

 seed of a parasitical plant, and merely leaving a small round hole 

 for entrance. This composition hardens like pucca masonry in 

 a very short time, and secures the nest from all marauders except 

 the oologist. The nest consists of a few dry leaves at the bottom of 

 the cavity at no great depth, and upon this four eggs are laid. The 

 birds sit close and do not easily desert their nests, as the folloAving 

 instance \\'ill show. In 1873 I found a Sitta s nest in a mango- 

 tree, and after watching the birds for some days, when the eggs 

 had been laid I took the nest, placing my handkerchief in the nest 

 to prevent bits of mud falling in on the eggs. J opened out the 

 cavity, cleaning a\^'ay the mud, and putting in my hand I caught the 

 female bird. I loolied at her and let her go. In 1871 curiosity 

 induced me to look at the place again, and to my surprise I saw the 

 cavity had been built up again. I caught a bird on the nest and 

 took four eggs ; it may have been a different bird, but there was only 

 one pair in that tope of trees, and was probably the same bird I 

 caught in 1873. I found another nest in my garden about 2 feet 

 from the ground, and I often used to flash the sunlight from a 

 small hand-mirror, that I use out birds' nesting, on to the hen bird 

 while she sat on her eggs. Our collection contains a large series of 

 these eggs, the produce of some five-and-t\^enty nests taken by 

 myself at Witapur." 



Major C. T. Bingham \\ rites: — "At Allahabad I found two nests 

 of this little Nuthatcli, one in July and one hi September. I regret 

 to say neither contained any eggs, though the birds were going in and 

 out constantly The nests Mere in tiny holes in mango-trees, the 

 entrances being still moi'e contracted by earth being plastered round." 

 Colonel C. II. T. Marshall observes :— " A nest of the Chestnut- 

 bellied Nuthatch was pointed out to me at Umballa in the next 

 garden to mine. It A^as about 12 feet abo\e the ground in an old 

 mango-tree ; the locality chosen was the stump of a branch which 

 bad been cut off and had rotted down. Outside there was a grea 



