HEMIPUS. 



327 



possess no detailed information as to its nidification, in consequence 

 of Lord Walden's remarks on this subject in ' Tlie Ibis ' of 18G7. lie 

 says, " Does it, then, cross tlie vast ranges of the Himalaya in its 

 northern migration ? or does it not rather liud on the southern 

 slopes and in the valleys of those mountains all the conditions 

 suitable for nesting ? "; and he adds in a note, •' It is extremely 

 doubtful whether any passerine bird which frequents the plains 

 of India during the cooler months crosses to the north of the 

 snowy ranges of the Himalaya alter quitting the plains to escape 

 the rainy season or the intense heat^ of summer." 



Now, it is quite certain, as 1 have shown in ' Lahore to Yar- 

 kand,' that several of our Indian passerine birds do cross the entire 

 succession of «nowy Eanges Avhich divide the plains of India from 

 Central Asia, and it is tolerably certain from my researclies and 

 those of numerous contributors that L. cristatus breeds only north 

 of these ranges. True, Tickell gives the following account of the 

 niditication of this species in the plains of India : — 



" Nest found in large bubhes or thickets, shallow, circular, -1 

 inches in diameter, rather coarsely made of fiue twigs and grass. 

 Eggs three, ordinary ; ^| by f i : pale rose-colour, thickly sprinkled 

 with blood-red spots, \nth a darkish livid zone at the larger end.— - 

 June" But Tickell, though he «arns us at the commencement of his 

 paper (Journal As. 8oc. 1«48, p. 297) of 1:he" attempts at duplicity 

 of which the wary oologist must take good heed," gives the egg of 

 the Sarus as plain white, and says he has seen upwards of a dozen 

 like this, those of the Eoller as full deep Antwerp blue, those of 

 Cyi^selus palmaruhi as white with large spots of deep claret-brown, 

 and so on, and it is quite clear tliat his supposed eggs and nest of 

 L. cristatus belonged to one of the Bulbuls. 



Of more than fifty oologists who have collected for me at differ- 

 ent times in hills and plains, from the Nilghiris to Huziira on the 

 one side, and to Sikhim on the other, not one has ever met with a 

 nest of L. cristatus. This is doubtless purely negative evidence, 

 but it is still entitled to considerable weight. 



From the valleys of the Beas and the Sutlej, as also from Ivumaon 

 and Grurhwal, these Shrikes seem to disappear entirely during the 

 summer, and they are then, as we also know, found breeding in 

 Yarkand. It is only in the latter part of the autumn that they 

 reappear in the former named locaHties, finding their way by the 

 commencement of the cold season to the foot of the hills. 



Mr. E. Thompson, to quote one of many close observers, 

 remarks : — "This bird appears regularly at Huldwanee and Eum- 

 nugger at the foot of the Kumaon Hills during the cold weather, 

 confining itself to thick hedges and deep groves of trees. VV here it 

 goes to in summer I cannot say, it certainly does not remain in our 

 hills." 



484. Hemipus picatus (Sykes). The Blaclc-baclced Pied SJirike. 



Hemipas picatus {St/kes), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 412 ; Hume, Rough Drajt 

 JV. (.y^.no267. 

 I quite agree with Mr. Gray that this bird is a Flycatcher aud 



