10 Mr. J. Davidson—^ Short 



12. Myiophoneus temmincki Vig. 



This bird was common along the Jhelum Valley from 

 Kohala (2500 feet) to Baramula (5000 feet). We did not 

 notice it in the Valley of Kashmir proper, but there the 

 country was not suited to it ; it was very common from Kagan 

 to Souamurg, along the Sind River and its tributaries. We 

 found many of its nests, placed from a foot above the level 

 of the river, in low rocky banks, to the sides of precipitous 

 cliffs quite inaccessible to the climber. Although the 

 number of nests found was very large, the proportion of 

 those with eggs or young was very small, and the birds 

 apparently build and desert a number of nests without 

 laying in them. In many cases we found two new nests 

 within a yard or two of each other, but in no case did we 

 find more than one nest occupied, and in many cases both 

 were deserted. The number of eggs or young was either 

 three or four. 



13. Larvivora brunnea Hodgs. 



This is a rather late migrant, which we did not notice till the 

 11th May, when we saw a pair at Gund. Next day we saw 

 a small flock of half a dozen males, and after that they 

 became quite common. We found them equally so at Sona- 

 murg. They have a pleasant song, and the males are very 

 bold, singing loudly in almost every piece of thick jungle ; 

 the females, on the other hand, were very shy, and except 

 occasionally for a glimpse of a brown bird, which was either 

 this or lanthia rufilata, we hardly saw any. On the 11th 

 June, at Sonamurg, my companion started a bird from a 

 nest with three eggs ; it was built on the ground, against 

 one of three fallen pines lying together; he waited an 

 hour or so, but the bird did not return. Next morning 

 he found the bird on the nest, which then contained four 

 eggs; but though he devoted a couple of hours to watching 

 the nest, he did not manage to get a shot. Next day we 

 tried to drive the bird, but she rose wild, and disappeared at 

 once in the thick undergrowth. I then sat over the nest, and 

 in half an hour she returned and perched on a bare stump 



