16 Mr. J. Davidson—^ Short 



heard its perpetual tic-tic-tic in the dusk. By the 10th it 

 was very common and calling all day. On the 16tli, our last 

 day at Sonamurg, we found four nests just finished, but 

 none containing eggs ; these were placed on the ground in 

 thick herbage. These nests we carefully marked, and placed 

 in charge of the village policeman with orders to take them 

 on the 26th. He did so, and reported that one had been 

 destroyed, but sent the others, containing 4, 4, and 3 eggs. 

 These are broad ovals, large for the size of the bird, of a deep 

 pink, mottled all over with round even-sized spots of a deeper 

 colour. 



26. Sylvia affinis (Blyth). 



This bird we found in great abundance on the bare hills 

 around Srinugger in the end of April, and among the scrub- 

 jungles along the Sind River, as far as Kulan (6800 feet), 

 four or five miles further up than Gund. It was breeding 

 from the end of April to the end of May in low scrub, 

 generally along the nullahs. The nests were neat cups of 

 grass and roots, lined with horse-hair, and generally contained 

 four eggs of the usual Whitethroat type. 



On our return to Srinugger in the end of June the hills 

 had got very much burnt up, and we were surprised to find 

 the bird again bi'eeding ; but, instead of being among the 

 scrub, the nests were on the outer branches of pine-trees, 

 fifteen and twenty feet from the ground. We found four or 

 five nests in this situation on the Tukht-i-Suliman, all with 

 fresh eggs, and the birds seemed at that time to be restricted 

 to the small scattered pine-wood. 



27. Phylloscopus tytleri Brooks. 



This bird we found fairly common at Sonamurg along the 

 foot of the hills — i. e. just under 9000 feet, but we did not 

 notice it at any lower elevation. We took two nests on the 

 9th and 11th June; both were in forks of small pollarded 

 trees some twelve or fifteen feet from the ground, and were 

 neat and globular, with the entrance at the side. They were 

 composed of feathers, grass, birch-bark, and hair, the last 

 either horse or mouse. The eggs are pure white, and were 

 four in one nest and five in the other. 



