TROGLODYTES. 447 



Description. Like T. t. nijiahnsls but very imieli paler all over. 

 The brown is not nearly so deep, less rufous and in some cases 

 with almost a grey tint. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris brown or hazel-brown ; bill horny- 

 brown or iieshy-brown. 



Measurements. I cannot make out this bird to be smaller than 

 T. t. nijxtleHsis or to have visibly smaller or weaker feet and legs 

 than that bird. Wing 47 to 51 mm.; tailSO to 30 mm.; tarsus 

 19 to 20 mm. ; culmen 11 to 115 mm. 



Troglodytes incup-athi (Whitehead, Bull. B. O. C, xxi, p. 19, 

 1907 : Sated Koh ) cannot be separated from neglectus. 



Distribution. From the border hills of Afghanistan and Balu- 

 chistan throughout the whole of Kashmir to the Simla Hills. 



Nidificatioii. Wliitehead found the Kashmir Wren breeding on 

 the Safed Koh between 8,500 and 12.000 feet and it breeds 

 freely throughout Kashmir between 6,000 and 10,000 feet. The 

 most usual form of nest is a large domed aifair, constructed prin- 

 cipally of moss and densely lined with feathers, Avhich is placed 

 on the ground on a bank between tlie roots of a pine or under a 

 boulder ; more rarely they may be placed among creepers on a 

 tree or in a specially dense bunch of foliage. Davidson, however, 

 also took eggs from holes both in banks and trees in which the 

 nests consisted merely of a few feathers and a few odd scraps of 

 other materials. The eggs number four or five and are a pure 

 Avhite in ground-colour witli a few specks and spots of pale red, 

 never numerous and sometimes altogether wanting. The shell is 

 frail and the texture fine but glossless. In shape they are ovals, 

 often inclined lo be pointed at the smaller end. Fifty eggs 

 average 16*8xl2'3mm. and the extremes are: maxima 18"1 X 

 12-1 and 17-6 x 13'2 mm. : minima 14*6 x 10*3 mm. 



The breeding season is from the end of May to the end of June 

 or early July. 



Habits. The habits of the Kashmir Wren differ but little from 

 those of its European relation but it is more of a forest bird than 

 a haunter of the immediate neigbourhood of man. It is the same 

 restless but secretive little bird, hopping about the undergrowth 

 or hunting rocks and boulders for spiders and other insects. Some- 

 times it may be seen scrambling among the creepers, moss and 

 orchids on some fallen tree or mass of boulders, sometimes it flits 

 in little jerky flights from one tangle of bushes to another, 

 whilst yet again it may be noticed making occasional visits to the 

 lower branches of trees with ample foliage cover. Its note and 

 song are said to very closely resemble those of the English Wren 

 and, like that bird, it subsists almost entirely on an insect diet. 



