SASIA. 317 



was rotten, and iu the rotten wood tlie chamber was hollowed. 

 It was in a vertical bough that had been broken off about five 

 feet above the nest, and the entrance was just below a knot and 

 about ten feet from the ground. The tree had rather dense foliage 

 on the living branches, and was growing on a steep hill-side. The 

 nest contained two eggs, which hatched while I was in the act of 

 enlarging tbe hole ; they were large for the size of the bird, nearly 

 round, and shining glossy white. The normal number of eggs, so 

 far as this group is known, is two, and in this nest, if there had 

 been more than two young, they would have had a severe time of 

 it. The parent birds were not shy."' 



Captain Unwin found a nest-hole in a dry fir-tree in the Agi-ore 

 Valley on the 6th May, 1871. It contained tlu'ee transparent 

 white eggs, which he sent me ; they were laid on the bare wood of 

 the hole. 



These eggs are quite of the Woodpecker type ; when blown, 

 pure white and very glossy, with a thin line shell ; a delicate 

 salmon-pink, as Captain Unwin noted, when fresh and unblown, 

 owing to the yolk showing through. They are very broad ovals, 

 scarcely smaller at one end than the other. 



They varied from 0-58 to 0-61 iu length, and from 0-49 to 0-51 

 inch in breadth. 



A precisely similar egg, taken from a hole in a large tree only 

 about five feet from the ground, was recently sent me froin ISikhim. 

 It \\ as taken in «Tuue in one of the low valleys running into the 

 Teesta, and measured 0*59 by 0'49. 



Sasia ochracea, Hodgs. The liufous Ficulet. 

 Sasia ochracea, Hoclys., Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 301 ; Hume, Cat. uo. 187. 



A single egg of the Eufous Piculet was sent me from Sikhira, 

 w here it was obtained in June in one of the valleys below Dar- 

 jeeling, together with the nest — in other words, the joint of the 

 bamboo which the bird had selected for laying in. The bamboo 

 has an external diameter of 3'25 inches, and a little less than 2-5 

 interiorly. It was a dry one, and into this, at a height of about 

 3 feet from the ground, and 6 inches above the joint, the bird had 

 pierced a small circular hole. Interiorly it had grooved with its 

 little bill the whole inner surface of the lower surface of the 

 compartment, and the little long fibrous strips thus obtained were 

 collected at the bottom to form a bed for the eggs. 



Only one egg M'as found, a moderately bi-oad oval (more oval 

 than the eggs of P. innominatus), pure white, and with scarcely 

 any gloss, though the shell is excessively smooth and compact. 

 This egg measures 0*63 by 0*48. 



Prom Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes : — " A nest-hole of the Rufous 

 Piculet found at 4000 feet on the 2nd July, much resembled those 

 of Ficwmnus innominatus, but was an inch deeper and half-an-inch 

 wider. It was within three feet of the ground, iu a soft decaying 



