20 HABITS AND HAUNTS OF BIRDS 
exceedingly difficult to find. The eggs are spotted. Of the spotted 
grey creeper (Salpornis spilonota) nothing is known. It is found in many 
localities, but nowhere common. 
Wall-creepers, ( Tichodroma ).—Only one species occurs in India. 
It breeds in the Himalayas at 3,000 to 5,000 feet altitude, descending 
to the foot of the hills in the cold weather. The nest is slight, placed in 
a crevice in a rock. 
Nuthatches, (Sitta, Dendrophila.)—These are all permanent 
residents where they occur. They are found in forests or well-wooded 
tracts. They make their nests in hollows in decayed trees, lining the hole 
with feathers, wool, or moss, and closing up the entrance with a stiff 
gummy substance, till only a tiny circular orifice is left. The holes are 
often near the ground, but sometimes very high up in large trees. The 
eggs are spotted rather boldly. 
Hoopoes, (Upupa.)—The common hoopoe (U. epops) migrates 
to the plains in the cold weather, but breeds only in the north-west 
Himalayas. The Indian hoopoe (U. nigripennis) is a permanent 
resident throughout the country. They nestle in holes in trees or buildings, 
lining the hole with a few feathers and leaves. They are domestic in 
their habits, often breeding about human dwellings. The eggs are 
greenish or brownish grey. 
Shrikes, (Lanius).—Butcher birds or shrikes are permanent 
residents where they occur. They usually place their nest in the fork 
of a thick bush, but sometimes they wedge it up against the trunk of 
a tree, or even place it ona dead stump. The eggs are typically whitish, 
with a thick ring of spots near the larger end; but sometimes the 
whole egg is more or less spotted. Shrikes generally frequent open 
country and avoid forests. The brown shrikes are migratory and leave 
upper India in the spring. 
Wood shrikes, (Tephrodornis).—The nests"of the woodshrikes 
are small and very neatly made, usually placed in forks high up in trees and 
difficult to detect. The birds are not migratory, but the breeding of 
only one species, the common woodshrike (7. ponticeriana), is known. 
Its eggs are very much like miniatures of the true shrikes. 
Pied shrikes, (emipus.)—These birds are local and frequent 
hilly country. Very little is known as to their habits. 
Cuckoo shrikes, ( Volvocivora, Graucalus.)—These, like the 
woodshrikes, are permanent residents where they occur ; but the nests 
