PARUS. 19 
Nidification. Breeds in April and May and possibly sometimes 
earlier, as a clutch in the Waterstradt collection was taken on 
the 20th February. The nest is made of fur, wool, or hair, 
sometimes with a base of soft moss and sometimes mixed moss 
and other materials, but nearly always lined with wool, hair, or 
fur. It is generally placed in some hole in a tree or dead stump 
but Harington took it from a hole in a bank. The eggs, four to 
six in number, are like those of cinereus and measure about 
16:2 x 12°8 (16°80 x 13:05 mm. Mackenzie). 
Habits. Much the same as those of cinereus in India. A 
sociable, lively little bird frequenting, preferably, broken hilly 
country and ascending the hills to at least 6,000 feet but also 
being found in the low country, perhaps, however, more frequently 
in the winter than in the summer. 
(58) Parus nuchalis. 
THE WHITE-WINGED BuLacKk-TTr. 
Parus nuchalis Jerdon, Madr. Journ., xiii, p. 151 (1844) (Hastern 
Ghats); Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 49. 
Vernacular names. Valla paisa jitta (Tel.). 
Description. ‘The whole upper plumage, wing-coverts, lores, 
sides of the crown, chin, throat, centre of the breast and a broad 
ventral band black; a latge nape-patch, the cheeks, ear-coverts 
and those parts of the plumage not already mentioned white ; 
the under tail-coverts streaked with black; quills with the outer 
webs white at base and a partial narrow edging of white elsewhere ; 
the later secondaries broadly edged white and the innermost one 
or two wholly white. The two outer tail-feathers white, the next 
with the outer web white, the inner web black with a white tip, 
the other feathers black with white tips. The amount of white on 
the tail varies considerably in different individuals. 
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown; bill black; legs and 
feet slaty-plumbeous (Butler). 
Measurements. Total length about 140 mm. ; wing 61 to 71 mm.; 
tail 51 to 57 mm.; tarsus about 18 mm.; culmen about 
10 mm. 
Distribution. From the country round the Sambhar Lake 
through Ajmere to Deesa and on to Cutch; Jerdon first obtained 
it on the Eastern Ghats west of Nellore and Dr. Stewart obtained 
it at Bangalore. The specimen in the British Museum from 
the Gadow collection is labelled Bhutan, but this assuredly is 
a mistake. 
Nidification. Nothing on record. 
Habits. Apparently a resident bird wherever found, but very 
little is known about it. Jerdon records it as keeping to the tops 
of heavily wooded hills on the Eastern Ghats. 
