126 SITTID®. 
little birds, and will often repair and again Jay ina nest which has 
been pillaged. In North Cachar I found them breeding in trees, 
and in these the nests were often very flimsy and = scanty, 
consisting of leaves and rubbish and perhaps a little moss and a 
few feathers or scraps of fur. They lay in Apml and May, but 
an occasional nest may be seen as early as March or as late as 
June. The normal full complement of eggs is six, but sometimes 
only four or five are laid and sometimes as many as eight. They 
are of the usual white ground with red specks, but are more 
strongly and numerously marked than those of the last bird and 
in shape are much longer, narrower ovals. Sixty eggs average 
19°8x14:1 mm. The maximaare 21:0 x 14-4and 20-6 x 15 mm., 
and the minima are 17°3 x 13:6 and 18°8 x 13°2 mm. 
Habits. This Nuthatch is most common between 4,000 and 
7,000 feet and is not often found below 3,000 feet. Jt has much 
the same habits as the rest of the genus, but I have often noticed 
it on the ground feeding on ants and termites, and it seems very 
partial to hunting walls, cliffs and banks as the Rock-Nuthatches 
do. Its note is a continual cheep, very much like the squeak of a 
mouse. It is a very sociable bird, and I have seen flocks of this 
bird and Sttta frontalis hunting together in perfect amity. 
(112) Sitta castaneiventris neglecta. 
THe Burmese NUTHATCH. 
Sttta neglecta Wald., A. M. N. H., (4) v, p. 218 (1870) (karen Hills) ; 
3lanf. & Oates, 1, p. 301. 
Vernacular names. Pan-che-lip (Iachin). 
Description Differs from the preceding in being smaller and in 
having the throat and breast much paler than the abdomen and 
flanks, whilst the white of the sides of the head blends with the 
rufous’ of the throat. The female differs in the same way from 
the female of the Cinnamon-bellied Nuthatch. 
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown; upper mandible bluish, 
iipped black; legs and feet dark plumbeous, claws horn-colour. 
Measurements. Length about 130 mm.; wing 75 to 75 mm.; 
tail about 38 to 42 mm.; tarsus aboué 18 mm.; culmen about 
17 mm. 
Distribution. From Muleyit Mountain in South Tenasserim, 
through the eastern hill-ranges of Burma to the Bhamo Hills, 
N. and N.W. Siam. 
Nidification. Similar to that of S. c. eastaneiventris, but this is 
a forest bird and its nest is found in the natural hollows of trees 
on the outskirts of forest or in dead trees in deserted clearings. 
The eggs are of the usual short, blunt type and measure from 
16°2 x 13:4 to 18°3 x 14:2 mm. 
They are apparently early breeders ; Bingham found the young 
