128 SITTID®, 
(114) Sitta kashmiriensis. 
Brooks’s NUTHATCH. 
Sitta kashmiriensis Brooks, P, A. 8. B., 1871, p. 279 (MXashmir) ; 
Blanf. & Oates, 1, p. 505. 
Vernacular names. None recorded. 
Description. Upper plumage and wings slaty-blue; the usual 
black band through the eye; chin and sides of the face dull white 
tinged with fulvous; throat more fulvous, the lower plumage 
gradually becoming deeper and turning to deep chestnut on the 
abdomen, flanks and under tail-coverts ; middle tail-feathers ashy- 
blue, the next two pairs black edged and tipped with ashy; the 
next two black with a subterminal white spot on the inner web ; 
the outermost feather black, with a white patch on each web and 
a brown tip; under wing-coverts blackish with the usual white 
primary patch; under tail-coverts chestnut with traces of ashy 
centres. , 
Colours of soft parts. Iris red or red-brown; bill slaty-grey 
with black tip and paler base ; legs greenish brown, yellowish 
brown or dull grey-brown. : 
Measurements. Length about 130 mm.: wing 81 to 85 mm.; 
tail about 40 to 44 mm.; tarsus about 18 mm.; culmen about 
18 to 19 mm. 
Distribution. Himalayas, Afghanistan to Garhwal. 
Nidification. This bird breeds in some numbers throughout 
Kashmir and in the Murree Galis. It selects holes in forest-trees 
at all heights from the ground, plastering up the entrance with 
the usual hard clay masonry and laying its eggs in April and May, 
These number four to seven and are quite typical. Titty eges 
average about 19°7 x 16-4 mm. 
Habits. Those of the genus. This is a forest bird, haunting 
rather deep forest at heights between 6,000 and 9,000 feet, 
straggling both lower in the cold and higher in the hot weather. 
Whitehead found it fairly common in the Safed Koh between 
7,500 and 10,000 feet. 
(115) Sitta magna. 
THE Giant NUTHATCH. 
Sitta magna Wardl.-Ramsay, P. Z.5., 1876, p. 677 (Karennee) ; 
Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 305, 
Vernacular names. None recorded. 
Description. Upper plumage, wings and central pair of tail- 
feathers slaty-blue; two broad bands of black from the base of the 
bill through the eyes to the shoulders ; two pairs of tail-feathers 
next the central pair black with a slaty-blue tip, the next two the 
same with a subterminal white patch and the outermost the same 
but with a white bar on the outer web; lores, sides of the 
