SITTA. 125 



(ill) Sitta castaneiventris cinnamoventris. 

 THE CINNAMON-BELLIED NUTHATCH. 



Sitta cinnamoventris Blyth, J. A. S. B., xi, p. 439 (1342) (Darjeeling). 

 Sitta cinnamomeoveniris. Blanf. & Gates, i, p. 301. 



Vernacular names. Siri (Hind.); Sidhyi-phip (Lepcha); Dao- 

 mojo-f/ajao (Cachari). 



Description. Adult male. Like the last but the white parts of 

 the face are delicately barred with brown ; the upper plumage is 

 more an ashy-blue, the under parts are a deep cinnamon-chestnut 

 and the under tail-coverts are white with ashy bases and narrow 

 chestnut tips. 



Female. Differs from the male in being a pale dull chestnut 

 below. 



Fig. 25. Head of 5. c. ciima/noventris. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris red-brown to lake ; bill slaty-blue, 

 black at the tip and paler on base and lower mandible ; legs and 

 feet dull blue-grey or bluish plumbeous. 



Measurements. Total length about 150 mm.; wing; 78 to 81 mm.; 

 tail about 45 mm.; tarsus about 18 mm. ; culmen about 20 mm. 



Distribution. The Himalayas from Murree to Eastern Assam, 

 both North and South of the Brahmaputra, Manipur, Lushai and 

 Chittagong hill-tracts, but not further East. Oates's specimens 

 from Bhamo are much nearer necjlecta and should be assigned 

 to that bird. 



Nidiflcation. Gammie obtained the nest in Sikkim at 2,000 

 feet in a decayed bamboo, and 1 found many nests in the Khasia 

 Hills in April and May at elevations between 4,500 and 6,UOl> 

 feet. In these hills, although a nest might now and then be 

 found in some old stump, the great majority are built in the 

 retaining walls of roads or in walls of fields and compounds. 

 These walls are built of mud and stones and form favourite 

 breeding places for Tits, Nuthatches, Flycatchers and many other 

 birds. The Nuthatches select some hollow, generally only a few 

 inches from the ground, and then fill the whole entrance in with 

 mud, leaving only a circular hole about 40 mm. across. The 

 hollow inside, however big it may be, is filled to a depth of some 

 inches with scraps of dead wood, bark and odds and ends of 

 vegetable matter, over which is placed a bed of moss and then a 

 fine thick layer of fur, or fur and wool. They are very persistent 



