132 SITTID.S. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris red-brown or dark brown ; bill black 

 with base aud gonys black ; legs greenish horny (Jerdon) or 

 yellowish brown. 



Measurements. Length about 185 min. ; wing 114 to 118 mm. ; 

 tail about 58 to 60 mm. ; tarsus about 21 mm. ; culmen about 

 17mm. 



Distribution. Himalayas from Sikkim to the Miri and Arbor 

 Hills in Eastern Assam. Also hill-ranges in South Assam as- 

 far East as Lakhimpur. The Salween-Mekong watershed in the 

 N.E. Shan States. 



Nidification. The few nests found by me in the Khasia and North 

 Cachar Hills were all on the highest ranges from 5,000 feet 

 upwards. They were placed in trees at considerable heights from 

 the ground and contained from four to six eggs or young. The 

 eggs only vary from those of S. c. cinnamoventris in being larger 

 and broader ovals. Sixteen eggs average 20-6 x 15-2 mm. and 

 vary between 18-0 x 14'7 and 22-6 x 15-8 mm. 



Habits. The Beautiful Nuthatch, well named from its lovely 

 colouring, seems to be a rare bird everywhere. I never saw it 

 but in pairs or in family parties after the young had hatched, and 

 it is the most shy and elusive of all the Nuthatches found in 

 Assam. Its actions when on trees, rather slow and deliberate for 

 this genus, reminded one of Woodpeckers and its note also 

 differed from all other Nuthatches in its low, rather sweet tone* 

 On the wing it was exceptionally swift, and its beauty when the 

 sun caught it in flight could only be likened to that of the Ruddy 

 Kingfisher under similar circumstances. 



(119) Sitta frontalis frontalis. 



THE VELVET-FRONTED NUTHATCH. 



Sitta frontalis Horsf., Trans. Linn. Soc., xiii, p. 162 (1821) (Java) ; 

 Blanf. & Gates, i, p. 307. 



Vernacular names. Dao-mojo-buku-gajao (Cachari). 



Description. Forehead and supercilium black; whole upper 

 plumage and exposed parts of wings and tail purplish blue : inner 

 webs of all primaries, outer webs of the first two and concealed 

 portions of rectrices blackish brown ; ear-coverts lilac ; chin and 

 throat whitish ; lower plumage greyish, more or less suffused with 

 dull lilac. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris yellow, brown in the young and 

 sometimes in the adult female; eyelids plumbeous; bill coral-red,, 

 black in the quite young with a pinkish gapo and base; legs 

 fleshy-brown or reddish brown, never red. 



Measurements. Total length about 125 to 130 mm. ; wing 

 70 to 75 mm.; tail about 40 mm.; tarsus 17 to 18 mm.; culmen. 

 12 to 13 mm. 



