436 CEBTHIIDJE. 



brown with the usual fulvous, black-edged baud across all but the 

 first four primaries ; most of the quills tipped with white and the 

 later ones with a fulvous streak near the end of the outer web ; 

 lower plumage earthy-brown, paler and fulvescent on the posterior 

 flanks and abdomen ; under tail-coverts ferruginous ; a cheek- 

 stripe rufous or fulvous-rufous ; under wing-coverts and axillaries 

 white. 



Fig. 84. Head of C. d. discolor. 



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

 above dark horny-brown, almost black on culmen, below pale 

 horny ; legs and feet pale fleshy-brown or pale brown. 



Measurements. Wing 67 to 71 mm. ; tail 75 to 77 mm. ; tarsus 

 about 18 mm. ; culmen 13 to 15 mm. 



Distribution. The Himalayas from Nepal to E. Assam, both 

 North and South of the Brahmaputra. 



Nidification. The only nests and eggs of this bird recorded 

 appear to be those taken by myself in North Cachar and the 

 Khasia Hills. In these hills I found the bird very rare and 

 breeding only in the stunted oak forest in the former district and 

 in pine-woods in the latter. In neither case did they breed below 

 5,000 feet. The nests are the usual pads of moss inside a broken 

 piece of bark but in the few I saw all had fairly thick linings of 

 fur either of the Bamboo-rat or of a shrew. They were placed 

 between 12 and 30 feet from the ground and they contained from 

 3 to 5 eggs. These are typical Tree-Creepers' eggs and some are 

 not separable from brightly coloured pink eggs of liimalayana and 

 familiaris but as a whole they are much redder eggs, the spots 

 being almost a pure red or pinky-red. Twenty-four eggs average 

 16-3 X 12-5 mm., and the extremes are 17'5 X 12'9 and 17'4 x 13'0 

 mm. and 15'2xl2'3 and 15-4xirOmm. The birds are early 

 breeders, commencing in early April and continuing until the 

 second week in May. 



Habits. The Sikkim Tree-Creeper is found north of the 

 Brahmaputra between 6,000 and 10,000 feet but on the south of 

 that river between 5,000 and 8,000 feet or a little higher than this 

 in the Naga Hills. In its habits generally it is like all other Tree- 

 Creepers but it seems to keep much to the interior of forests 

 whether of pine or other trees and it is a very shv, quiet little 

 bird, resenting observation more than most of the other members 

 of the genus. 



