196 



323. Sitta leucopsis, Gould. The White-cheeked Nuthatch. 



Sitta leucopsis, Gould, Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 385 ; Hume, Rough Draft 

 N. Sf E. no. 249. 



Captain Cock took the eggs of the White-cheeked Nuthatch late 

 in May and early in June (1871) in Kashmir at Sonamurg. 



Captain Wardlaw Ramsay says, writing of Afghanistan: "I 

 observed it hanging about a nest-hole on the 21st May, but on 

 returning to take the eggs some days later was unable to find the 

 tree ;" and he adds, " On the 21st of June I shot a young bird just 

 fledged near the Peiwar Kotul." 



The eggs of this species vary somewhat in size. In shape some 

 are moderately elongated, some are somewhat broad ovals, and all 

 are, more or less, compressed towards the smaller end, which, 

 however, is obtuse and not at all pointed. The ground is white 

 and has a slight gloss. The markings consist of small spots and 

 minute specks, some eggs exhibiting only the latter. In all cases 

 the markings are most dense towards the large end, where they 

 generally form an irregular and ill-defined mottled cap or zone. 

 In colour the markings are red and pale purple, the red varying 

 from bright brickdust-red to brownish and even purplish red, 

 and the purple being sometimes lilac and sometimes grey, and 

 here and there in a single speck, almost black. In length the 

 eggs vary from 0*67 to 0*75 inch, and in breadth from O54 to 

 0-55 inch. 



325. Sitta frontalis, Horsf. The Velvet-fronted Blue Nuthatch. 



Dendrophila frontalis (Horsf.), Jerd. B. Ind. i ; p. 388; Hume, Rouyh 

 Draft N. $ K no. 253. 



The Velvet-fronted Nuthatch lays from the middle of February 

 to the end of May. It breeds in the forest-tracts of the Sub- 

 Himalayan ranges, in the Central Indian forests, the Ghats of 

 Southern India, and the well-wooded slopes of the Nilghiris, 

 Palnis, &c. 



It builds a compact little nest of moss and feathers in a tiny 

 hole in a tree, selecting, I believe, generally a natural cavity, 

 but certainly trimming the entrance and interior itself. 



Mr. B. Thompson says : " This species is common in all the low 

 densely wooded valleys of the Sub-Himalayan ranges of Kumaon, 



towards the small end, but elongated and more or less blunt-ended pyriform 

 examples occur. The shell is extremely fine and smooth, but has only a 

 moderate amount of gloss in any specimen that I have seen, and in some 

 specimens has only a trace of this. The ground-colour is pure white, and 

 the eggs are generally thinly speckled, spotted, or blotched, about the broad end 

 only, with a pale red ; occasionally a few greyish -purple spots and blotches 

 are intermingled with the other markings, and specks and tiny spots of both red 

 and grey sometimes extend to the smaller end of the egg also. I have seen no 

 such examples myself, but very probably in some eggs the principal markings 

 may be at the small end. Eighteen eggs vary from O81 to 0*91 in length by 

 0'61 to 0-69 in breadth. 



