302 PICIDJE. 



I have only found the eggs between the middle of April and the 

 end of June, but I have seen young birds out of the nest about 

 the end of June. Four or five is the usual number of the eggs, 

 and these, when fresh and unblown, appear to be of a delicate, 

 pinky, pearly hue, as are all such delicate glossy-white eggs, owing 

 to the partial showing through of the yolks. 



Colonel C. H. T. Marshall, writing from Murree, remarks : 

 " This breeds early and very high up in the trees. All the nests 

 we found at the end of May had nearly full-fledged young in them, 

 Elevation about 7000 to 7500 feet," 



I have, however, found fresh eggs as late as the middle of June, 

 and nests not more than 10 feet from the ground. 



Colonel Gr. E. L. Marshall writes : " Apparently, in Kumaon, 

 this bird is an early breeder. I found a nest nearly completed on 

 the 23rd April ; and on the 9th May from another nest I got two 

 full-fledged young. Both nests were at about 7000 feet elevation 

 above the sea, and near the top of large hill oak-trees some 40 or 

 50 feet high." 



Major Wardlaw Eamsay says, writing of Afghanistan : " This 

 is the only Woodpecker that 1 found in the Hariab district, where 

 it was very abundant and breeding." 



Almost all my eggs of this species, and I had many, have been 

 lost, stolen, or destroyed, I do not know which. 



The only eggs I now possess of this species were obtained on 

 the 28th June in the neighbourhood of Kotegurh. They are the 

 usual Woodpecker type, somewhat larger than those of D. mahrat- 

 tensis, D. brumicifrons, and D. macii, but smaller than those of 

 Bracliypternus aurantius ; pure white (when blown), very glossy, 

 and slightly pyriform. 



They vary in length from 0'97 to 1*03 inch, and in breadth from 

 0-72 to 0-78 inch. 



Dendrocopus cathpharius (Hodgs.). The Lesser Pied 

 Woodpecker. 



Picus cathpharius, Hodgs., Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 271 ; Hume, Rou<jh 

 Draft N. $ E. no. 15(3. 



The Lesser Pied Woodpecker, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes, 

 begins to lay in April, and most of the young are ready to fly in 

 July. It makes a nest like other Woodpeckers, excavating a hole 

 in the trunk of a tree and laying therein four eggs on the chips 

 and dust the result of the excavation. The eggs are pure 

 white; and one is figured as 0*92 inch in length by 0-67 in 

 breadth. 



Erom Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes : " On the 19th April I took 

 two fresh eggs of this Woodpecker out of a hole in dead tree some 

 20 feet from ground, at the elevation of about 4000 feet. As 

 usual, there was no nesting material." 



The eggs are moderately broad ovals, somewhat compressed 



