304 PICID^E. 



pure white ; these I took away, and to my surprise a few days 

 afterwards I found that the bird had laid two more eggs, thus 

 making five in all." 



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

 " One nest taken on June 2nd, in a hole in an oak-tree ; three 

 eggs, somewhat hard-set. Length 0'9 by 0*65 inch. Elevation 

 6500 feet." 



The eggs of this species, which I owe to Captain Hutton, are of 

 the uc, Sal Woodpecker type, very similar in shape and size to those 

 of D. brunneifrons, but a trifle smaller. On the other hand, the 

 average perhaps slightly larger than those of D. malirattensis. 

 Typically they seem to be moderately elongated ovals, and the 

 sliell is, of course, pure white and very thin and glossy. 



Some eggs I have from Mussoorie only vary from 0*88 to 0'92 

 inch in length, and from 0*66 to 0*7 inch in breadth ; but I have 

 only three specimens, so these measurements go for very little. 



Mr. Mandelli obtained a nest of this species near Gring in Xativ o 

 Sikhiin on the 20th May. It contained three fresh eggs ; one of 

 these measured 0'9 by 0'65. 



Dendrocopus brunneifrons (Tig.)- The Brown-fronted Pied 

 Woodpecker. 



Picus brunneifrons, Viy., Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 273 ; Hume, Rouyh Draft 

 N. # E. no. 159. 



The Brown-fronted Pied Woodpecker breeds throughout the 

 Himalayas west of Nepal, but rarely, if ever, at any elevation 

 exceeding 6000 feet, and I have seen nests as low as 2000 feet. 

 They lay in April and the first half of May, in holes in trees (oak 

 and fir chiefly), sometimes in the stems, sometimes in large 

 branches, usually neatly-cut ones excavated by the birds them- 

 selves, occasionally natural ones, at heights varying from 6 to 40 

 feet from the ground. 



There is no lining to the nest ; only a little of the debris of the 

 excavation is left at the bottom for the eggs to rest on. These 

 are usually four in number, but I have seen fiVe. 



Captain Unwin, of the 5th Goorkhas, says : "I found a nest in 

 the Agrore Valley, 6th May, 1870. It was a mere hole in a dry fir- 

 tree, about 9 feet from the ground ; it contained no lining, the 

 four white hard-set eggs were laid on small fragments of wood." 



Mr. E,. Thompson remarks : " This is a common bird in the 

 Bhabur of Kurnaon. I have met with both adult and immature 

 birds. It breeds in the Bhabur." 



Captain Huttou, writing from Mussoorie, says : " A Paroquet 

 (P. rosa) first made a hole in a tree of Andromeda ovalifolia, but 

 after a few days left it ; in a week or so it came back and again 

 took possession, but was shortly after driven out by Picus brunnei- 

 frons. In three or four days, however, the latter also left it, and 

 then commenced boring in quite a different direction and near 



