304 SITTID^. 



Habits, $c. Wardlaw Ramsay states that this bird breads in the 

 Hariab District of Afghanistan in May. 



321. Sitta castaneiventris. The Chestnut -bellied Nuthatch. 



Sitta castaneoventris, Frankl. P. Z. S. 1831, p. 121 ; Blytli, Cat. 

 p. 190; Horsf. $ M. Cat. \\, p. 721 ; Jerd. B. I. i, p. 386; Ball, 

 S. F. vii, p. 209; Hume, Cat. no. 2oO; Davidson, S. F. x, p. 300; 

 Davison, S. F. x, p. 303 ; Gadoiu, Cat. B. M. viii, p. 351 ; Bames t 

 Birds Bom. p. 140; Gates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. i, p. 194. 



Coloration. Male. A black streak from the nostril through the 

 eye to the shoulder ; lores, cheeks, ear-coverts, and chin white ; 

 the whole upper plumage, wing-coverts, and visible portion of 

 closed wings slaty blue ; the whole lower plumage unifor.ii dark 

 chestnut-bay ; under tail-coverts chestnut centred with ashy ; 

 under wing-coverts black, followed by a white patch on the pri- 

 maries visible only from below ; middle tail-feathers ashy blue ; 

 the next two black, edged and tipped with ashy blue; the others 

 with a subterminal white patch on the inner webs, and generally 

 with a white band on the outer web of the outermost feather. 



Female. Resembles the male, but is pale chestnut below, and the 

 white on the face is not so sharply defined. 



Legs and feet dark greenish plumbeous ; base of lower mandible 

 and base of culmen at forehead pale plumbeous ; rest of bill black ; 

 iris dark brown (Davison). 



Length rather more than 5 ; tail 1'5 ; wing 3 ; tarsus *7 ; bill 

 from gape '85. 



Distinguished from S. cinnamomeiventris by its smaller size, 

 paler coloration below, and by the different colour of the under 

 tail-coverts. 



Distribution. The greater portion of the continent of India, from 

 the base of the Himalayas to the Wyuaad. The western limits 

 appear to be a line roughly drawn from Umballa through Dungarpur 

 in the Meywar State to Khandesh ; and the eastern, a line drawn 

 north and south through the Rajmehal hills. 



Habits, $c. Probably a resident in the whole of the above 

 tract. The nest has been found at Umballa, Allahabad, and Sitapur, 

 in which places the breeding-season appears to extend from Feb- 

 ruary to September. This nest is merely a few dead leaves at the 

 bottom of a hole in a tree, the entrance to which is, as usunl, 

 reduced in size by the application of mud-plaster. The eggs are 

 four in number, white, marked, chiefly at the large end, with brick- 

 red and reddish lilac, and they measure *67 by *52. 



Three distinct species of Rock-Nuthatches have hitherto been 

 confounded together. S. syriaca, Ehrenb., from Syria, may be 

 known by its large size, wing 3*8, first primary 1-3, and by the 

 absence of all fulvous on the tail. S. neumayeri, Michah., may be 

 distinguished from S. syriaca by its smaller size, wing 3 to 3'3, 

 first primary 1-0, and by the presence of a large amount of fulvous 



