306 SITTLU^E. 



323. Sitta leucopsis. The White-cheeked Nuthatch. 



Sitta leucopsis, Gould, P. Z. S. 1849, p. 113; Horsf. $ M. Cat. ii, 

 p. 721 ; Jerd. B. L i, p. 385 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. ii, 

 p. 20 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 161 ; Hume fy Hend. Lah. to Yark. 

 p. 181 ; Hume, Cat. no. 249 ; Gadow, Cat. B. M. viii, p. 352 ; 

 Gates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. i, p. 196. 



Coloration. Forehead, crown, nape, and a part of the sides of 

 the neck glossy black ; upper plumage and the visible portions of 

 the closed wings slaty blue ; middle pair of tail-feathers slaty blue, 

 the others black, tipped with slaty blue, and the three outer pairs 

 with a subterminal patch of white on the inner web, the outer- 

 most pair also with a band of white on the outer web ; sides of the 

 head and lower plumage white, more or less tinged with pale 

 fulvous ; flanks arid under tail-coverts rich chestnut. The female 

 is similar to the male. 



Iris brown ; upper mandible and margins and point of the lower 

 black ; remainder of lower mandible whitish horny ; legs brownish 

 green ( Wardlaw Ramsay). 



Length about 5-5; tail 1'7; wing 3; tarsus '7; bill from 

 gape -8. 



Distribution. Throughout the N.W. Himalayas from Mussooree 

 and Derail to Hazara and the whole of Kashmir at considerable 

 elevations. Brooks says that this Nuthatch is common above 

 Derali near the snows in the pine-forests ; Biddulph remarks that 

 it is a permanent resident in Grilgit, and breeds afc 10,000 feet ; 

 and Scully informs us that he obtained this bird in Gilgit only 

 from the beginning of April to September, and that it is never 

 seen in the lower parts of the valley away from pine-forests. It 

 extends into Afghanistan, where Wardlaw E/amsay found it on 

 the Safed-Koh range above 7000 feet, breeding. 



Habits, fyc. Stoliczka, who found this bird to be common near 

 Chini, observes that it feeds chiefly on the seeds of Pinus tjerard- 

 iana, and that its voice ;s a loud, uniform, melancholy call, uttered 

 while it is busily engaged in securing a pine-seed in the bark of a 

 large tree. 



Capt. Cock took the eggs of this bird at Sonamurg in Kashmir 

 late in May and early in June. The eggs are coloured normally 

 and measure about -7 by -55. 



324. Sitta formosa. The Beautiful Nuthatch. 



Sitta formosa, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xii, p. 933 (1843) ; Blyth, Cat.p. 189 ; 

 Jerd. B. I. i, p. 387 j Hume, Cat. no. 252 ; Gadow, Cat. B. M. 

 viii, p. 357. 



Tishe Kuyi gumbo, Lepch. 



Coloration. Forehead, crown, nape, back, and the side of the 

 neck black, streaked with cobalt-blue on the crown, nape, and 



