Nidification of Indian Birds. 87 



upper valley of the Tons River above Chakrata at an altitude 

 of some 8000 feet. 



He thus describes the nest : — " On May the 1st I saw a 

 strange Tit come out of a small round hole in the dead branch 

 of a wild cherry-tree. I shot the bird, which proved to be a 

 Brown-crested Tit (Lophophanes dichrous), and investigated 

 the hole, which was at a height of about ten feet from the 

 ground. On breaking off the branch just below the cavity I 

 discovered to my regret that the nest contained four freshly 

 hatched young. It was placed at the bottom of the hole 

 (about nine inches deep) and reminded me much of that 

 of the European Crested Tit, the cavity having apparently 

 been excavated by the birds themselves, as is often the case 

 with the latter species. The materials were moss below, 

 then a quantity of fine hair (probably rats') above, and a 

 lining of the same material with the addition of a few monal 

 feathers, apparently for ornamental purposes/' 



In 1900 Mr. Osmaston obtained a nest in the same valley, 

 but higher up, at 9300 feet, containing five eggs. These he 

 describes as being " white, spotted and blotched fairly 

 thickly all over with chestnut markings." The nest was of 

 the same description as that previously described. 



72. Paradoxornis guttaticollis. 



Blanford, F. B. Ind. i. p. 52; Stuart Baker, B. N. II. 

 S. J. xiii. p. 400 ; Harrington, ibid. xiv. p. 596'. 



I found this bird breeding in North Cachar, but it was 

 extremely rare and I only took about four nests. In that 

 district I never met with it below 2000 feet and it bred 

 between 3000 and 4000 feet. 



The nests are deep cups, measuring about 3^ inches in depth 

 and the same in diameter. They are very typical of the sub- 

 family, being made almost entirely of the bright yellow bark 

 of a kind of grass and lined with yellowish strips of grasses 

 and bamboo-leaves, so that, as a whole, they appear bright 

 yellow. Rarely I have seen them lined with very fine dark- 

 coloured grasses: though the first I ever saw, taken at 

 Gungong on the 27th of April, 1895, was lined thus. They 



