NATURAL HISTORY AND SPORT IN THE HIMALAYAS. 439 
is never found in the warm valleys, like other species of Laughing 
Thrush. During our trip I secured specimens also of G. erythro- 
cephalus and of G. lineatus, which last is the most common species 
of all, but is usually found in pairs only, differing thus from its 
congeners, which are always, as far as I have seen, found in 
small parties of five or seven to flocks of fifteen to twenty, noisy 
and irrepressible. I have seen the nests of all these species, and 
they lay beautiful glossy greenish blue eggs. I possess now a 
pretty nest of G. erythrocephalus, marked, “ May 22nd, 1861, 
Mussoorie,’—a large perfect cup formed of oak leaves, Q. incana, 
with some sprigs of fine fern, grass and moss, and lined entirely 
with very fine grass. It was placed within reach of my hand in a 
thick berberry bush, and contained three beautiful pale blue eggs, 
faintly spotted with rosy red. But the best bird I got to-day was 
my first example of Sitta lewcopsis, the White-eyed Nuthatch, and 
I never got more than two or three afterwards. A pair were 
clambering about a hazel tree; I secured one, and tried in vain 
to get the other, which was by no means shy; indeed I could not 
get far enough away to enable me to secure it without blowing it 
to pieces, and the undergrowth was to an exasperating degree thick 
and thorny, so my progress was slow, and the bird disappeared. 
Engaged part of the afternoon arranging the spoils of the last 
few days, and afterwards overhauled Mr. P.’s collection, from 
which he kindly permitted me to take pickings. Among other 
good things thus acquired were specimens of the beautiful 
Grandala celicolor, a bird I did not myself shoot for many years 
afterwards, and of Ibidorhynchus Struthersi, the Pied Curlew. 
Both these, Mr. P. says, are strictly mountaineers, and only got 
several marches in near the snow. I have since, however, been 
told that this Curlew occasionally does come lower in severe 
winters. Mr. P.’s bird-stuffer unfortunately was not very skilful ; 
nearly all his birds had their necks provokingly elongated, and 
from inadequate poisoning a good many of them were going, or 
had gone, bad. I made Mr. Gomez give the man a few lessons; 
and some contributions which Mr. P. afterwards kindly sent me 
had been in every respect well prepared. I must not omit 
mentioning that the collection I examined contained several 
examples of the lovely Nectarinia Gouldie, which I reckon is a 
rare species in the North-west Himalayas. There were three 
males and a presumed female; they had all been shot in the 
