356 ON LITTLE OR UNKNOWN HIMALAYAN 



quent, and the style of nest architecture, the perfect similarity 

 in the coloration of the eggs of these two species of Redstarts 

 indicate a close alliance with each other.* 



Both nests of the White-capped Redstart were taken by 

 myself on the 20th of May, from a high precipitous moss-co- 

 vered bank which overlooked the boiling rapid (Pindar), very 

 much to the horror of my quasi-shikuree " Kheima," who pro- 

 fessed to be my guide and keeper, but in realty was the most 

 arrant humbug I ever met. The nest of this bird is very like 

 that of the European Robin, and is composed outwardly of 

 green moss roots and fibres, the egg cavity being profusely 

 liued with goat's hair ; its natural position is in a hollow of a 

 bank on the side of a stream, the entrance being sheltered by 

 overgrowing moss and ferns. 



The eggs are three in number (I allowed ample time for a 

 fourth to be laid) ; and as they are so very like giant specimens 

 of the eggs of Rut/cilia fidiginosa, as described by Captain 

 Cock and Mr. Brooks,t and the exact counterpart of those taken 

 by myself, any further description is almost superfluous. The 

 ground color of both sets is greenish-white, profusely covered 

 with rufous or reddish-brown spots ; the markings in one 

 clutch have a tendency to become confluent at the larger end, 

 somewhat in the form of an irregular cap ; in the other the 

 spots and blotches are larger and more equally diffused through- 

 out the surface. 



867.— Scolopax rusticola, Linn. 



On the 30th of June I turned my face towards the snows 

 in another direction, determined to consider my expedition a 

 failure so long as the discovery of the breeding haunts of the 

 Woodcock which was one of the chief objects of my expedition, 

 still remained uuachieved. After two days' stiff marching I 

 pitched camp at a place called Kerao, at an elevation of some 

 10,000 feet, over and against Namick, which is celebrated for 

 its salt springs. 



Here m} luck culminated ; and I have probably to thank my 

 fellow traveller, Dr. Triphook (an ardent sportsman, and quite 

 o-ame to fag all day with his rifle or my collecting-gun as the 

 case might require) for not only the most beautiful clutch of 

 Woodcock's egg I have ever seen, but the first that have as yet 

 been taken in this country. J 



We were following up a huge wounded Presbytis schistaceus 

 (I was anxious to campare it with the Central Indian form) 



*Hodgsnn was apparently aware of the affinities of these two birds, as he classed 

 Buticilla fuliginosa with 'Chahnmarrornis. Mr. Hume, I notice, has removed the 

 former from the genus Rnticilla,'ar\d made it the type of his new genus Nymphceus. 



f Of. " ^rst and Eggs." p. 323. 



J I think both Mr. Wilson, (Mountaineer) and Captain Duff have separately found 

 these eggs, the former in the neighbourhood of Gungaotri, the latter in Kullu .— Ed. 



