BIRDS IN BRITISH GARHWAL. 147 
Suya crinigera (458).—The Brown Hill-warbler. 
This is a common bird throughout the hill ranges of Garhwal and is found 
up to at least 7,000’ elevation. It occurs in all forms of open forest, secondary 
scrub, and along banks and hedges bordering cultivated fields. The breeding 
season seems to commence about the beginning of June and at this time the cock 
spends much of his time perched on the top of a bush, preferably some 10’ to 15’ 
from the ground, whence he continually utters his rather monotonous “ tsee 
tswee-tsee tswce etc.”” From time to time he performs rather curious aerial evo- 
lutions consisting of a series of short headlong dives which are moreover accom- 
panied by a loud flutter, though how exactly this noise is produced I could not 
discover. The nest is placed a few inches above the ground attached (in the 
few cases I observed) to young growing grass stems. Blanford describes it as 
a deep cup, but those I saw were egg shaped with a side entrance near the top 
It is constructed of fine dry grass stems and lined with vegetable down. 
Lanius vittatus (473).—The Bay-backed Shrike. 
Found all over the outer and central ranges at least as far north as the Pindar 
valley where I have observed it up to 6,000’ elevation. 
Campophaga melanoschista (505).—The Dark-grey Cuckoo Shrike. 
This bird is well distributed all over the low outer ranges during the breeding 
season, and appears to rather prefer the cultivated tracts to continuous forest 
areas. On the 20th May 1912 I succeeded in finding a nest with well incubated 
eggs at an elevation of 3,500’. The nest, which was placed in a fork of a 
pine bough about 10’ above the ground, was a flimsy structure with only a 
shallow depression in the centre. It was composed almost entirely of the dead 
deciduous shoots of Phyllanthus emblica woven together with spider’s web and 
well decorated all round the rim with lichen. This nest was one of several built 
apparently under the protection afforded by the proximity of a drongo’s nest. 
This drongo, D. longicaudatus, had a nest in another chir tree and in this tree 
there was also a nest of Molpastes leucogenys placed only 3 or 4 feet above the 
drongo’s nest. The former contained young a few days old. The cuckoo- 
shrike’s nest was not fifteen paces away, and in the same tree with the cuckoo- 
shrike’s nest there was a nest of Oriolus kundoo just ready for eggs. But this 
was not all; within a similar radius of 15 paces from the drongo’s tree a green 
pigeon had its nest in a pollard Terminalia chebula and a rose starling was nest- 
ing in a hole in an Engelhardtia tree. Thus five pairs representing five distinct 
species had availed themselves of the protection afforded by the drongos. The 
cuckoo-shrike has a dipping flight similar to that of an oriole. 
Oriolus traillii (522).—The Maroon Oriole. 
I have only observed this beautiful oriole on three occasions, once at Kanol 
and twice in the Malla Kaliphat patti, and Blanford I think is correct when 
he mentions that the distribution of this species is local. I found it during the 
months of April and May in forest composed of banj (Quercus incana) and Moru 
(Quercus dilatata) and also in mixed deciduous forest containing walnut, maple 
hornbeam, alder and horse-chestnut at elevations between 5,000’ and 7,000’. 
Hemichelidon sibirica (558).—The Sooty Flycatcher. 
On the 12th June I found a nest containing two recently hatched young ones 
and one rotten egg. This was at 9,500’ elevation in an open deodar forest in the 
Dhauli valley. The bird was identified for me at the British Museum as M. 
sibirica fuliginosa which differs from the typical bird in having the first primary 
longer than the primary coverts and in possessing a shorter wing. The nest was 
placed about 8’ from the ground resting on the top of a horizontal deodar bough. 
It was composed of a little lichen, moss and grass woven together into a flimsy 
shallow cup and lined with a little hair. The egg which is very pale green faintly 
mottled all over with pinkish brown, measures *63” x °44”, 
