276 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol, XXVIII, 
ground by means of the cloth previously referred to. The whole incident 
had occupied less than a } hour, and now there only remained to light the 
head lamp and proceed home, which was accomplished successfully though 
cautiously at a modest speed of 7-8 miles an hour. 
This incident demonstrates the extraordinary luck of shikar, a fine 
panther being secured devoid of all cost in the matter of goats, beaters, 
or § bundobust.’ 
H. J. C. MILLETT, 1.F.S, 
Camp, via'DHARWAR, 
21st May 1921. 
No. XITI.—KASHMIR BIRD NOTES. 
While not specially on ornithology bent the surrounding birdlife, among 
other scenic charms, was a source of never failing interest and pleasure to me 
on a walking tour, accompanied by Larry, an Irish terrier, through some of the 
northern valleys of Kashmir in the fateful months of June and July 1914. 
The following few observations, of many cursory and unrecorded ones on 
birds met with during the tour, contain nothing new or original, but may be 
of passing interest, and serve further to amplify notes on Kashmir birds 
published by me in Vol. X XI of this journal. 
THE JUNGLE Crow (Corvus macrorhynchus) is mentioned in the Fauna as 
“occurring in every portion of the Empire except the higher parts of the Himalayas’ 
(the italics are mine). I have seen this species at 12,000 feet and over, and not 
as an isolated occurrence, but commonly. Possibly the spread of graziers, 
with their flocks and herds of cattle, sheep and goats, to the higher grazing 
grounds on the borders of the melting snows in the Kashmir Himalayas in recent 
years, may have attracted these crows to higher regions for the sake of the 
pickings to be got. 
THE YELLOW-BILLED CHoucH (Pyrrhocorax alpinus) is a much less noisy 
bird than the red-billed variety. 
Hopeson’s TREECREEPER (Certhia hodgsoni) was a new acquaintance which I 
found nesting at about 11,300 feet. The nest was in, and behind, a large crevice 
in the bark of a silver fir at some 12 feet from the ground. The visible portion 
consisted of comparatively large bits of twig and chips of bark which must 
have taxed the strength of the birds to carry and fix in position. 
Both parents were indefatigable in their attentions to the young, arriving at 
short intervals at the nest with bills festooned with the broken - remains of large 
insects. Enormous quantities of food were thus apparently consumed by the 
voracious nestlings during the day. I did not climb to the nest, but possibly 
a young cuckoo was stumulating the parental care and activity. At this 
elevation it would have been canorus or poliocephalus, both of which occurred. 
The length of bill in this species is very noticsable compared with that of 
C. himalayana. 
The SLATEY-BLUE FLYCATCHER (Cyornis leucomelanurus) is very like typical 
Siphia in the action of the tail. There is the same vigorous flick upwards 
though the preliminary motions are more vibratory. The female is so similar 
to Alseonax ruficaudus in coloration that although there is a difference in size, 
a difference which is not always easy to detect when the bird is in a tree, it is the 
tail action, and the less active habits of the present species, which will enable 
one to differentiate between the two speciesin their natural surroundings. I 
met with this flycatcher at over 9,000 feet. 
THE BiuE-FRoNTED Repstart (Ruticilla frontalis.) At an elevation of about 
11,300 feet I saw an abnormally placed nest, containing young of this species. 
It was 20 feet up in a shallow hole in a birch tree, in a small grove of these trees. 
THE Rosin Accentor (Tharrhaleus rubeculoides.) Onthe watershed above 
Tar Sar lake, Liddar valley, at. an elevation of a little over 13,000 feet, an accentor 
