MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 195 



On 2ncl December 1911, I obtained a specimen of the Hooded Racket- 

 tailed Magpie ( Crypsirhina cucullata), which had only ten tail feathers. 

 On 12th of the same month I shot another specimen of the same bird for 

 examination and found the same number of tail feathers. The bird is not 

 very common here, and it was not till 24th December 1912 that I obtained 

 a third example and this showed the same condition. In none of these 

 three cases could I find any traces of any of the rectrices being lost, so 

 that I am brought to the conclusion that this species has only ten rectrices. 

 I am forwarding a specimen for the Society's collection and shall look out 

 for further specimens for examination. I don't know whether this charac- 

 teristic has been recorded previously, but I am satisfied that there is no 

 mistake in the counts made by me in these three cases. 



F. E. W. VENNING, Capt. 

 Pyawbwe, 29>th December 1912. 



No. XI.— NESTING OF THE CHESTNUT-BELLIED NUTHATCH 

 {SITTA CASTANEIVENTRIS, Fkankl.) AT FEROZEPORE, PUNJAB. 



As but little appears to be on record regarding the distribution and 

 habits of Sitta castaneiventris in the Punjab, the following note may be 

 of some interest. 



On March 4th, I met with a pair of this species in a grove of trees — chiefly 

 Cirus, Shisham, and Kikus — bordering a road near Ferozepore Cantonments. 

 As it was the first occasion on which I had met with any Nuthatches in 

 the plains I watched them for a time feeding. On March 27th, I was 

 passing the same way and heard a pretty rippling whistle which on inves- 

 tigation proved to be the call of the male Nuthatch who was .alone ; I 

 suspected the presence of a nest and accordingly watched the bird who 

 was suddenly Joined by the female ; both birds started feeding, visiting 

 the difi'erent species of trees impartially. A storm came up and drove me 

 home before I had located the nest ; the cockbird when alone had, it is 

 true, paid a hasty visit to a small hole in a large wart like excrescence 

 about 10 ft. from the ground on the trunk of a large Cirus, but that might 

 have been merely in the course of insect hunting. 



The next day I went to the spot and soon found the Cock Nuthatch, 

 who was again alone, but after watching for a time lost him. I then took 

 up a position opposite to the small hole he had visited on the previous day 

 and waited. The Nuthatch soon appeared flying in my direction and I 

 was delighted to see him go straight to the hole in the " wart " and put 

 something in. This shewed that the nest was in the hole and the manner 

 of his visits seemed to indicate that he was feeding the hen bird who was 

 incubating her eggs ; as if there had been young, the visits to the nest 

 would have been more frequent and both birds would have taken part 

 in the work. 



Accordingly next morning, March 29th, I went to cut out the nest and 

 found that the tiny hole on the top of the wart was really the entrance to 

 a largish chamber. The entrance hole had been partly plastered up with 

 mud ; and the chamber was half filled with fragments of Shesham seed 

 cases which formed a loose nest in which the female was sitting upon five 

 half incubated and one addled egg. 



The eggs were white speckled with duU lilac and brick red, the markings 

 being somewhat thicker towards the larger end. They measure 1*75 x 

 1-35: 1-70 X 1-30; 1-70 x I'SO; 1-65 x 1-35; 1-70 x 1-30 cmm. [Egg 

 Re^. Nos. 1378-1382]. As this was the only occasion I met with the 

 species in the district I preserved both birds [c? S. R. 567 ; § S. R. 568], 



