BIRDS' NESTING IN THE TONS VALLEY. 65 



caused by radial splitting in the wood of a karshu oak, about 4 feet 

 from the ground. The two first nests were at an elevation of about 

 8,000 and the third 9,000 feet a,bove the sea. This shows that the 

 Himalayan tree-creeper does not always nest at great heights from the 

 . ground. 



The nests of this creeper were all very similar in structure. They 

 consisted first of an irregular mass of spruce twigs, above which was a 

 more or less distinct layer of dry rotten wood (touch wood), the cavity 

 being lined with fur and feathers. The whole of the nest, except the 

 lining, was studded with the silky egg-cocoons of some spider, some 

 of which were red and others green. These served to bind the nest 

 together and to attach it to the bark and wood of the tree. 



The colour of the eggs is white, spotted with brick-red, in some all 

 over, in others chiefly at the larger end, and bearing in addition a few 

 indistinct greyish spots. 



The dimensions of the eggs were as follows : — 



Largest egg '68" X "48" 



Smallest egg -64" X *50" 



Average of 12 eggs '65" X *49" 



2 (241). Pteeuthius xanthochloris. — The Green Shrike-tit. 



Very little indeed seems to have been recorded about the habits of 

 this shrike-tit, and nothing whatever on the subject of its nidification. 

 It is not by any means a common bird, and its quiet habits, plain 

 colours, and the thick nature of the forest it frequents do not tend to 

 render it conspicuous. 



On April 14th I found a nest of this bird containing two fresh eggs. 

 The nest was at an elevation of about 8,000 feet, in mixed spruce and 

 deodar forest, and was suspended like that of an oriole or white-eye 

 from the slender horizontal forked twig of a deodar sapling, about 7 

 feet from the ground. It was in shape a deep cup, very thin and 

 delicate, but neatly put together. 



The ground-work of the nest consists of root fibres and a grey hair- 

 like tree-lichen ( Usnea sp.), decorated on the outside with ordinary grey 

 leaf lichens, the whole structure being bound together with silky spider 

 cocoons and threads. The deep cavity is lined with fine black hair- 

 like fibres (the rhizomorph of a fungus), and the nest is attached to the 

 twigs by the red egg-cocoons of a spider. The two eggs are long 



9 



