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BIRDS' NESTING IN THE TONS VALLEY. 



Part II. 



By B. B. Osmaston, Indian Forest Department. 



(Continued from Page 72 of this Volume). 



In No. 1 of this Volume I described a birds' nesting tour made in 

 the above valley in June, 1896. This year (1897)1 visited the same 

 locality again, and I now propose to describe the nests and eggs of some 

 of the less common birds met with on my second trip. 



16. (49). Lophophanes dichrous. — The Brown-crested Tit. 



In Vol. IX of this journal I described a nest of this rare tit. This year 

 I found another nest on June 18th in a hole in a wild cherry tree at about 

 11,000 feet elevation. The nest contained four fully-fledged young and was 

 made entirely of rats' fur. The tree was a rotten one, and the hole, which 

 was a perfect circle, had probably been excavated by the parent birds. 



These birds usually breed earlier, in March or April, and this was 

 probably a second brood. 



The eggs of this species have never yet been obtained. 

 17. (183). Proparus vinipectus. — The Plain Brown Tit Babbler. 



This bird is not very rare at elevations of from 9,000 to 10,000 feet, but 

 owing to its extreme shyness is not often seen. It frequents hill-sides 

 clothed with brushwood, where it breeds. 



I found two nests — one placed in a low bush and a second in a clump 

 of " ringals " (the hill bamboo). The nests are neat, compact and solid 

 cups made of grass and fibres closely woven together and lined with hair. 

 They remind one somewhat of the nest of Pyctorhis sinensis. 



The eggs (three in number in each nest) are pale green blotched with 

 brown chiefly towards the large end, where also are a few pale purple 

 markings. They gave the following measurements : — 



Largest -73" X '53" 



Smallest -65" X *53" 



Mean of 6 eggs -69" X "53" 



18. (191). Larvivora brunnea.— The Indian Blue-chai 



In a former letter inserted in No. 1 of this Volume I described a 

 nest and eggs which I believed to belong to this species. 



This year I found several more nests of the same kind with eggs 

 precisely similar to those previously described, and having shot the bird 



