464 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



Its note is a low squeak, but the cock bird has a loud and sweet song 

 during the breeding season. 



This Creeper is apparently the true representative of Certhia familiaris 



of Europe. 



After an examination of a large number of specimens shot at various 

 times of the year, I have arrived at the same conclusion as Gates that these 

 birds have only an autumn moult. 



In nestlings the upper plumage is not so dark as in old birds ; the. rump 

 and upper tail-coverts show only faint traces of ferruginous ; and the fulvous 

 band on the quills is much lighter. The whole of the lower plumage, from 

 the cheek to the vent, is cross-barred with dusky, and the under tail- 

 coverts and flanks are fluffy, and slightly tinged with fulvous. The length 

 of the bill is, of course, much smaller. 



The information on record about the nidification of this Creeper is not 

 only very meagre, but, it seems to me, somewhat erroneous and misleading. 

 I am unable to understand how the nests of these birds escaped the obser- 

 vations of so acute an ornithologist as Hume. 



In the neighbourhood of Simla and adjacent ranges, courting and build- 

 ing operations commence about the middle, or third week of March. The 

 birds are then very active, and are to be seen constantly flitting from tree 

 to tree and examining, with great minuteness, all nooks and crannies for 

 likely spots. It is at this period that the cock's song is frequently heard. 



They lay from about the last week in March to the first week in May, 

 but most eggs are to be taken during the early part of April. The earliest 

 date on which I have found eggs is the 27th March, and the latest, the 

 3rd May. Most of the nests examined towards the latter end of April 

 generally contained young. 



They have only one brood annually. 



Four is the normal number of eggs, but on three occasions I have taken 

 five • and in one instance, I found a nest containing only three young ones, 

 half fledged. 



The nests were invariably situated on trees, and were placed sometimes in 

 holes, belonging to other birds, but usually in chinks and crevices formed 

 by thick branches shooting upwards from the main trunks. I have 

 never found their nests on oaks, but have no doubt whatever that they 

 build on these. Their favourite trees here are Himalayan Cedars 

 (Cedrus deodara) and Rhododendrons (Rhododendron arboreum). The same 

 sites appear frequently to be used year after year, but whether by the 

 same birds or not, it is impossible to say. When the eggs are once 

 removed, the nest is deserted for that year. In one instance only, I suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining an egg from a nest that I had robbed, a few days 

 previously, of four eggs. 



The heights of the nests found during the last two or three years varied 



