MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 1077 



which I have taken eggs are the 31st July (3 fresh eggs), and the 14th 

 September (3 fresh eggs), respectively. I may, however, mention that on 

 the 26th July of this year I found a nest containing four young ones, about 

 a week old, and the eggs in this case must have been laid about the end 

 ■of the first week of that month. 



The highest altitude at which I have found these birds nesting is 7,000 

 feet, but by far the largest number breed at about 6,000 feet : I have never 

 yet taken a nest below the latter elevation. 



These Finches are gregarious in the strict sense, even to the extent of 

 breeding in company, and it is curious that this point should have escaped 

 the observations of Hume. I remember once finding no less than half a 

 dozen nests within a radius of not more than 15 yards, and on another 

 occasion, four nests within a radius of about 15 yards. I have several times 

 found two nests quite close to each other, and once I took a couple of nests 

 from the same tree. It is true that I have sometimes found isolated nests, 

 but I consider this the exception, or, perhaps, what is more probable is that 

 there were other nests close by which were not located. In connection 

 with the gregarious habits of this bird, I extract the following in cctcnso 

 from my daily Journal : — 



■2\.st August. — Took another nest containing five fresh eggs placed on a P. 

 ^.vcelsa, about 25 feet distant from the tree, which contained the second 

 nest mentioned above. In the latter case only two eggs were taken, but 

 the clutch was probably not complete. My idea is that the bird to which 

 these two eggs belonged, on finding her nest gone, forthwith went and 

 deposited her remaining egg or eggs in to-day's nest. It is not unusual to 

 find five eggs in a nest, but the above is corroborated to some extent by (li) 

 our seeing three birds— two hens and a cock — hovering about in the vicinity, 

 and judging from their anxious behaviour when the climber approached the 

 nest, there seemed little doubt that it was a sort of "joint stock " concern, 

 which belonged to them all, and (b) the fact that this nest a few days 

 IDreviously only contained three eggs : day before yesterday it still con- 

 tained only three ; to-day we were astonished at finding five ! 



I have never yet had the good fortune to witness the courtship of these 

 birds, though I have frequently seen them in copula, after the manner of 

 sparrows, near their nests. They pair off soon after their arrival here, and 

 are shortly afterwards busily engrossed in domestic affairs. 



They have only one brood annually, so far as Simla is concerned, and 

 build a fresh nest each year : I have never known them ever to take posses- 

 sion of the nests of other birds, though on one occasion, I noticed a hen 

 lining her nest with horse-hair taken from an old nest belonging to a 

 Jungle Crow (Corvus mncrorhynchus), which was close by. 



I have already stated that these birds generally resort to hill-sides 

 covered with Himalayan Cedars and Blue Pines, and these trees are par 



