2 JOURNAL, BOMBA Y NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX. 



(123) Sitta cinnamomeoventris. — The Cinnamon-bellied Nuthatch. 

 Oates, Wo. 316 ; Hume> No. 251. 



This is the most common type of Nuthatch in the North Cachar 

 Hills, but so little seems to be known of its nidification that I reproduce 

 the few notes 1 have collected on the subject. 



The first nest I ever took of this bird was found in April, 1888, 

 on some date between the 15th and 20th. It consisted merely of 

 a few skeleton leaves and one or two feathers, being just sufficient 

 to fill up the bottom of the hole in which it was placed. This 

 was a natural hollow in a branch of a tree at a height of about twenty 

 feet from the ground, and the entrance to it, which had been originally 

 about four inches by three, had been reduced to a neat circular hole 

 of rather less than two inches diameter by means of earthwork built 

 all round the edge by the birds. The material seemed to be stiff 

 clay and some semi-transparent stuff that looked like tree-gum. The 

 nest contained five young. Another nest, which was found on the 

 3rd May, was quite different ; the hole in which it was placed 

 had been formerly the property of a barbet and was small enough as it 

 was, so there was no earthwork at the entrance ; the nest itself was 

 composed of moss and feathers and was rather compact and deep. It 

 contained four eggs, which were all broken by the boy who was sent 

 up to take them. 



In 1889 I only found one nest, in which were four eggs, rather 

 hard set. The nest was made entirely of dead leaves, and was placed 

 at the bottom of a deep crevice in the trunk of a small dead tree ; 

 the long natural orifice had been completely filled up for some 18 

 inches, only leaving a hole at the top just big enough for the bird 

 to squeeze through. 



In 1891 I found two nests — one empty and one with two eggs ; 

 both were made of leaves and a little moss. In the empty one no 

 earthwork had been made about the entrance, though the nest 

 seemed to be completed ; in the other the rim of the hole, which was 

 naturally small, was neatly smoothed and finished off with clay. 

 The situation of the tree in which the nest is placed is usually one 

 standing in thin forest, but one nest was taken from a dead stump 

 by the road-side, and another was found in a tree, in a clearance, 

 which had been killed by ringing. The usual complement of eggs 



