TEE BIRDS OF NORTE CACEAR. 19 



(174) C. xanthoschista. — Hodgson's Grey-headed Fly-catcher 



Warbler. 

 Oates, No. 434 ; Hume, No. 569. 



It is somewhat doubtful if the form found here is the true xanthos- 

 chista, as it averages far smaller than the Western form. My birds 

 seldom reach 4" in total length and average only some 3*9". The 

 tail averages about 1*6", and the wing 2' 05". Besides this the colouring 

 differs in one or two minor details. 



I have on several occasions taken the nest, and have found it always 

 to be made of moss and lined with exquisitely soft vegetable down. 

 With one exception, all my nests were globular in shape, and they 

 were placed either on steep banks or else against the trunk of a tree. 

 The exception referred to was a lovely little cup-shaped nest, wedged 

 into a stout fork of a dead branch lying on the ground. The fork 

 was covered with white lichen, but none of this had been used in the 

 construction of the nest, though, as this was lined with the usual white 

 down, it was by no means at all conspicuous. 



I have only observed this bird in the hot weather and rains well to 

 the east of the district, but in the cold weather it wanders over most of 

 the hills down to as low as some 2,000 feet. 



Twenty-four eggs average , 56"'X , 46" and vary hardly at all in size. 

 They are all in shape broad ovals, somewhat compressed and pointed 

 towards the small end. 



(175) C. jerdqni. — Brook's Grey-headed Fly-catcher Warbler. 



Oates, No. 435 ; Hume, No. 572. 



The commonest form here is that which I have already noted as 

 C. xanthoschista, but I have seen a few birds whose very dark 

 heads were quite sufficient to separate them at once from that species. 

 It haunts the same places, and has exactly the same habits, as that bird. 

 I have not taken its nest. 



(176) C. poliogenys. — The Grey-checked Fly-catcher Warbler. 

 Oates, No. 436 ; Hume, No. 575. 



I have seen but one pair of these birds, both of which I shot as they 

 were hopping about near their nest. This was a most beautiful little 

 affair exactly like that described by Gammie as belonging to Pnoe- 

 pyga albiventris. The moss on the tree was very long, hanging 

 down in lengthy festoons and tangles, and this moss, as it grew, was 



