26 COBYIM. 



ance a good deal, because in some almost all the markings are fine 

 grained and freckly, and in such eggs but little of the ground- 

 colour is visible, while in other eggs the markings are bolder (in 

 comparison, for they are never really bold) and thinner set, and 

 leave a good deal of the ground-colour visible. 



23. Platysmurus leucopterus (Temm.). The White-winged Jay. 

 Platysmurus leucopterus {Temm,), Hume, Cat. no. 678 quint. 



Mr. W. Davison writes : — 



" I found a nest of this bird on the 8th of April at the hot 

 springs at TJlu Laugat. The nest was built on the frond of a 

 Calamus, the end of which rested in the fork of a small sapling. 

 The nest was a great coarse structure like a Crow's, but even 

 more coarsely and irregularly built, and with the egg-cavity 

 shallower. It was composed externally of small branches and 

 twigs, and loosely lined with coarse fibres and strips of bark.- It 

 contained two young birds about a couple of clays old. The nest 

 was placed about 6 feet from the ground. The surrounding jungle 

 was moderately thick, with a good deal of undergrowth." 



24. Garrulus lanceolatus, Vigors. The Black-throated Jay, 



Garrulus lanceolatus, Vig., Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 308 ; Hume, Rough 

 Draft N. $ E. no. 670. 



The Black-throated Jay breeds throughout the Himalayas, at 

 elevations of from 4000 to 8000 feet, from the Valley of Nepal to 

 Murree. 



They lay from the middle of April until the middle of June. 



They build on trees or thick bushes, never at any great height 

 from the ground, and often within reach of the hand. They 

 always, 1 think, choose a densely foliaged tree, and place the nest 

 sometimes in a main fork and sometimes on some horizontal bough 

 supported by one or more upright shoots. 



All the nests I have seen were moderately shallow cups, built 

 with slender twigs and sticks, some 6 inches in external diameter, 

 and from less than 3 inches to nearly 4 inches in height, with a 

 nest-cavity some 4 inches across and 2 inches deep, lined with 

 grass and moss-roots. Once only I found a nest almost entirely 

 composed of grass, and with no lining but fine grass-stems. 



The eggs vary from four to six, but this latter number is rarely 

 met with. 



Colonel O. H. T. Marshall writes: — "This is one of the com- 

 monest birds about Murree ; we always found it well to the front 

 during our rambles, chattering about in the trees. They breed 

 from the middle of April till the end of June. We have taken 

 their eggs between the 20th April and the 16th June. They keep 

 above 5000 feet. I never observed any in the lower ranges. The 

 nest is not a difficult one to find, being large and of loose con- 



