30 COUVIDJ3. 



oak, at a bifurcation about eight feet from the trunk and about 

 the same from the ground. The nest was more substantial than 

 that of O. lanceolatus, much more moss haying been used in the 

 outer casing, but the lining was similar ; it was a misshapen nest, 

 and appeared, in the distance, like an old deserted one ; the bird 

 was sitting at the time ■ I took one egg, hoping more would be 

 laid, but the other was deserted and destroyed by vermin. Another 

 nest I found on the 2nd June • it contained three eggs just so much 

 incubated that it is probable no more would be laid ; this nest was 

 much neater in construction and better concealed than the former 

 one; it was in a rhododendron tree, in a bend about ten feet from 

 the ground, between two branches upwards of a foot each in 

 diameter, and covered with moss and dead fern ; the tree grew out 

 of a precipitous bank just below a road, and though the nest was on 

 the level of the edge it was almost impossible to detect it ; it was 

 a very compact thick cup of roots covered with moss outside. The 

 eggs were larger, more elongated, and much more richly coloured 

 than in the first nest. Both nests were at about 7000 feet eleva- 

 tion, and in both instances the bird sat very close." 



The eggs of this species are, as might be expected, very similar 

 to those of O. lanceolatus, but they are perhaps slightly larger, and 

 the markings somewhat coarser. The eggs are rather broad ovals, 

 a good deal pointed towards one end. The ground-colour is pale 

 greenish white, and they are pretty finely freckled and speckled 

 (most densely so towards the large end, where the markings are 

 almost confluent) with dull, rather pale, olive-brown, amongst 

 which a little speckling and clouding of pale greyish purple is 

 observable. The eggs are decidedly smaller than those of the 

 English Jay, and few of the specimens I have exhibit any of those 

 black hair-like lines often noticeable in both the English Jay and 

 Q. lanceolatus. 



In length the eggs that I have measured varied from 1*1 to 1*21, 

 and in breadth they only varied from 0-84 to 0-87. 



27. Nucifraga hemispila, Vigors. The Himalayan Nutcracker. 



Nucifraga hemispila, Via., Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 304 ; Hume, Rough 

 Draft JV. 8f E. no. 666. 



The Himalayan Nutcracker is very common in the fir-clad hills 

 north of Simla, where it particularly affects forests of the so-called 

 pencil cedar, which is, I think, the Pinus excelsa. I have never 

 been able to obtain the eggs, for they must lay in March or early 

 in April ; but I have found the nest near Fagoo early in May with 

 nearly full-fledged young ones, and my people have taken them 

 with young in April below the Jalouri Pass. 



The tree where I found the nest is, or rather was (for the whole 

 hill-slope has been denuded for potatoe cultivation), situated on a 

 steeply sloping hill facing the south, at an elevation of about 6500 

 feet. The nest was about 50 feet from the ground, and placed on 



