35 



34. Parus monticola, Vig. The Green-hacked Tit. 



Paras monticolus, Vig., Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 277 j Hume, Bough Draft 

 N. 8r E. no. 644. 



The Green-backed Tit breeds through the Himalayas, at eleva- 

 tions of from 4000 to 7000 or 8000 feet. 



The breeding-season lasts from March to June, and some birds 

 at any rate must have two broods, since I found three fresh eggs 

 in the wall of the Pownda dak bungalow about the 20th Juue. 

 More eggs are, however, to be got in April than in any other 

 month. 



They build in holes, in trees, bamboos, walls, and even banks, 

 but walls receive, I think, the preference. 



The nests are loose dense masses of soft downy fur or feathers, 

 with more or less moss, according to the situation. 



The eggs vary from six to eight, and I have repeatedly found 

 seven and eight young ones ; but Captain Beavan has found only 

 five of these latter, and although I consider from six to eight the 

 normal complement, I believe they very often fail to complete the 

 full number. 



Captain Beavan says : — " At Simla, on May 4th, 1866, I found 

 a nest of this species in the wall of one of my servant's houses. 

 It contained five young ones, and was composed of fine grey pushm 

 or wool resting on an understructure of moss." 



At Murree Colonel C. H. T. Marshall notes that this species 

 " breeds early in May in holes in walls and trees, laying white 

 eggs covered with red spots." 



Speaking of a nest he took at Dhurmsala, Captain Cock says : — 

 " The nest was in a cavity of a rhododendron tree, and was a large 

 mass of down of some animal ; it looked like rabbit's fur, which of 

 course it was not, but it was some dark, soft, dense fur. The nest 

 contained seven eggs, and was found on the 28th April, 1869. 

 The eggs were all fresh." 



Mr. G-arnmie says : — " I got one nest of this Tit here on the 

 14th May in the Chinchona reserves (Sikhim), at an elevation of 

 about 4500 feet. It was in partially cleared country, in a natural 

 hole of a stump, about 5 feet from the ground. The nest wa3 

 made of moss and lined with soft matted hair ; but I pulled it out 

 of the hole carelessly and cannot say whether it had originally 

 any denned shape. It contained four hard-set eggs." 



The eggs are very like those of Parus atricujps ; but they are 

 somewhat longer and more slender, and as a rule are rather more 

 thickly and richly marked. 



They are moderately broad ovals, sometimes almost perfectly 

 symmetrical, at times slightly pointed towards one end, and almost 

 entirely devoid of gloss. The ground is white, or occasionally 

 a delicate pinkish white, in some richly and profusely spotted and 

 blotched, in others more or less thickly speckled and spotted with 

 darker or lighter shades of blood-, brick-, slightly purplish-, or 



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