LIOPTILA. 133 



interwoven ; externally of the stems of toe herbaceous plant, a 

 Chenopod, to which the dry blossoms are still attached, intermingled 

 with coarse grass, a single dead leaf, and one or two broad grass- 

 blades more or less broken up into fibres. 



The eggs, for the authenticity of which Mr. Grammie positively 

 vouches, are very unlike what might have been expected. They 

 are absolutely Shrike's eggs — broad ovals, pointed towards one 

 end, with a slight gloss, the ground a slightly greyish white, with 

 a good many small spots and specks of pale yellowish brown and 

 dingy purple, chiefly confined to a large irregular zone towards the 

 larger end. They vary in length from - 86 to 0-93, and in breadth 

 from 0-7 to 0-73. 



204. Lioptila capistrata (Vigors). The Black-headed Sibia. 



Sibia capistrata ( Vig.), Jerd. B, Ind. ii, p. 54; Hume, Rough Draft 

 N. 8f E. no. 429. 



The Black-headed Sibia lays throughout the Himalayas from 

 Afghanistan to Bhootan, at elevations of from 5000 to 7000 feet. 



It lays during May and June, and perhaps part of July, for I 

 find that on the 11th of July I found a nest of this species a little 

 below the lake at Nynee Tal, on the Jewli Road, containing two 

 young chicks apparently not a day old. 



They build on the outskirts of forests, constructing their nests 

 towards the ends of branches, at heights of from 10 to 50 feet 

 from the ground. The nest is a neat cup, some 4 or 5 inches in 

 diameter and perhaps 3 inches in height, composed chiefly of moss 

 and lined with black moss-roots and fibres. In some of the nests 

 that I have preserved a good deal of grass-leaves and scraps of 

 lichen are incorporated in the moss. The cavity is deep, from 2^ 

 to 3 inches in diameter and not much less than 2 inches in depth. 



They lay two or three eggs ; not more, so far as I yet know. 



From Murree, Colonel C. H. T. Marshall tells us that " the egg 

 of this bird was, we believe, previously unknown, and it was a 

 mere chance that we found the whereabouts of their nests, as they 

 breed high up in the spruce firs at the outer end of a bough. 

 The nest is neatly made of moss, lined with stalks of the maiden- 

 hair fern. The eggs are pale blue, spotted and blotched with pale 

 and reddish brown. They are -95 in length and - 7 in breadth. 

 This species breeds in June, about 7000 feet up." 



Nearly twenty years prior to this, however, Captain Hutton had 

 remarked: — " At Mussoorie this bird remains at an elevation of 

 7000 feet throughout the year, but I never saw it under 6500 

 feet. Its loud ringing note of titteree-titteree tweeyo, quickly 

 repeated, may constantly be heard on wooded banks during sum- 

 mer. It breeds in May, making a neat nest of coarse dry grasses 

 as a foundation, covered laterally with green moss and wool and 

 lined with fine roots. The number of eggs I did not ascertain, 

 as the nest was destroyed when only one egg had been deposited, but 



