PHTLLOSCOPUS. 261 



five, pure white, profusely spotted with red and a few spots of 

 purple grey. Size, 053 by 0-43." 



Later still he added in ' The Ibis : ' — " Captain Cock writes from 

 Sonamerg : ' The second day I found my first nest with eggs. It 

 was the nest of P. proregulus. I shot the old bird. Three eggs. 

 These nests are often placed on a bough high up in a pine-tree, and 

 are domed or roofed, made of moss and lined with feathers. I 

 took another one to day with five eggs, and shot the bird just as 

 it was entering its nest. This was on a bough of a pine, but low 

 down. I know of two more nests of P. proregulus, all on pine- 

 trees, from which I hope to take eggs.' 



" After describing the nest of P. humii, and saying that it was 

 lined with the hair of the musk-deer, he adds : ' In this the 

 nest differs from that of P. proregulus, which lines its nest with 

 feathers and bits of thin birch-bark ; and the nest of P. proregulus 

 is only partly domed.' 



"I measured four eggs of P. proregulus which Captain Cock 

 kindly gave me, and the dimensions are as follows : - 55 by - 44, "53 

 by - 43, - 53 by "43, and - 54 by "43. They are pure white, richly 

 marked with dark brownish red, particularly at the larger end, 

 forming there a fine zone on most of the eggs. Intermingled with 

 these spots, and especially on the zone, are some spots and blotches 

 of deep purple-grey. The egg is very handsome, and reminds one 

 strongly of those of Parus cristatus on a smaller scale. The dates 

 when the eggs were taken are 30th May and 2nd June, and the 

 place Sonamerg, which is four marches up the valley of the Sindh 

 River." 



Captain Cock himself tells me that he " took several nests of this 

 bird at Sonamerg in Cashmere in pine-forests. It breeds in May 

 and June, making a partially domed nest, which is sometimes 

 placed low down on the bough of a pine-tree, sometimes on a small 

 sapling pine where the junction of the bough with the stem takes 

 place, and at other times high up on the outer end of a bough. It 

 lays five eggs, like those of P. humii only smaller. The nests I 

 found were all lined with feathers and thin birch-bark strips. I 

 never found a hair-lining in any of this bird's nests. The outer 

 portions of the nest consisted of moss and lichen, arranged so as 

 to harmonize with the bough on which it was placed. The nests 

 are compact little structures." 



Mr. Brooks, writing of the valley of the Bhagirati river, says : — • 

 " Common in the alpine parts of the valley. It breeds about Derali, 

 Bairamghati, and Grangaotri, in the large moss-grown deodars." 



The eggs of this species closely resemble those of P. humii, but 

 are smaller, and, to judge from a few specimens taken by Captain 

 Cock that I have seen, they are somewhat shorter and broader. 



Texture smooth, without any perceptible gloss. Ground-colour 

 pure white, spotted freely and principally towards the larger end 

 with red : brick-dust red would perhaps scarcely be a correct term. 

 The colour would be obtained by mixing a little brown and a good 

 deal of purple with vermilion, or by mixing Indian red with a 



