ACANTHOPNEUSTE. 267 



while others are densely spotted and blotched, the spots often 

 being more or less confluent at the larger end. Frequently they 

 accumulate round the larger end in the form of a confluent zone. 

 The variety with deep purple-brown spots, which is the rarest, re- 

 sembles those of P. rufa in miniature ; but, as a rule, the egg 

 bears a much stronger resemblance to that of P. troehilus, though 

 it is of course much smaller. As far as the colour goes, the repre- 

 sentations in Hewitson's work of the eggs of Parus cristatus, Pur us 

 cceruleus, and Phylloscopus troehilus will give a very correct idea of 

 the different varieties of the egg of the present bird. 



The greatest number of eggs found in any nest by Captain Cock 

 and Mr. Brooks was Ave; frequently, however, four was the num- 

 ber upon which the bird was sitting ; eggs partially incubated. On 

 the Pir-Pinjal Mountain, just below the snows, a nest with four 

 young ones was found on the 15th June, so that, though five 

 seems to be the usual number, the bird frequently lays only fonr. 



In length the eggs vary from 0-52 to - 62, and in breadth from 

 0"43 to 0-47 ; but the average of fifty eggs carefully measured was 

 0-56 fuU by 0-44. ■ 



428. Acanthopneuste occipitalis, Jerd. The Large Crowned 



Willow- Warbler. 



Reguloides occipitalis (Jerd.), Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 196 ; Hume, Rough 

 Draft N. $ E. no. 563. 



The Large Crowned Willow- Warbler breeds in Cashmere and the 

 North-west Himalayas generally, during the latter half of May, 

 June, and the first half of July, apparently at any elevation from 

 4000 to 8000 feet. 



Mr. Brooks says : — " This is perhaps the commonest bird in 

 Cashmere, even more so than Passer indicus. It is found at almost 

 all elevations above the valley where good woods occur. 



" I only took three nests, as the little bird is Aery cunning, and, 

 unlike the simple P. humii, is very careful indeed how it approaches 

 its nest when an enemy is near. 



" The nest is placed in a hole under the roots of a large tree on 

 some steep bank-side. I found one in a decayed stump of a large 

 fir-tree, inside the rotten wood. It was placed on a level with the 

 ground, and could not be seen till 1 had broken away part of the 

 outside of the stump. It was composed of green moss and small 

 dead leaves, a scanty and loosely formed nest, and not domed. It 

 was lined with fine grass and a little wool, and also a very few hairs. 

 There were five eggs. 



" Another nest was also placed in a rotten stump, but under the 

 roots. A third nest was placed in a hole under the roots of a large 

 living pine, and in front of the hole grew a small rose-bush quite 

 against the tree-trunk. This nest was most carefully concealed, for 

 the hole behind the roots of the rose-bush was most difficult to find. 



" The eggs, four or five in number, are of a rather longer form 

 than those of P. humii, and are pure white without any spots. 

 They average "65 by - 5." 



