117 



and inquisitive disposition, and is a most diligent worker when in search of its insect food. It 

 consequently frequents a variety of situations, and intrudes itself upon the notice of the most 

 casual observer. In the hills it is found in pairs, or two or three together, in forest, thick 

 jungle, and patna-woods; it is likewise common on estates, the well-known coffee-bushes affording 

 it such a welcome shelter that it appears to live permanently amongst them ; thence it makes 

 casual raids upon the neat little gardens attached to so many bungalows, and deals destruction to 

 the buds and young shoots. In the low country it resides chiefly in forest ; but its wandering 

 disposition brings it often into the vicinity of habitations, where it locates itself for the time 

 being in the shady compounds and pleasant groves among which the villagers pass their 

 existence. There it frequently resorts to the heads of the cocoanut-trees, searching among their 

 flowers and at the bases of the broad fronds for the numerous insects which affect these favourite 

 situations. On the Horton-Plain woods, where it is common, it delights in the moss-covered 

 trunks and limbs of the rather stunted timber-trees of that elevation, and attentively scrutinizes 

 every nook and cranny in quest of its morning meal. While hopping about the branches of 

 trees it gives out a sharp two-note whistle, and repeats it for a considerable time, after the 

 manner of its European relative. I am not aware whether it has the interesting habit of tapping 

 branches in the same style which must be familiar to all who have observed our Great Tit in 

 England during the autumn and winter. No little bird can possess a more thoroughly busy and 

 at the same time contented air than this one, when he is deligently working away at the branch 

 of some fine old apple-tree, making his well-directed blows heard at a considerable distance from 

 his perch." 



According to Mr. Hume (Nests and Eggs of Ind. B. 2nd ed. i. p. 31) this Titmouse breeds 

 throughout the more wooded mountains of the Indian Empire at elevations of from 4000 even 

 up to 9000 feet, the breeding-season being in the Himalayas from the end of March to the end of 

 June, or even a little later according to season, and in the Nilghiris from February to May, and 

 probably, he adds, they breed a second time in September or October. The nests are placed in 

 holes in banks, trees, or walls, and frequently the old nest-holes of Barbets and Woodpeckers are 

 utilized, and occasionally the nest is built on a branch of a tree. The nest is constructed of soft 

 hair, moss, and feathers, and occasionally also of dry grass ; and the eggs, usually from five to six 

 in number, are white blotched with light red, the blotches frequently collected and forming a zone 

 at the larger end. Mr. Hume states that " the eggs resemble in their general character those of 

 many of our English Tits, and though, I think, typically slightly longer, they appear to me to be 

 very close to those of Parus palustris. In shape they are a broad oval, but somewhat elongated 

 and pointed towards the small end. The ground-colour is pinkish white, and round the large 

 end there is a conspicuous, though irregular and imperfect, zone of red blotches, spots, and 

 streaks. Spots and specks of the same colour, or occasionally of a pale purple, are scantily 

 sprinkled over the rest of the surface of the egg, and are most numerous in the neighbourhood 

 of the zone. The eggs have a faint gloss. Some eggs do not exhibit the zone above referred to, 

 but even in these the markings are much more numerous and dense towards the large end. In 

 length the eggs vary from 0*65 to 0-78, and in breadth from - 5 to 0'58 ; but the average of 

 thirty-eight is 0"71 by 0-54." 



Mr. Rhodes W. Morgan, who found this species breeding in Southern India, says (Ibis, 1875, 



