1868] N. W, Himalaya. 25 



throat is more white in the young bird, than it is in the old one. 

 Female above glossless olive brown, greenish on the scapulars and 

 upper tail coverts, and possessing a green metallic shoulder-tuft ; 

 below greenish yellow, more white on the throat, and greenish or buff 

 on the sides. 



Tolerably common in the lower hills, but rather rare in the eastern 

 parts of the valley. I found a pair near the Gaora bungalow at an 

 elevation of about 7,000 feet : it was most probably breeding here. 

 The species is also pretty common in Kulu and in the neighbour- 

 hood of Kishtwar; it most likely ranges over the whole of the 

 southern declivities of the N. W. Himalayas. 

 XIV. Fam. CERTHIADM 



68. Certhia Himalayana, V i g. (I. 380). The last primaries 

 and the secondaries of the old bird are somewhat fulvous towards the 

 termination of the outer webs ; the tips of the secondaries are always 

 pale. 



The young birds have the fulvous spots on the upper plumage not 

 so well developed, and all the feathers below are tipped very narrowly 

 with dusky ; the white is also not so pure as in the old birds, but 

 there is no other perceptible difference between them except in the 

 length of the bill. Very young specimens have the bill sometimes 

 scarcely half an inch long, and from this all gradations are met with 

 up to a length of very nearly one inch. Such considerable changes 

 in the length of the bill are likewise common in the Picidce, Upupidce 

 \ and allied families. Specific distinctions which are occasionally pro- 

 posed upon the difference in the length of the bill are, therefore, not 

 always sufficiently reliable. 



This is the only species of Certhia, which is common in all the 

 forests of the Sutlej valley, from above Belaspoor to near Sungnnm, 

 ranging almost from the plains up to elevations of nearly 12,000 feet. 

 It is the true representative of C. familiar is* of Europe. 



69. Tichodroma muraria, L i »., (I. 383), is found all through the 

 N. W. Himalayas, and during the summer months in W. Tibet and 

 Central Asia. 



70. Sitta Himalayensis, J. and #., (T. 385), is not rare in the 



| * I am informed by Mr. Birth, that this species has been lately procured in 

 the Himalayas, (February, 1868.) 



