86 
Birds in and about the Station. 
I find size is a great stumbling bloi-k in descriptions, but this 
bird, though 5 inches in length, really looks much smaller 
owing to its slim Iniild and comparatively long tail of 2.2 
inches. 
This charming and lively little bird passes through the 
Station in early sprimg and late autumn, l)reeding in May and 
June at (5,000 to 8,000 feet, where it is common in the 
summe. The nest is of moss placed against a trunk or rock, 
usually the latter. The clutch is three to four. I caught a 
beauty the other day, late October, and showed it to a friend, 
who has apparently imbiljed a bit more bird lore than he owns 
to, as he described it as one of " those hairy-nosed chaps," and 
foi-esaw trouble in keeping it. The longer and the more 
numerous the bristles over the nostrils the more addicted is 
the bird to catching its prey on the wing and the harder it 
is in consequence to meat off. I did not see my way to the 
time required, and so let this bird go. I had one once before 
but it hardly had a fair chance and did not survive long. I 
hope to try it again in more settled times. 
The Eufous-bellied Niltava {Niltava sundara) is 
well known at home as a lovely bird. Gates gives its range 
on the Himalayas as from A.ssam to Simla. We are a bit north 
west of Simla and it is very rare here, so I was surprised to 
see that Mr. Whistler had found it numerous in the Murree 
hills, a good bit still further north-west. I hardly like to sug- 
gest that so keen an observer can be confounding this bird with 
the Indian Blue Chat {Larvivora hrunnca) if it were not for 
the fact that a very keen bird observer and oologist here, 
who has done a lot of egg-collecting with Major Buchanan at 
Changla Ciali (Murree Hills), made this mistake. Mr. Whist- 
ler's description would apply to either, even as to the nest. 
My (experience of the Blue Chat's nest does jiot tally with Gates' 
description, and in some points it seems to me to apply more 
to the Blue Chat. The young of both on leaving the nest 
are speckled; here again my experience does not tally with that 
of Gates', as regards the Blue Chat. The Blue Chat is a " dark 
bird with rufous underparts " with a conspicuous white eye- 
stripe certainly, but the glistening blue patches of the Niltava 
(except perhaps when seen from below) render it a gorgeous 
bird in the heaviest jungle. The Blue Chat is more of a 
