Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 1).djvu/111

Rh Nidification. Breeds in April and May and possibly sometimes earlier, as a clutch iu the Waterstiadt collection was taken on the 20th February. The nest is made of fur, wool, or hair, sometimes with a base of soft moss and sometimes mixed moss and other materials, but nearly always lined with wool, hair, or fur. It is generally placed in some hole in a tree or dead stump but Harington took it from a hole in a bank. The eggs, four to six in number, are like those of cinereus and measure about 16·2 × 12·8 (16·80 × 13·05 mm. Mackenzie).

Habits. Much the same as those of cinereus in India. A sociable, lively little bird frequenting, preferably, broken hilly country and ascending the hills to at least 6,000 feet but also being found iu the low country, perhaps, however, more frequently in the winter than in the summer.


 * Parus nuchalis Jerdon, Madr. Journ., xiii, p. 131 (1844) (Eastern Ghats); Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 49.

Vernacular names. Nulla patsa jitta (Tel.).

Description. The whole upper plumage, wing-coverts, lores, sides of the crown, chin, throat, centre of the breast and a broad ventral band black; a large nape-patch, the cheeks, ear-coverts and those parts of the plumage not already mentioned white; the under tail-coverts streaked with black; quills with the outer webs white at base and a partial narrow edging of white elsewhere; the later secondaries broadly edged white and the innermost one or two wholly white. The two outer tail-feathers white, the next with the outer web white, the inner web black with' a white tip, the other feathers black with white tips. The amount of white on the tail varies considerably in different individuals.

Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown; bill black; legs and feet slaty-plumbeous (Butler).

Measurements. Total length about 140 mm.; wing 61 to 71 mm.; tail 51 to 57 mm.; tarsus about 18 mm.; culmen about 10 mm.

Distribution. From the country round the Sambhar Lake through Ajmere to Deesaand on to Cutch; Jerdon first obtained it on the Eastern Ghats west of Nellore and Dr. Stewart obtained it at Bangalore. The specimen in the British Museum from the Gadow collection is labelled Bhutan, but this assuredly is a mistake.

Nidification. Nothing on record.

Habits. Apparently a resident bird wherever found, but very little is known about it. Jerdon records it as keeping to the tops of heavily wooded hills on the Eastern Ghats.