32	COEVIDJE.
The nests are placed in holes in banks, in walls of buildings or
of terraced fields, in outhouses of dwellings or deserted huis and
houses, and in holes in trees, and very frequently in those cut in
some previous year for their own nests by Barbets and Wood-
peckers.
Occasionally it builds on a branch of a tree, and my friend Sir
E. C. Buck, C.S., found a nest containing six half-set eggs thus
situated on the 19th June at Gowra. It was on a " Banj" tree
10 feet from the ground.
The only nest that I have myself seen in such a situation was a
pretty large pad of soft moss, slightly saucer-shaped,'about 4 inches
in diameter, with a slight depression on the upper surface, which
was everywhere thinly coated with sheep's wool and the fine white
silky hair of some animal. The nest is nsuallv a shapeless mass
of downy fur, cattle-hair, and even feathers ancl wool, but when
on a branch is strengthened exteriorly with moss. Even when in*
holes, they sometimes round the nest into a more or less regular
though shallow cup, and use a good deal of moss or a little grass *
or grass-roots ; but as a rule the hairs of soft and downy fur con-
stitute the chief material, and this is picked out by the birds, I
believe, from the dung of the various cats, polecats, and ferrets so
common in all our hills.
I have never found more than six eggs, and often smaller
numbers, more or less incubated.
Mr. Brooks tells us that the Indian Grey Tit is " common at
Ahnorah. In April and May I found the nest two or three times
in holes in terrace-walls. It was composed of grass-roots and
feathers, and contained in each case nearly fully-grown young,
five in number."
Eroin Dhurmsala Captain Cock wrote:—" Parus cinereus built
in the walls of Dr. C.'s stables this year. When I found the nest
it contained young ones. I watched the parents flying in and out,
but to make sure put my ear to the wall and could hear the young
ones chirrnpping. The nest was found in the early part of May
1869."
Colonel Butler-writes :—" Belgaum, 12th June, 1879. A nest
built in a hollow bamboo which supported the roof of a house in
the native infantry lines. I did not see the nest myself, as un-
fortunately the old bird was captured on it, and the nest and eggs
destroyed ; however, the hen bird was brought to me alive by the
man who caught her, and I saw at once, by the bare breast, that
she had been sitting, and on making enquiries the above facts were
elicited. The broken egg-shells were white thickly spotted with
rusty red.
"Belgaum, 8th June, 1880.;—A nest in a hole of a tree about
7 feet from the ground, containing five'fresh eggs. The nest con-
sisted of a dense pad of fur (goat-hair, cow-hair, human hair, and
hare's fur mixed) with a few feathers intermixed* laid on the top
of a small quantity of dry grass and moss, which formed the
foundation."