38	COHVIDJ5.
42. Maehloloplms xanthogenys (Tig.)-    Tlie Yettow-clieelced Tit.
Machlolophus xanthogenys (Vig.\ Jerd. B. Ind. ii_? p. 279; Hume_}
Rough Draft N. $ JS. no. 647.
The Yellow-cheeked Tit is one of the commonest birds in the
neighbourhood of Simla, yet curiously enough I have never found
a nest.
I have had eggs and nest sent me, and I know it breeds through-
out the "Western Himalayas, at elevations of from 4000 to 7000
feet; and that it lays during April and May (and probably other
months), making a soft pad-like nest, composed of hair and fur, in
holes in trees and walls; but I can give no further particulars.
Captain Hut-ton tells us that it is "common in the hills through-
out the year. It breeds in April, in which month a nest containing
four fledged young ones was found at 5000 feet elevation ; it was
constructed of moss, hair, and feathers, and placed at the bottom
of a deep hole in a stump at the foot of an oak tree."
Writing from Dhurmsala, Captain Cock says :—" Towards the
end of April this bird made its nest in a hole of a tree just below
the terrace of my house. Before the nest was quite finished a
pair of Passer cinnainomeus bullied the old birds out of the place,
which they deserted. After they had left it I cut the nest out and
found it nearly ready to lay in, lined with soft goat-hair and that
same dark fur noticed in the nest of Pariis monticola."
Later he wrote to me that this species " breeds up at Dhurmsala
in April and May. It ch.ooses an old cleft or natural cavity in a
tree, usually the hill-oak, and makes a nest of wool and fur at the
bottom of the cavity, upon which it lays five eggs much like the
eggs of Parus monticola. Perhaps the blotches are a little larger,
otherwise I can see no difference. I noticed on one occasion the
male bird carry wool to the nest, which, when I cut it out the same
day, I found contained hard-set eggs. I used to nail a sheepskin
up in a hill-oak, and watch it with glasses, during April and May,
and many a nest have I found by its help. Parus atriceps, P. monti-
cola, MaclMoplms xantliogenys, Abrornis albisuperciliaris, and many
others used to visit it and pull off fiocks of wool for their nests.
Following up a little bird with wool in its bill through jungle
requires sharp eyes and is no easy matter at first, but one soon
becomes practised at it."
The eggs are regular, somewhat elongated ovals, in some cases
slightly compressed towards one end. The ground is white or
reddish white, and they are thickly speckled, spotted, and even
.blotched with brick-dust red; they have little or no gloss.
They vary in length from 0-7 to 0-78, and in breadth from 0-52
to 0*55 ; but I have only measured six eggs.