30 COltVIDJE.

oak, at a bifurcation about eight feet from the trunk and about
the same from the ground. The nesfc was more substantial than
that of G. lanceolatus, much more moss having been used in the
outer casing, but the lining was similar; it was a misshapen nest,
and appeared, in the distance, like an old deserted one; the bird
was sitting at the time; I took one egg, hoping more would be
laid, but the other was deserted and destroyed by vermin. Another
nest I found on the 2nd June ; it contained three eggs just so much
incubated that it is probable no more would be laid ; this nest was
much neater in construction and better concealed than the former
one; it was in a rhododendron tree, in a bend about ten feet from
the ground, between two branches upwards of a foot each in
diameter, and covered with moss and dead fern ; the tree grew out
of a precipitous bank just below a road, and though the nest was on
the level of the edge it was almost impossible to detect it; it was
a very compact thick cup of roots covered with moss outside. The
eggs were larger, more elongated, and much more richly coloured
than in the first nest. Both nests were at about 7000 feet eleva-
tion, and in both instances the bird sat very close."

The eggs of this species are, as might be expected, very similar
to those of ,6r. lanceolatuS) but they are perhaps slightly larger, and
the markings somewhat coarser. The eggs are rather broad ovals,
a good deal pointed towards one end. The ground-colour is pale
greenish white, and they are pretty finely freckled and speckled
(most densely so towards the large end, where the markings are
almost confiuent) with dull, rather pale, olive-brown, amongst
which a little speckling and clouding of pale greyish purple is
observable. The eggs are decidedly smaller than those of the
English Jay, and few of the specimens I have exhibit any of those
black hair-like lines often, noticeable in both the English Jay and
G. lanceolatus.

In length the eggs that I have measured varied from. 1*1 to 1-21,
and in breadth they only varied from 0-84 to 0-87.

27. Nucifraga hemispila, Vigors. The Himalayan Nutcracker.

Nucifrapra heniispila, Viq.^ Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 304; Hume, Moityh
Draft N. $ E. no. G66.

The Himalayan Nutcracker is very common in the fir-clad hills
north of Simla, where it particularly affects forests of the so-called
pencil cedar, which is, I think, the Pinus excelsa. I have never
been able to obtain the eggs, for they must lay in March or early
in April; but I have found the nest near Eagoo early in May with
nearly-^cull-fledged young ones, and my people have taken them,
with young in April below the Jalouri Pass.

The tree where I found the nest is, or rather ivas (for the whole
hill-slope has been denuded for potatoe cultivation), situated on a
steeply sloping hill facing the south, at an elevation of about 6500
feet. The nest was about 50 feet from the ground, and placed on