LTOPTILA. 133

interwoven; externally of the stems of some herbaceous plant, a
Chenopod, to which the dry blossoms are still attached, intermingled
with coarse grass, a single dead leaf, and one or two broad grass-
blades more or less broken up into fibres.

The eggs, for the authenticity of which Mr. G-aminie positively
vouches, are very unlike what might have been expected. They
are absolutely Shrike's eggs—broad ovals, pointed towards one
end, with a slight gloss, the ground a slightly greyish white, with
a good many small spots and specks of pale yellowish brown and
dingy purple, chiefly confined to a large irregular zone towards the
larger end. They vary in length from 0-86 to 0-93, and in breadth
from 0*7 to 0-73.

204. Lioptila capistrata (Vigors). The Blaclc-lieaded JSibia.

Sibia capistrata ( Vif/.)} Jcrd. B. 2nd. ii; p. 54; Hume, Rough Draft
N. $ JE. no. 429.

The Black-headed Sibia lays throughout the Himalayas from
Afghanistan to Bhootan, at elevations of from 5000 to 70*00 feet.

It lays during May and June, and perhaps part of July, for I
find that on the llth of July I found a nest of this species a little
below the lake at Nynee Tal, on the Jewli Road, containing two
young chicks apparently not a day old.

They build on the outskirts of forests, constructing their nests
towards the ends of branches, at heights of from 10 to 50 feet
from the ground. The nest is a neat cup, some 4 or 5 inches in
diameter and perhaps 3 inches in height, composed chiefly of moss
and lined with black moss-roots and fibres. In some of the nests
that I have preserved a good deal of grass-leaves and scraps of
lichen are incorporated in the moss. The cavity is deep, from. 2|
to 3 inches in diameter and not much less than 2 inches in depth.

They lay two or three eggs; not more, so far as I yet know.

From Murree, Colonel C. H. T. Marshall tells us that "the egg
of this bird was, we believe, previously unknown, and it was a
mere chance that we found the whereabouts of their nests, as they
breed high up in the spruce firs at the outer end of a bough.
The nest is neatly made of moss, lined with stalks of the maiden-
hair fern. The eggs are pale blue, spotted and blotched with pale
and reddish brown. They are '95 in length and *7 in breadth.
This species breeds in June, about 7000 feet up."

Nearly twenty years prior to this, however, Captain Hutton had
remarked :—" At Mussoorie this bird remains at an elevation of
7000 feet throughout the year, but I never saw it under 6500
feet. Its loud ringing note of titteree-titteree tiueeyo, quickly
repeated, may constantly be heard on wooded banks during sum-
mer. It breeds in May, making a neat nest of coarse dry grasses
as a foundation, covered laterally with green moss and wool and
lined with fine roots. The number of eggs I did not ascertain,
as the nest was destroyed when only one egg had been deposited, but