SITTA. 193

the ground in a thick trunk; the hole was closed up with a kind
of stiff gummy substance, leaving only a circular entrance about an
inch in diameter, just as I have seen in nests of Sitta europcea.
The old birds were busily engaged in feeding the young. Another
nest containing young was found on the 28th April in an oak tree
at about /OOO feet elevation; both birds were feeding the young,
and the nest was similar to the last except that in this case it was
so low clown in the trunk that, sitting on the ground, I could put
my ear against the hole. From a third nest, found on the 2nd
May, the young had apparently just fled. My experience bears
out Mr. Hodgson's observations: I have often been up here in May
and June searching closely and never found a nest; this year I
came up for the lirsb time in April, and within a few days find
three nests with young. I may add that after the 10th May all
the Nuthatches I have seen were in small parties, apparently
parents with their young."

316. Sitta cimiamonieivexLtris, Blyth. . The Cinnamon-bellied

Nuthatch.
Sitta cimiamomeoventriS; ItL, Jerd. B. Ind< i; p. 387.

Writing from Sikhirn, Mr. Gramniie says:—"I lately took the
nest of Sitta cinnamomeiventris at 2000 feet. It was 20 feet from
the ground in a soft decaying bamboo on the edge of large jungle.
The birds had made a small hole just below an internocle, and
from the next internocle below had filled up the hollow of the
bail)boo with alternate layers of green moss and pieces of tree-
bark of about an inch or more square to within a few inches of the
entrance-hole. Each layer of moss was about an inch thick, but
the bark layer not more than a quarter of an inch, the thickness of
the bark itself. On the top of this pile, which \vas a foot high,
was a pad three inches wide by two in depth, of fine moss, fur,
a feather or two, and a few insects' wings intermixed, for the
eggs to rest on. The fur looks like that of a rat. There were four
hard-set eggs, which, unfortunately, got broken in the taking.
One of them only was measurable, and it was 0*65 inch by 0-5.
I send the shell-fragments to show the coloration."

317. Sitta neglecta, "Walden. The Burmese Nuthatch.
Sitta neglecta, WalcL, Hume, Cat. no. 250 bis.

The Burmese Nuthatch probably breeds throughout Pegu and
Tenasserim. Of its nidificatioii in the latter division Major 0.
1\ Bingliam writes :—" On the 21st March, wandering about in a
deserted clearing, I saw a couple of Nuthatches (Sitta neglecta)
flying to and from a tree, carrying food apparently. Watching
them closely with a pair of binoculars, I saw them disappear near
a knot in a branch. The tree was a dead dry one and rather
difficult to climb, but a peon of mine went up and reported five
young ones unfledged, the nest-hole being 6 inches deep, and the

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