ACAOTHOPNEUSTE. 267

while others are densely spotted and blotched, the spots often
being more or less confluent at the larger end. Frequently they
accumulate round the larger end in the form of a confluent zone.
The variety with deep purple-brown spots, which is the rarest, re-
sembles those of P. rufa in miniature; but, as a rule, the egg-
bears a much stronger resemblance to that of P. trocJiilus, though
it is of course much smaller. As far as the colour goes, the repre-
sentations in Hewitson's work of the eggs of Pants cristatus, Paras
cceruleus, and Phylloscopus trochilus will give a very correct idea of
the different, varieties of the egg of the present bird.

The greatest number of eggs found in any nest by Captain Cock
and Mr. Brooks was live; frequently, however, four was the num-
ber upon which the bird was sitting; eggs partially incubated. On
the Pir-Pinjal Mountain, just below the snows, a nest with four
young ones was found on the 15th June, so that, though five
seems to be the usual number, the bird frequently lays only four.

In length the eggs vary from Q-52 to 0*02, and in breadth from
0-43 to 0*47; but the average of fifty eggs carefully measured was
0-56 full by 0-44.

428. Acanthopnettste occipitalis, Jercl. The Large Crowned
Willow- Warbler.

Reguloides occipitalis (Jerd.)} J&rd. J3. I. ii; p. 196; Hume, Jiouf/h
Draft N. $ E. no. 563.

The Large Crowned Willow-Warbler breeds in Cashmere and the
North-west Himalayas generally, during the latter half of May,
June, and the first half of July, apparently at any elevation from
4000 to 8000 feet.

Mr. Brooks says:—" This is perhaps the commonest bird in
Cashmere, even more so than Passer indicus. It is found at almost
all elevations above the valley where good woods occur.

" I only took three nests, as the little bird is very cunning, and,
unlike the simple P. Immii, is very careful indeed how it approaches
its nest when an enemy is near.

" The nest is placed in a hole under the roots of a large tree on
some steep bank-side. I found one in a decayed stump of a large
fir-tree, inside the rotten wood. It was placed on a level with the
ground, and could not be seen till 1 had broken away part of the
outside of the stump. It was composed of green moss and small
dead leaves, a scanty and loosely formed nest, and not domed. It
was lined with fine grass and a little wool, and also a very few hairs.
There were five eggs.

" Another nest was also placed in a rotten stump, but under the
roots. A third nest was placed in a hole under the roots of a large
living pine, and in front of the hole grew a small rose-bush quite
against the tree-trunk. This nest was most carefully concealed, for
the hole behind the roots of the rose-bush was most difficult to find.

" The eggs, four or five in number, are of a rather longer form
than those of P. humii, and are pure white without any spots.
They average '65 by '5."