Colonel C.H.T.  Marshall, writing from Murree, says:—­“Breeds in May, in almost inaccessible places, about 7000 feet up, choosing a thin fork at the outermost end of a bough about 50 or 60 feet from the ground, and always on trees that have no lower branches.  The nest is almost invisible from below, as it is very neatly built on the top of the fork; and when the female sits on it, she places her tail down the bough so as entirely to hide herself.  The eggs are only to be obtained either by climbing higher up the tree than the nest is, and extracting the eggs by means of a small muslin bag at the end of a long stick, or else by lashing the bough on which the nest is to an upper bough as the climber goes along so as to make it strong enough to support him.  The nest is much neater than that of D. ater; the eggs are light salmon-coloured, with brick-red blotches sparsely scattered over them, and are .95 by .7 inch.”

Dr. Scully records the following note from Nepal:—­“This species lays in the valley in May and June, the nest being placed high up in trees, often in Pinus longifolia.  The eggs are usually four in number, fairly glossy, in shape moderate ovals, smaller at one end.  The ground-colour is pinkish white, with a tinge of buff, sparingly spotted and blotched with brownish red, chiefly at the large end, where the marks tend to coalesce, so as to form an irregular incomplete ring.  Four eggs taken on the 28th May measured 1.09 to 1.12 in length, and 0.75 to 0.76 in breadth.  The race which I identify with D. himalayanus was found, in very small numbers, on the summit of Sheopuri, at an elevation of about 7500 feet, and was breeding at the time I shot my specimen, viz. the 20th May.”

Mr. Gammie found a nest at Mongpho, near Darjeeling, at an elevation of about 3500 feet on the 13th May.  It was placed on an outer branch of a tall tree and contained only one partially incubated egg.  The nest was a beautifully compact, but shallow cup, placed on the upper surface of the bough, composed externally of roots and coated with a little lichen and a great deal of cobweb.  Interiorly lined with the finest grass and moss-roots.  The cavity measured about 3 inches in diameter and scarcely more than 1 inch in depth.  At the bottom, where it rested on the bough, the nest was not above 1/4 inch thick, and consisted only of the lining materials.  Laterally it was about 3/4 inch thick.

The egg was a broad oval, slightly compressed towards one end, but not at all pointed.  The shell very fine and with a slight gloss, the ground-colour a delicate salmon-pink, and with a broad ring of deep brownish-pink spots and blotches intermingled with pale purple subsurface-looking clouds and spots round the large end.  The rest of the egg with some half-dozen similar spots.