“Another nest was at the roots of a fern growing on a very steep bank.  The new shoots of the fern grew up above the nest, and last year’s dead leaves overhung it and entirely concealed it.

“Another was placed on a sloping bank, immediately under the trunk of a fallen and decayed pine.  On account of the irregularities in the ground, the trunk did not touch the ground where the nest was by about 2 feet.  This was again an instance of contrivance for the nest’s protection.  It was composed of the same materials as usual.

“Another was among the branches of a shrub, right in the centre of the bush and on the ground, which was sloping as usual.

“Another nest, with four eggs, taken on 3rd June, was placed in the steep bank of a small stream, only 3 feet 6 inches above the water.

“The above examples will give a very fair idea of the situation of the nest; and it now remains only to describe the eggs, which average .56 long by .44 broad.  The largest egg which was measured was .62 long and .45 broad, and the smallest measured .52 long and .43 broad.  The ground-colour is always pure white, more or less spotted with brownish red, the spots being much more numerous and frequently in the form of a rich zone or cap at the larger end.  Intermixed with the red spots are sometimes a few purplish-grey ones.  Other eggs are marked with deep purple-brown spots, like those of the Chiffchaff, and the spots are also intermingled with purplish grey.  Some eggs are boldly and richly marked, while others are minutely spotted.  The egg also varies in shape; but, as a general rule, they are rather short and round, resembling in shape those of P. trochilus.  In returning from Cashmere, on the south face of the Pir-Pinjal Mountain and close to the footpath, I found on the 15th June a nest of this bird with four young ones.  This nest was placed in an unusually steep bank.  Half an hour after finding the nest, and perhaps 1000 feet lower down the hill, I stood upon a mass of snow which had accumulated in the bed of a mountain-stream.”

Captain Charles R. Cock writes to me that he “took numbers of nests at Sonamerg, in the Sindh Valley in Cashmere, during a nesting trip that I took in 1871 with my valued and esteemed friend W.E.  Brooks, Esq.  Although at the time of our finding the nest of this Warbler we were about 80 miles apart, yet we both found our first nest on the same day—­the 31st May.  I believe he was by a couple of hours or so the winner, as I do not think the egg had ever been taken before.

“Breeds in May or June on the ground in banks; makes a globular nest of moss, well lined with fine grass, musk-deer hair, or horse-hair.  It lays five eggs, white spotted with rusty red, inclining to a zone at the larger end.”