The greatest number of eggs found in any nest by Captain Cock and Mr. Brooks was five; frequently, however, four was the number 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 0.52 to 0.62, 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.  Acanthopneuste occipitalis, Jerd. The Large Crowned Willow-Warbler.

Reguloides occipitalis (Jerd.), Jerd.  B.I. ii, p. 196; Hume, Rough 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. humii, 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 I 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.”

He added in epist.:—­“This is a much shier bird than P. humii.  I watched many a one without effect.  The nest is a loose structure of moss lined with a little wool, and would not retain its shape after coming out of the hole.  It is a most amusing bird, very noisy, with a short poor song, and utters a variety of notes when you are near the nest.”

Certainly the nests he brought me are nothing but little pads of moss, 3 to 4 inches in diameter and perhaps an inch in thickness.  There is no pretence for a lining, but a certain amount of wool and excessively fine moss-roots are incorporated in the body of the nest. In situ they would appear to be sometimes more or less domed.