Occasionally it builds on a branch of a tree, and my friend Sir E.C.  Buck, C.S., found a nest containing six half-set eggs thus situated on the 19th June at Gowra.  It was on a “Banj” tree 10 feet from the ground.

The only nest that I have myself seen in such a situation was a pretty large pad of soft moss, slightly saucer-shaped, about 4 inches in diameter, with a slight depression on the upper surface, which was everywhere thinly coated with sheep’s wool and the fine white silky hair of some animal.  The nest is usually a shapeless mass of downy fur, cattle-hair, and even feathers and wool, but when on a branch is strengthened exteriorly with moss.  Even when in holes, they sometimes round the nest into a more or less regular though shallow cup, and use a good deal of moss or a little grass or grass-roots; but as a rule the hairs of soft and downy fur constitute the chief material, and this is picked out by the birds, I believe, from the dung of the various cats, polecats, and ferrets so common in all our hills.

I have never found more than six eggs, and often smaller numbers, more or less incubated.

Mr. Brooks tells us that the Indian Grey Tit is “common at Almorah.  In April and May I found the nest two or three times in holes in terrace-walls.  It was composed of grass-roots and feathers, and contained in each case nearly fully-grown young, five in number.”

From Dhurmsala Captain Cock wrote:—­“Parus cinereus built in the walls of Dr. C.’s stables this year.  When I found the nest it contained young ones.  I watched the parents flying in and out, but to make sure put my ear to the wall and could hear the young ones chirrupping.  The nest was found in the early part of May 1869.”

Colonel Butler writes:—­“Belgaum, 12th June, 1879.  A nest built in a hollow bamboo which supported the roof of a house in the native infantry lines.  I did not see the nest myself, as unfortunately the old bird was captured on it, and the nest and eggs destroyed; however, the hen bird was brought to me alive by the man who caught her, and I saw at once, by the bare breast, that she had been sitting, and on making enquiries the above facts were elicited.  The broken egg-shells were white thickly spotted with rusty red.

“Belgaum, 8th June, 1880.—­A nest in a hole of a tree about 7 feet from the ground, containing five fresh eggs.  The nest consisted of a dense pad of fur (goat-hair, cow-hair, human hair, and hare’s fur mixed) with a few feathers intermixed, laid on the top of a small quantity of dry grass and moss, which formed the foundation.”

Lieut.  H.E.  Barnes notes from Chaman in Afghanistan:—­“This Tit is very common, and remains with us all the year round.  I found a nest on the 10th April, built in a hole in a tree; it was composed entirely of sheep’s wool, and contained three incubated eggs, white, with light red blotches, forming a zone at the larger end.  They measured .69 by .48.”