thick, over which is placed a mass of fur, hair or wool. The eggs number from four to ten and are white with spots of bright brownish red. Typically they are longer ovals than are the eggs of the genus Parus and one hundred eggs average 15·7 × 11·7 mm. They are said to generally rear two broods.
Habits. This little Tit is extremely common over the Western Himalayas, being found up to 12,000 feet in summer and down to 2,000 feet in winter, perhaps even lower. It goes about in flocks of some dozen or more birds and is very partial to oak forest when not too thick. It is said by Adams often to associate with Cephalopyrus flammiceps.
(64) Lophophanes ater æmodius.
The Himalayan Cole-Tit.
- Parus æmodius Hodgs., Blyth, J.A.S.B., xiii, p. 943 (1844) (Nepal).
- Lophophanes æmodius. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 58.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Forehead, crown, crest, lores, sides of the head and nape, chin, throat and sides of the neck black; cheeks, ear-coverts and a nape-patch white; upper plumage and exposed parts of wings and tail bluish ashy; the rump tinged with ferruginous; the median and greater coverts tipped with white, forming two wing-bars; the inner and a few of the outer secondaries minutely tipped with white; lower plumage, axillaries and under wing-coverts ferruginous.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown; legs leaden grey; bill black (Blanford).
Measurements. Total length about 105 mm., wing 59 to 61 mm.; tail about 40 mm.; tarsus about 17 mm.; culmen about 6 mm.
Distribution. Nepal and Sikkim. It extends into the South of Tibet as I have had a skin sent me of a bird caught on the nest in the Chambi Valley.
Nidification. A bird sent me with some eggs was caught on its nest in a hole of an oak-tree at between 10,000 and 11,000 feet elevation. The nest was all of rat fur, a well matted pad fitting into the bottom of the hollow. The eggs are indistinguishable from those of the European Cole-Tit and measure about 17·0 × 12·9 mm. The nest was taken on the 13th June.
Habits. This is a bird of high elevation from 6,000 feet upwards, ascending as high as 12,000 feet at least.
(65) Lophophanes rubidiventris.
The Rufous-bellied Crested Tit.
- Parus rubidiventris Blyth, J.A.S.B., xvi, p. 445 (1847) (Nepal).
- Lophophanes rubidiventris. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 58.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
