and I was lucky enough to find six nests. These were all in the ground, either under stones or in actual holes such as rat-holes, and all were found between the 8th and 22nd of May.
"Speaking generally it is impossible to find them except when the birds are building, for they are in the most unlikely places that show no sign whatever of a nest. Four eggs seem to form the full clutch. The nest is the ordinary pad of wool and hair with a little moss below and around.
"The male has an aggravating habit of carrying in wool after the eggs have been laid."
Three eggs given me by Mr. Whymper measure about 18·0 × 13·0 mm.
Habits. Similar to those of the Crested Hill-Tit, with which it sometimes consorts.
(67) Lophophanes rufonuchalis beavani.
The Sikkim Black-Tit.
- Lophophanes beavani Blyth, Jerd. B. I., ii, p. 270 (1863) (Mt. Teringloo, Sikkim); Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 59.
Vernacular names. Liho Tasso (Lepcha).
Description. The colour of the back is blue-grey, instead of greenish, the light parts on the face are yellowish or yellow; below a greenish grey with no traces of a black band.
Colours of soft parts and measurements much the same as in the last.
Distribution. Nepal, Sikkim, Tibet and Western China.
Nidification. Nothing recorded. Two eggs sent by Mr. St. J. Hickley were taken at about 10,000 feet elevation from a hole in the roots of a small tree. The nest was a pad of hair and wool, and the eggs only differ from those of the last in being rather larger, measuring about 18·5 × 13·7 mm.
Habits. This is a bird of great elevations, and has so far not been recorded much below 8000 feet.
The Sikkim Black-Tit does not seem to intergrade anywhere with the Simla Black-Tit, but until more material is available from the intervening country it appears better to treat them as geographical races of the same bird.
Lophophanes dicrous.
Key to Subspecies.
| A. Paler above, more rufescent below | L. d. dichrous, p. 87. |
| B. Darker above, more buff below | L. d. wellsi, p. 87. |
