the time; I took one egg, hoping
more would be laid, but the other was deserted and destroyed by
vermin. Another nest I found on the 2nd June; it contained three eggs
just so much incubated that it is probable no more would be laid; this
nest was much neater in construction and better concealed than the
former one; it was in a rhododendron tree, in a bend about ten feet
from the ground, between two branches upwards of a foot each in
diameter, and covered with moss and dead fern; the tree grew out of
a precipitous bank just below a road, and though the nest was on the
level of the edge it was almost impossible to detect it; it was a very
compact thick cup of roots covered with moss outside. The eggs were
larger, more elongated, and much more richly coloured than in the
first nest. Both nests were at about 7000 feet elevation, and in both
instances the bird sat very close."

The eggs of this species are, as might be expected, very similar to
those of _G. lanceolatus_, but they are perhaps slightly larger, and
the markings somewhat coarser. The eggs are rather broad ovals, a
good deal pointed towards one end. The ground-colour is pale greenish
white, and they are pretty finely freckled and speckled (most densely
so towards the large end, where the markings are almost confluent)
with dull, rather pale, olive-brown, amongst which a little speckling
and clouding of pale greyish purple is observable. The eggs are
decidedly smaller than those of the English Jay, and few of the
specimens I have exhibit any of those black hair-like lines often
noticeable in both the English Jay and _G. lanceolatus_.

In length the eggs that I have measured varied from 1.1 to 1.21, and
in breadth they only varied from 0.84 to 0.87.

27. Nucifraga hemispila, Vigors. _The Himalayan Nutcracker_.

Nucifraga hemispila, _Vig., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 304; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 666.

The Himalayan Nutcracker is _very_ common in the fir-clad hills north
of Simla, where it particularly affects forests of the so-called
pencil cedar, which is, I think, the _Pinus excelsa_. I have never
been able to obtain the eggs, for they must lay in March or early in
April; but I have found the nest near Fagoo early in May with nearly
full-fledged young ones, and my people have taken them with young in
April below the Jalouri Pass.

The tree where I found the nest is, or rather _was_ (for the whole
hill-slope has been denuded for potatoe cultivation), si