The cavity is deep, from 21/2 to 3 inches in
diameter and not much less than 2 inches in depth.

They lay two or three eggs; not more, so far as I yet know.

From Murree, Colonel C.H.T. Marshall tells us that "the egg of this
bird was, we believe, previously unknown, and it was a mere chance
that we found the whereabouts of their nests, as they breed high up in
the spruce firs at the outer end of a bough. The nest is neatly made
of moss, lined with stalks of the maiden-hair fern. The eggs are pale
blue, spotted and blotched with pale and reddish brown. They are .95
in length and .7 in breadth. This species breeds in June, about 7000
feet up."

Nearly twenty years prior to this, however, Captain Hutton had
remarked:--"At Mussoorie this bird remains at an elevation of 7000
feet throughout the year, but I never saw it under 6500 feet. Its loud
ringing note of _titteree-titteree tweeyo_, quickly repeated, may
constantly be heard on wooded banks during summer. It breeds in May,
making a neat nest of coarse dry grasses as a foundation, covered
laterally with green moss and wool and lined with fine roots. The
number of eggs I did not ascertain, as the nest was destroyed when
only one egg had been deposited, but the colour is pale bluish white,
freckled with rufous. The nest was placed on a branch of a plum-tree
in the Botanical Garden, Mussoorie."

Captain Cock says that he "found this species breeding at Murree, at
6000 feet elevation.

"I took my first nest on the 5th June.

"It builds near the tops of the highest pines, and unless seen
building its nest with the glasses, it is impossible to find the nest
with the unaided eye.

"The nest is placed on the outer extremity of an upper bough in a
pine-tree; is constructed of moss lined with stalks of the maiden-hair
fern. Three eggs is the largest number I ever found. The eggs are
light greenish white, with rusty spots and blotches principally at the
larger end."

From Nynee Tal Colonel G.F.L. Marshall writes:--"This species builds
in trees and bushes. The only nest I examined personally was a very
compact and thick cup-shaped structure of moss, grass, and roots,
lined with grass, and placed amongst the outer twigs of a blackberry
bush overhanging a cliff. It was ready for the eggs on the 23rd May.
It was found at Nynee Tal on Agar Pata, about 7000 feet above the
sea."

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"I have only myself taken two nests of
this common species. I fo