much of the same rounded shape. Frequently they are more pointed at
the smaller end than those of _P. trochilus_ usually are. The texture
of the egg is similar to that of _P. trochilus_, with scarcely any
gloss. The ground-colour is always pure white, and the markings,
which are always more or less plentiful, are either reddish brown
or purple-brown, intermingled sparingly with lighter or darker
purple-grey.

Some eggs contain hardly a speck of the purple-grey, while others have
considerable blotches of that colour scattered amongst the red spots.

Some eggs are scantily marked, and have the spots very small; while
others are densely spotted and blotched, the spots often being more or
less confluent at the larger end. Frequently they accumulate round
the larger end in the form of a confluent zone. The variety with deep
purple-brown spots, which is the rarest, resembles those of _P.
rufa_ in miniature; but, as a rule, the egg bears a much stronger
resemblance to that of _P. trochilus_, though it is of course
much smaller. _As far as the colour goes_, the representations in
Hewitson's work of the eggs of _Parus cristatus, Parus coeruleus_,
and _Phylloscopus trochilus_ will give a very correct idea of the
different varieties of the egg of the present bird.

The greatest number of eggs found in any nest by Captain Cock and Mr.
Brooks was five; frequently, however, four was the number upon which
the bird was sitting; eggs partially incubated. On the Pir-Pinjal
Mountain, just below the snows, a nest with four young ones was found
on the 15th June, so that, though five seems to be the usual number,
the bird frequently lays only four.

In length the eggs vary from 0.52 to 0.62, and in breadth from 0.43 to
0.47; but the average of fifty eggs carefully measured was 0.56 full
by 0.44.

428. Acanthopneuste occipitalis, Jerd. _The Large Crowned
Willow-Warbler_.

Reguloides occipitalis (_Jerd.), Jerd. B.I._ ii, p. 196; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 563.

The Large Crowned Willow-Warbler breeds in Cashmere and the North-west
Himalayas generally, during the latter half of May, June, and the
first half of July, apparently at any elevation from 4000 to 8000
feet.

Mr. Brooks says:--"This is perhaps the commonest bird in Cashmere,
even more so than _Passer indicus_. It is found at almost all
elevations above the valley where good woods occur.

"I only took three nests, as the little bird is very cunning, and,
unlike the