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), situated on a
steeply sloping hill facing the south, at an elevation of about 6500
feet. The nest was about 50 feet from the ground, and placed on _two_
side branches just where, about 6 inches apart, they shot out of the
trunk. The nest was just like a Crow's--a broad platform of sticks,