traces of similar excessively minute purple or red points extend more
or less above and below the zone. The eggs vary from 0·53 to 0·58
in length, and from 0·43 to 0·46 in breadth; but the average of
twenty-five is 0·56 nearly by 0·45 nearly.


41. Machlolophus spilonotus (Bl.). _The Blade-spotted Yellow Tit_.

Machlolophus spilonotus (_Bl._), _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 281.

Mr. Mandelli found a nest of this species at Lebong in Sikhim on the
15th June in a hole in a dead tree, about 5 feet from the ground. The
nest was a mere pad of the soft fur of some animal, in which a
little of the brown silky down from fern-stems and a little moss was
intermingled. It contained three hard-set eggs.

One of these eggs is a very regular oval, scarcely, if at all, pointed
towards the lesser end; the ground-colour is a pure dead white, and
the markings, spots, and specks of pale reddish brown, and underlying
spots of pale purple, are evenly scattered all over the egg; it
measures 0·78 by 0·55.


42. Machlolophus xanthogenys (Vig.). _The Yellow-cheeked Tit_.

Machlolophus xanthogenys (_Vig._) _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 279; _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 647.

The Yellow-cheeked Tit is one of the commonest birds in the
neighbourhood of Simla, yet curiously enough I have never found a