are richly blotched and spotted, and more or less speckled (chiefly
towards the larger end), with bright, somewhat brownish red.

The markings very commonly form a dense, almost confluent zone or cap
about the large end, and they are generally more thinly scattered
elsewhere, but the amount of the markings varies much in different
eggs. In some, although they are thicker in the zone, they are still
pretty thickly set over the entire surface, while in others they are
almost confined to one end of the egg, generally the broad end.

These eggs vary much in size and in density of marking. The ordinary
dimensions are about 0·61 by 0·47, but in a large series they vary in
length from 0·57 to 0·72, and in breadth from 0·43 to 0·54. The
very large eggs, however, indicated by these _maxima_ are rare and
abnormal.


47. Lophophanes rufinuchalis (Bl.). _The Simla Black Tit_.

Lophophanes rufinuchalis (_Bl.). Jerd. B. Ind._ ii. p. 274.

Mr. Brooks informs us that this Tit is common at Derali and other
places of similar elevation. "I found a nest under a large stone in
the middle of a hill foot-path, up and down which people and cattle
were constantly passing; the nest contained newly-hatched young. This
was the middle of May."

Dr. Scully, writing of the Gilgit district, tells us that this Tit is
a denizen of the pine-forests, where it breeds.