"Captain Cock shot one of this species off the nest at Sonamerg with four eggs. The bird he sent to me, and gave me two of the eggs. Regarding the nest he says: 'I took a nest, containing four eggs, about 40 feet up a pine, on the outer end of a bough, by means of ropes and sticks, and I shot the female bird. I do not know what the bird is. I thought it was P. viridanus, but I send it to you. The nest was very deep, solidly built, and cup-shaped. Eggs, plain white.' In conversation with Captain Cock he afterwards told me that he had watched the bird building its nest. It was rather on the side of the branch, and its solid formation reminded him of a Goldfinch's nest. It was composed of grass, fibres, moss, and lichens externally and thickly lined with hair and feathers. The eggs were pure unspotted white, rather smaller than those of Reguloides occipitalis. Two of them measured ·58 by ·48 and ·57 by ·45. They were taken on the 4th June."
Captain Cock himself writes to me:—"Of all the birds' nests that I know of, this is one of the most difficult to find. One day in the forest at Sonamerg, Cashmere, I noticed a Warbler fly into a high pine with a feather in its bill. I watched with the glasses and saw that it was constructing a nest, so allowing a reasonable time to elapse (nine days or so) I went and took the nest. It was placed on the outer end of a bough, about 40 feet up a high pine, and I had to take the nest by means of a spar lashed at right angles to the tree, the outer extremity of which was supported by a rope fastened to the top of the pine. The nest was a very solid, deep cup, of grass, fibres, and lichens externally, and lined with hair and feathers. It contained four white eggs, measuring 0·58 by 0·48.
"I shot the female, which I sent to Mr. Brooks for identification.
"I forgot to add that this nest, the only one I ever found, was taken early in June."
The egg of this species closely resembles that of some of the species of Abrornis—a moderately broad oval, slightly pointed at the small end, pure white, and almost glossless. The only specimen I have seen measures 0·58 by 0·45.
410. Phylloscopus fuscatus (Blyth). The Dusky Willow-Warbler.
Phylloscopus fuscatus (Blyth), Jerd B.I. ii, p. 191.
Horornis fulviventer, Hodgs., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 523.
Mr. Blyth long ago stated in 'The Ibis' that Horornis fulviventris was identical with P. fuscatus[A].
[Footnote A: It is with considerable hesitation that I reproduce this note. Horornis fulviventris with which Jerdon identified the bird, the nest of which he describes, is certainly P. fuscatus. The only doubt I have is whether Jerdon, who apparently had not seen a specimen of H. fulviventris, rightly identified his bird with it. With this explanation the note is republished as it appeared in the 'Rough Draft.'—ED.]
Subsequently I procured several specimens which were quite distinct from P. fuscatus, structurally as well as in plumage answering perfectly to Hodgson's description.