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,
but rather more neatly built, and with a number of green juniper twigs
with a little moss and a good deal of grey lichen intermingled. The
nest was about 11 inches across and nearly 4 inches in external
height. There was a broad, shallow, central depression 5 or 6 inches
in diameter and perhaps 2 inches in depth, of which an inch was filled
in with a profuse lining of grass and fir-needles (the long ones of
_Pinus longifolia_) and a little moss. This was found on the 11th May,
and the young, four in number, were sufficiently advanced to hop
out to the ends of the bough and half-fly half-tumble into the
neighbouring trees, when my man with much difficulty got up to the
nest.