Phylloscopus tytleri, _Brooks, Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 560 bis.
Tytler's Willow-Warbler, as yet a rare bird in collections, and which
appears only to straggle down to the plains of Upper India during the
cold season, was found by Captain Cock breeding at Sonamerg (9400 feet
elevation) in the Sindh Valley, Cashmere, in June.
Mr. Brooks, who discriminated the bird, said of it and its
nidification:--"In plumage resembling _P. viridanus_, but of a richer
and deeper olive; it is entirely without the 'whitish wing-bar,' which
is always present in _viridanus_, unless in very abraded plumage. The
wing is shorter, so is the tail; but the great difference is in the
bill, which is much longer, darker, and of a more pointed and slender
form in _P. tytleri_. The song and notes are utterly different, so
are the localities frequented. _P. viridanus_ is an inhabitant of
brushwood ravines, at 9000 and 10,000 feet elevation; while _P.
tytleri_ is exclusively a pine-forest _Phylloscopus_. In the places
frequented by _P. viridanus_, it must build on the ground, or very
near it; but our new species builds, 40 feet up a pine-tree, a compact
half-domed nest on the side of a branch.
"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.