1083. Callacanthis burtoni

(1083) Callacanthis burtoni Gould.
THE RED-BROWED FETCH.
Callacanthis burtoni, Fauna B. I., Birds, 2nd ed. vol. iii, p. 152.
The breeding range of this handsome Finch extends from Chitral to Nepal, and probably to Sikkim, at elevations between 8,000 and 10,000 feet, though very little is on record about its nest and eggs.
Whitehead found it not uncommon in Chitral, between 9,000 and 10,000 feet, during the breeding season, but failed to find its nest. The first record of its breeding is that of A. E. Ward, who writes (Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc. vol. xviii, p. 463 1908):— “The Red-browed Finch breeds in Kashmir. The nest was very small, composed almost entirely of the spines of the blue pine, and was in a big fir-tree ; it was found at an altitude of 9,000 feet at Kolahir. The eggs are a rather short oval, .88 x .65 inches, and of a greenish blue marked with very dark brown spots at the thick end, A second nest was being built, but apparently was forsaken by the birds ; this also was in a large fir.”
Possibly the above nest was an abnormal one, as the only two others of which I have any record were very unlike it in construction.
Rattray in a note sent me with a clutch of three eggs tells me that “the nest was a large, rather roughly made cup of twigs, fern-stems and moss, both green and dry, lined with fine roots and grasses. The nest was placed at the junction of a large bough with the trunk of the pine-tree about 15 feet from the ground. It was taken at an elevation of about 8,500 feet and contained three fresh eggs, but this was a full clutch, as the bird would not have laid any more.”
Skinner also describes a nest obtained by him as very much like that taken by Rattray:—“A typical Green-Finch nest made of a framework of twigs interwoven with brown and green moss, roots, plant-stems, and coarse grass and lined with rather coarse roots. Placed on a large bough of a pine about ten feet from the ground.”
The only three egga in my collection, those given me by Rattray, are a deep bright blue, faintly tinged with green, and spotted, sparingly at the larger end with black. The texture is fine and smooth but not glossy. They measure 23.2 x 16.2 mm., 23.2 x 16.6 and 23.9 x 16.3 mm.