Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 1).djvu/119

Rh


 * Parus dichrous Hodgs., Blyth, J. A. S. B., xiii, p. 493 (1844) (Nepal).
 * Lophophanes dichrous. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 59.

Vernacular names. None recorded.

Description. Upper plumage brownisli grey; the wiug-feathers very narrowly edged with hoary grey; forehead and sides of the head fulvous mottled with brown; a half collar round the hind-neck, interrupted at the nape, cream-colour; chin and throat fulvous grey; lower plumage ochraceous.

Colour of soft parts. Bill dusky bluish; feet plumbeous; iris brick-red (Jerdon).

Measurements. Length about 115 mm.; wing about 65 to 71 mm.; tail about 55 mm.; tarsus about 18 mm.; culmen about 11 mm.

Distribution. Himalayas; South Kashmir, Garhwal, Nepal and Sikkim.

Nidification. The nest of this Tit was taken by Mr. B. B. Osraaston in the Tons Valley first with the young in 1894 and finally with eggs in 1899. The nests are described as pads of moss with a lining of fur placed in small holes in pear and other trees. They were taken at an elevation between 8,000 and 10,000 feet in April and May. The eggs are described as "white, spotted and blotched fairly thickly all over with chestnut markings." They measured ·67 × ·51 in. (=17·0 × 13·0 mm.).

The nest with eggs was placed in a natural hole in a rotten branch of a pear-tree beside the Chakrata-Simla road and in 1917 a second nest with five eggs was taken near Chakrata similar to the other but lined with hair. This too contained five eggs measuring ·69 × ·50 in. (= 20·0 × 12·7 mm.).

Habits. Those of the genus.


 * Lophophanes dichrous wellsi Stuart Baker, Bull. B. O. C, xxxviii, p. 8 (1917) (W. Yuunan, Yaugtse big bend).

Vernacular names. None recorded.

Description. This form differs from both L. d. dichrous and L. d. dichroides in being much darker above and paler below, more buff than rufous. The head and back are practically coucolorous and do not contrast, a distinctive feature in the latter race.

Dimensions and colours of soft parts as in L. d. dichrous.

Distribution. Yunnan and N. Shan States.

Nidification and Habits. Nothing recorded.