Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 1).djvu/330

 286 TIMA.TJ1D.1:.


 * Minla riifigularis Mandelli, S. F., i, p. 416 (1873) (Bhutan Duars).
 * Schccniparus rujiyularis. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 170.

Vernacular names. None recorded.

Description. Forehead, crown and nape chestnnt, bounded on each side by a black band, the two meeting on the nape; lores and supercilia white; upper part of ear-coverts and a patch below the eye blackisli; lower part oF ear-coverts rufous, connected together by a broad chestnut band across the throat; upper plumage, wings and t:iil olive-green, the outer webs of the feathers of wings and tail suffused with fulvous; chin, throat and centre of breast and abdomen white; remainder of the lower plumage olivaceous, tinged with rufous on the under tail-coverts.

Colours of soft parts. Iris reddish brown to lake-brown; bill black; legs and feet yellowish brown, fleshy-brown or fleshy-livid.

Measurements. Total length about 1-JO mm.; wing 51 to 55 mm.; tail aliout 50 mm.; tarsus about -1 to 22 mm.; culnien about 10 to 1 L mm.

Distribution. Bhutan Duars; Assam North and South of the Brahinaputrai, Manipur and Eastern Bengal Hill tracts.

Nidification. This little Tit-Babbler breeds in great numbers all round the foot-hills of Margherita in E. Assam and probably up to some 3,500 feet. Dr. H. N. Coltart and I took many nests and had many brought to us, with the birds, from the central X'anges. The nest is like that of the duhins group but perhaps more moss, roots, fern and bracken are used in its construction. It is always placed on the ground and quite as often in small scrub- and bamboo- jungle as in forest whilst occasionally we found it in small ravines running through tea cultivation. The eggs are similar to those of other birds of the genus but are decidedly greyer and less bold in coloration as a whole. One hundred eggs average 19"5 x 14-7 mm., the extremes being 21-1 X 15-7 mm. and 17'3xl3"9 mm.

Habits. Those of the genus, but I think this bird feeds less on the ground than the other sjiecies and flies more freely aud often without being frightened into doing so.

Genus PSEUDOMINLA Gates, 1894.

The generic name SiUijxrras being preoccupied Gates renamed his genus as above. This genus contains two species within Indian limits which differ from Schoeniparus in having the tail much shorter than the wing, whilst from Lioparus it differs in having no hairs overhanging the nostrils.