Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/179

Rh Length about 8 ; tail 2'1 ; wing 3*9; tarsus 1*15; bill J'rom gape 1'15.

Distribution. In the British Museum there is an adult prormvd by Cockburn at IShillong and two young birds obtained by A. W. Chennell in the North Khasi hills. The latter were shot in March and are those described above. In the collection of Godwin-Austen are three specimens of this species, two adults, procured at Shillong in April and May respectively, and a young bird procured in North Cachar without date. I have seen no other specimens from Indian limits. This species is found in China and the whole of North- eastern Asia.

711. Cinclus sordidus. The Sombre Dipper.

Cinclus sordidus, Gould, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 494 ; Salvin, Ibis, 1867, p. 118 ; Blanf. J, A. S. B. xli, pt. ii, p. 48 ; Hume, Cat. no. 349 j Sharpe, Cat. B. M. vi, p. 317.

Hydrobata sordida (Gould), Jercl. B. I. i, p. 507. The Black-bellied Cashmere Dipper ^ Jerd.

Coloration. Forehead, crown, nape, mantle, sides of the head and neck chocolate-brown ; chin, throat, and upper part of breast the same but strikingly paler ; upper plumage and wing-coverts blackish brown; wings and tail blackish, the outer webs somewhat paler ; lower plumage very dark chocolate-brown ; the eyelids are probably clothed with white feathers as in the other members of the genus, but the type specimen, the only one I have been able to examine, exhibits no trace of them.

Length about 7 ; tail 2 ; wing 3'5 ; tarsus I'l ; bill from gape -9.

Distribution. This species was founded on a specimen procured in Kashmir. Blanford appears to have met with this Dipper in Sikhiui at 15,000 feet, and Hume records its occurrence in the tract of country traversed by Dr. Henderson (Lah. to Tark. p. 189). I can find no other notice of it, and this species appears to be very rare. It has been met with in Kansu and Northern Tibet.

Subfamily ACCENTOEIN.E.

The Accentorince or Accentors comprise a number of birds the position of which has been much disputed. Looking to their habits and to the colour of the nestling, their position appears to me to be among the Thrushes.

The Accentors have a bill about half the length of the head, wide at base, compressed somewhat abruptly in the middle, the culmen nearly straight, the upper mandible teiminating in rather a fine point and slightly notched ; the nostrils large, diagonal, and