Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/384

370 907. Aradmothera aurata. The Smaller Streaked Spider-hunter.

Arachnothera aurata, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxiv, p. 478 (1855) ; Hume, S. F. iii, p. 85 j Blyth $ Walden, Birds Burm. p. 140 ; Shelley, Mon. Nect. pp. xlix, 351, pi. 112 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 174 ; Hume, Cat. no. 223 bis j Gadmo, Cat. B. M. ix, p. 105 ; Oates, B. B. i, p. 328 ; Salvadori, Ann. Mm. Civ. Gen. (2) vii, p. 395.

Coloration. Resembles A. magna very closely. Differs in being smaller and in having the striations on both the upper and lower plumage much narrower and almost or quite absent on the lower back.

Bill black, the margins of the lower mandible yellow ; mouth yellow ; iris brown ; eyelids plumbeous ; legs orange-yellow ; claws yellow.

Length about 6-5 ; tail 1-8 ; wing 3 to 3-4 ; tarsus -8 ; bill from gape 1*6.

Distribution. Confined to Pegu. This species is found throughout the Pegu hills and it has also been procured both at Thayetmyo and Toungngoo. It is also recorded from the Karen hills east of the latter town. The late Captain Beavan is said to have procured this bird at Kyodan on the Salween river.

908. Arachnothera modesta. The Grey-breasted Spider-hunter.

Anthreptes modesta, Eyton, P. Z. S. 1839, p. 105. Arachnothera modesta (Eyton}, Hume, S. F. iii, p. 85 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 176 ; Shelley, Mon. Nect. pp. xlix, 1, 353, pi. 113 ; Hume, Cat. no. 224 bis ; Gadow, Cat. B. M. ix, p. 107 ; Oates, B. B. i. p. 329.

Coloration. The whole upper plumage and wing-coverts bright yellowish green, the feathers of the head dark-centred ; quills dark brown, broadly edged with the colour of the back, the tertiaries almost wholly of this colour ; sides of the neck and the upper part of the ear-coverts olive-green ; cheeks, the lower portion of the ear-coverts, chin, throat, and fore neck ashy green, obscurely streaked with brown ; remainder of the lower plumage ashy green, paler on the abdomen, and the under tail-coverts tipped yellowish white ; median tail-feathers yellowish green, broadly tipped with black ; the others blackish, the basal two thirds of the outer webs yellowish green, and each of the feathers with a spot of white near the tip on the inner web; edge of the wing bright yellow: under wing-coverts and axillaries pale yellow.

Legs and feet reddish ochre to pale reddish brown ; the upper mandible black, the lower reddish horny to pale reddish brown ; irides brown (Davison).

Length 7 ; tail 2-2 ; wing 3-5 ; tarsus -75 ; bill from gape 1-5.

Distribution. Tenasserim from the base of Muleyit mountain to Malawiin, extending to Cochin China, the Malay peninsula and the islands.