| OCR Text |
Show 1874.] BIRDS FROM THE NAGA HILLS. 45 back ; quills pale umber-brown, edged grey. Very narrow frontal band; base of lower mandible, lores through eyes and ear-coverts rich black ; beneath dull yellow, purer on the throat, passing into olivaceous on the flanks ; under tail-coverts white. Bill black ; legs ash-grey ; irides red brown. Length 9 inches, wing 3*65, tail 4-1, tarsus T35, bill at front 0'8. I first obtained this very handsome bird in the Munipur valley, under the Koupru range, in February 1873. It associates in large flocks of from fifty to eighty or more, very noisy, following eacb> other in a long string through the high grass, which they seem to frequent and prefer to the denser forest. When on the flight their white tail-feathers and under tail-coverts of the same colour make them very conspicuous. I observed it also on the head-waters of the Barak and other streams that flow into the Munipur valley on the north-east. The nearest allied species is G. gularis, M'Clelland, which is also yellow on breast; but is dark slate-grey above, with rufous on upper tail-coverts, flanks, abdomen, and vent. GARRULAX ALBO-SUPERCILIARIS, n. sp. Description.-Above, head and forehead reddish umber-brown, paling on back of neck into dull olivaceous brown on the rump and whole of the wing ; tail pale red-brown; lores, a patch below eye, under ear-coverts, and supercilium, which extends backwards for 1*5 inch from the lores, white; upper portion of ear-coverts dark brown; chin and throat ruddy brown, paling on the breast into very pale dingy olivaceous, and into pale earthy ochre on abdomen and flanks ; under tail-coverts rufous. Bill black ; legs fleshy brown ; irides dull red. Length 9 inches, wing 3*8, tail 4-2, tarsus 1*38, bill at front 0*7. One specimen obtained in the Munipur valley, near Kaibi. This dull-coloured Garridax is very similar in coloration to G. rufifrons, Sw., of Java, which is a larger bird, and has no white superciliaries or lower ear-coverts. Another similar form is G. cinereifrons, Blyth, from Ceylon. TROCHALOPTERON CINERACEUM, n. sp. (Plate XL) Description.-Above pale ashy olivaceous, greyer on the tail, which is black for 0"7" at the terminal end, then tipped broadly white. Wing: quills pale black, edged hoary grey; the secondaries tipped black, and their square tips edged white, in keeping with the tail. Primary coverts near the bastard wing black, forming a wing-spot. Top of head black, extending in a narrow line down back of neck ; lores and a broad band over eyes and ear-coverts dingy white ; a few pure white feathers below eyes merging into ear-coverts ; a narrow black line extends from posterior corner of eye over the ear-coverts, and a moustachial streak of the same colour merges into indistinct spots. Chin white, with a few hairy black streaks; breast and underparts sullied white, with a slight vinous tinge on the former, and a dash of ruddy rufous on side of neck ; ochraceous on belly and under tail-coverts. |
