OCR Text |
Show 54 MR. II. E. DRESSER ON NEW [Jan. 17 9. Descriptions of Three new Species of Birds obtained during the recent Expedition to Lhassa. By H e n k y E. D r e s s e r , M.B.O.U., F.Z.S. [Received January 17, 1905.] (Plates IY . & V * ) Col. Waddell, O.B., who has recently returned from India, having been one of the officers on the Tibet expedition, when there made a collection of birds, most of which, he tells me, he was able to identify by my ‘ Manual of Palaearctic Birds.' Some, however, he failed to recognize, and these he kept by him, and has sent them on to me for identification, requesting me to describe any that are new. The rest, however, were with his baggage, and were unfortunately lost on the return march from Lhassa. Amongst the birds which were fortunately saved I find the following to be undescribed, v iz.;- B a b a x w a d d e l l i , sp. n. (Plate IV.) Adult male (Tsangpo Valley, Tibet, 25th Sept., 1904).-Upper parts dull ashy grey, each feather with a broad central blackish stripe, the rump slightly less striped than the rest of the upper parts; wing blackish brown, most of the feathers externally margined with ashy grey; tail blackish brown, much graduated; under parts similar to the upper parts, but somewhat paler and more narrowly striped; bill and legs plumbeous, iris dull orange. Total length about 12‘60 inches, culmen 1'40, wing 5'10, tail 6-50, tarsus 1'70. The nearest ally to this species appears to be Babax lanceolatus, from which, however, it differs considerably, being larger (wing 5T0 against 3'75, tail 6'50 against 5'0), and, as will be seen by the above description, it differs considerably both in colour and markings. It is, Col. Waddell says, " called by the Tibetans ‘ Teh-Teh,' in imitation of its call. It frequents poplar and alder thickets remote from villages. It was gregarious, going about in parties of 8 to 10 individuals, but was not so active and secretive in its movements as the Garrulax, alongside of which it was met with." G arrulax tibetanus, sp. n. (Plate V. fig. 2.) Adult male (Tsangpo Valley, Tibet, 25th Sept., 1904).-Upper parts dark brown with a tinge of olivaceous, the crown slightly darker; lores and a patch through the eye with the ear-coverts blackish chocolate ; quills blackish, externally margined with slate or dark lavender-grey ; wing-coverts like the back ; tail graduated, blackish brown broadly tipped with white; under parts rather paler than the upper parts; a broad white stripe below the eye, and a few white featheis above the eye indicating a stripe ; under * Fur explanation of the Plates, see p. 55. |