Zoological Society. 193 



PROCEEDLNGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



April 8, 1845. — William Horton Lloyd, Esq., in the Chair. 

 Abstract of a paper on Nepalese Birds, by Bryan H. Hodgson, 

 Esq., Corr. Memb., late British resident at Nepal : — 



Brachypodin^. 



Genus Stachyris, mihi (olim Cilathora) . Types, S. nigriceps, pyrops 



et chrys(£us, all new. 



Bill as long as head, strong and straight, elongate- conic, much 

 compressed ; towards base much higher than broad, with its ridge 

 elevated and keeled between the large nareal fosses ; rounded for- 

 wards, and the tips either straight, entire and depressed, or the upper 

 one suddenly inclined, with remote notch; gape smooth; frontal 

 plumes rigid, and concealing the base of the bill ; nares placed at fore 

 end of the fosse, and covered by a salient arched incumbent scale, 

 which closes the aperture forwards ; tongue narrow, simple, with bifid 

 jagged tip ; wings short, bowed, perfectly rounded ; tail moderate, 

 gradated, rather cuneate than fan-shape, and either frayed or subrigid ; 

 feet suited to creeping and clinging ; tarse elevate and strong, longer 

 than central toe and nail, and nearly or quite smooth ; toes short, 

 depressed, unequal, basally connected ; hind large, and equal to outer 

 fore toe ; nails repent and Parian. Exclusively monticolous and shy 

 of man ; not gregarious ; feeds on tiny hard insects and the larvae and 

 pupae of tree-haunting species — rarely on seeds ; exclusively arboreal ; 

 builds large globular nests, which are fixed upon and between the 

 crossing twigs of low thick bushes, and lays four or five eggs, of a 

 pale fawn-colour, either unmarked or spotted with brown. 



1 st species, S. nigriceps, mihi. — 5 J inches long ; bill to gape, W ; 

 tail, 2^^ ; tarse to sole, if ; central toe and nail, W ; hind toe and 

 nail, -j^ ; closed wing, 2^, 



Colour. — Above medial red-bi^wn, deeper and purer on wings and 

 tail ; below sordid rusty, brightest forwards ; top and sides of head 

 black, picked out with hoary ; chin hoary, confined by a black band 

 running from the cap towards the breast; legs fleshy; bill horn- 

 yellow, darkened on ridge ; iris pale orange. 



2nd species, S. pyrops, mihi. — Olive-brown above, sordid rusty 

 below and on the sides of head and neck ; beneath and before the eye 

 and under the chin a black spot ; bill sordid sanguine, dusky on the 

 ridge; legs horn-colour; eye sanguine. 4\ inches long; bill, ^; 

 tail, 2 ; tarse, J ; central toe and nail, -^^ ; hind, -^ ; wing, 2. 



3rd species, S. chrysceus, mihi. — Above vernal green, deeply tinged 

 with golden; below bright golden; cap with dusky stripes; bill 

 dusky ; legs yellow. Length, 4| inches ; bill, -j^ ; tail, 2 ; wing, 2^ ; 

 tarse, j ; central toe and nail, ^ ; hind, ^. 



Remark. — These singular birds belong I think to Swainson's group 

 of the Brachypodince, among the creeping genera of that group ; but 

 they show some tendency to pass to the Leiotrichanians, by means 



Ann, ^ Mag. N. Hist, Fb/. xvi. P 



