lo. siKsiA. 643 



p. 313, no. 4U72 (1869) ; Godwin-Aust. J. A. S. Beng. xxxix. 

 p. 109 (1870); Bh/th S,- Wald. B. Burm. p. 109 (1875); Wardlaw 

 Mamsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 464 ; Anders. Zool. Ex^). Yun-nan, p. 630 

 (1878) ; Hume S) Davison, Sir. F. 1878, vol. i. p. 370. 



Adult. General colour above ashy olive, the head black, separated 

 from the neck by a coUar of orange feathers round the hind neck ; 

 ■wing-coverts like the back, the greater and primary-eoverts narrowly 

 fringed with yellow ; qniUs dusky blackish, margined with golden 

 yellow, inclining to paler yellow towards the ends of the primaries ; 

 the bases of the feathers washed externally with crimson, forming 

 a wing-patch ; innermost secondaries dull ashy ; upper tail- coverts 

 crimson; tail-feathers dusky ashy brown, blacker towards the ends 

 of the feathers, which are margined with olive-yellow, brighter on 

 the outer ones, the centre ones "with a dusky edging towards the 

 base ; base of forehead bright yellow ; remainder of lores, feathers 

 round the eye, cheeks, and a line below the ear-coverts black ; ear- 

 coverts silvery white ; throat and chest bright orange ; remainder of 

 under surface olive-green, yellower down the centre of the body ; 

 under tail-coverts crimson ; axillaries and under wing-coverts light 

 olive, whitish at base, -with a dark olive patch near the outer edge 

 of the wing, which is bright yellow ; quills dusky brown below, 

 yellowish white along the edge of the inner -web. Total length 

 6 inches, culmen 0-7, wing 2-9, tail 2-65, tarsus 1. 



In very old males the throat has often a vermilion tint and the 

 plumage is at all times brighter than in the females. The latter 

 always seem to have the upper and under tail-coverts dull orange 

 instead of crimson. The young birds resemble the females in their 

 pale coloration, and have the upper and under tail-coverts coloured 

 like the hen birds, but the head is dusky blackish or blackish brown 

 washed with olive-yellowish. 



The colours in this species fade on exposure to the light, the olive- 

 colour of the back shading into grey, the underparts into ashy white, 

 whUe all the brilliancy of the bright portions of the wing and of the 

 tail-coverts disappears. 



Hah. Jkstern Himalayas, throughout the hiUs of Xorth-eastcrn 

 Bengal and Burmah to Tenasserim. 



a. Ad. St. Nepal. B. H. Hodgson, Esq. [P.l. 



h-e. Ad. sk. Nepal. B. H. Hodgson, Esq. [P.]. 



f. Ad. .=k. Nepal {Hodqsoyi). India Museum. 



V, A. Ad. sk. Sikhim {Ma'ndelli). H. Seebohm, Esq. [P.]. 



«■. Ad. sk. Khasia hills (6V(j;^^/0. India Museum. 



k. S iuini- sk- Sheetee Mt., Kakhveu Dr. J. Anderson [C.]. 

 hiUs, Feb. 20, 1875. 



2. Mesia laurinae. 



Leiothrix laiiriiine, Salvad. Ann. Mm. Cicir. Genov. xiv. p. 231 (1879). 



Adult male. General colour above greenish olive, the wing-coverts 

 like the back, washed with olive-yellow, somewhat tinged with 



2t2 



