TANTniA. 



105 



wings olive-green ; median pair of tail-feathers olive-green, the 

 others golden yellow, broadly tipped, and margined on the outer 

 webs, with olive-green ; a yellowish-white ring round the eye ; ear- 

 coverts olive-brown, with pale shafts ; lores and an indistinct 

 supercilium olive-yellow ; the whole lower plumage ochraceous 

 yellow, most of the feathers with tiny dusky fringes and the flanks 

 washed with olivaceous. 



The young have the whole plumage dark olive-brown, the 

 feathers streaked with fulvous and tipped with black. 



Lower mandible and edge of the upper along the commissure 

 yellow ; rest of the bill black ; iris very dark brown ; legs, feet, 

 and claws fleshy, tinged with brown (Flume). 



Length about 6; tail 2-3; wing 2-7; tarsus 1*2; bill from 

 gape -7. 



Distribution. The Himalayas from Chainba to Sikhim, apparently 

 up to 5000 feet ; the Khasi hills ; the Naga hills ; Manipur. This 

 species extends into Western China. 



Habits, fyc. Nests on the ground from May to August, in holes 

 of rocks and banks, and lays three or four eggs, which are pale 

 blue, and measure about *8 by - 5S. 



Genus IANTHIA, Blyth, 1847. 



The genus Ianihia contains three species of Indian birds, in 

 which the males are very brightly coloured and the females are 

 dull. They inhabit the Himalayas, and migrate locally according 

 to season. 



Fig. 30.— Tail of I. indica. 



This genus differs from Tarsiger and Calliope in having a much 

 longer tail, the feathers of which are moreover pointed at the tips. 

 Very little is on record about the habits of: the members of this 

 genus, but they probably do not differ in any important particular 

 from those of the Blue-throats and Ruby- throats. 



