54 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



Rhododendrons. As I did not obtain the nest, either of tliis or of 

 the last species, I presume that they build on high trees. 



'Gen. SiBiA, Hodgson. 



Syn. Alcopus, Hodgson — Heterophosia, Blyth, partly. 



Char. — Bill rather long, slender, gently curved, barely hooked 

 at the tip, and almost entire ; nares lateral, lengthened ; wings 

 moderate, rounded ; tarsi stout, moderately long ; toes moderate, 

 lateral toes unequal, hind toe broad and large ; nails acute, mo- 

 derately curved. 



The form of the birds of this genus is slender, and the bill Is 

 more lengthened and attenuated than in most of the members of 

 this family. The tongue, moreover, is forked and slightly brushed, 

 somewhat as in Phyllornis. Gray includes it in the Pycnonotince, 

 or Bulbuls, as Bonaparte formerly did, near to Hypsipetes (the 

 most slender billed of the Bulbuls) ; and McLelland, indeed, 

 described one species as a Hypsipetes. Blyth, however, described 

 this very species as an Actinodura ; and, taking their strong legs 

 and feet as the most important character, I quite agree with 

 Hodgson, Blyth, and Horsfield, in placing Sihia next io Actinodura 

 in this family, of which it may be considered a tenuirostral or 

 Melliphagous type, as Hodgson asserts. 



There are two forms in this genus, to one of which Cabanis, and 

 Gray, follovp'ing him, have given the generic name Malacias, but 

 I shall not adopt it here ; and, moreover, if the genus is to be 

 divided, I would retain Sibia for the species classed by Cabanis as 

 Malacias, and apply Blyth's prior name of Heterophasia for the 

 long-tailed species. 



429. Sibia capistrata, Vigors. 



Cinclosoma, apud Vigors, P. Z. S., 1831 — Blyth, Cat. 514 — 

 HoRSF., Cat, 314 — S. nigriceps, Hodgson — Cinclos. melanoce- 

 phalum, EoYLE, List of Birds — Sarnhriak-pho, Lepch. — Sesiyona, 

 Bhot. — Sibya, Nepal. 



The Black-headed Sibia. 

 Descr. — Head above, cheeks, and ear-coverts, black; nape pale 

 rufous ; back brownish grey in the middle, deep rufous posteriorly 



