on new Species of Central- Asian Birds. 403 



secondaries and upper tail-coverts with dusky-olive margins. 

 LoAver wing-coverts and feathers underneath the shoulders 

 the same colour as the belly. 



Female. Crown of the head dark lilac-grey ; forehead 

 paler ; the white or lilac-white tuft on the nape half the 

 length of that in the male ; along the sides of the crown are 

 broad black bars united by narrow rusty black superciliaries 

 with the black lores. Back of the neck rusty olive ; back, 

 shoulders, wide margins ol: the inner primaries, and upper 

 wing-coverts dusky olive. Upper tail-feathers greyish olive 

 with reddish tips. Sides of neck, throat, and breast dirty 

 white ; cheeks and ear-coverts greyish with olive tinge ; 

 abdomen rufous; lower tail-feathers paler than those of the 

 male; flanks reddish violet behind. Tail and wings same 

 as the male, except that the margins of the rectrices are 

 paler. 



This beautiful Tit was first discovered by me in April 1880, 

 on the Upper Hoaug-ho, to the south of Koko-nor lake, and 

 was afterwards seen by our party in February 1884 in the 

 mountain-forests near the temple of Chertinton, north-east 

 of Siuing. On my first journey in 1872-73 we did not find 

 this species. In a word, L. elegans is distributed throughout 

 the whole of the hilly country in the basin of the Upper 

 Hoang-ho, where it appears to be restricted to the coniferous 

 and spruce-forested mountain-belts and defiles ranging 

 from 7,500 to 11,000 feet above sea-level. It is not a 

 rare bird, and associates with Pcecile affinis, or more often 

 with Regulus himalayensis, with both of which it has much in 

 common in character and habits. Like them it flits from tree 

 to tree, constantly clinging to the boughs in search of insects' 

 eggs, its winter food. In general L. elegans is an active, 

 restless bird, and by no means shy. Its note is a feeble 

 whistle, at times a chirrup like that of the Wren. At the 

 end of April the paired birds build their nests, which are 

 probably lined wath the downy covert-feathers of Crossoptilon 

 auritum, for I have several times watched this bird dragging 

 one of these feathers and overpowered in so doing by a strong 



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