Prionochili of British India. 3 



where it aflfects principally the creepers which entwine the 

 trunks of the trees ; resorts also to small branches of low trees. 



"Food. Seeds and pollen from the flowers of creepers/^ 



When examining Mr. Vincent Legge's skins of this bird it 

 struck me that a little-known Nepalese type of Hodgson's, 

 described by Mr. Blyth in 1843 as Pachyglossa melanoxantha* , 

 might have something to do with it. Upon reference to the 

 British Museum Mr. Sharpe informed me that he had lately 

 obtained for the national collection a fresh specimen of this rare 

 species, which had escaped nearly every subsequent collector, 

 including even Jerdon himselff. On comparing this specimen 

 with Mr. Vincent Legge's skins, there remained no doubt of 

 their being nearly allied, although distinct species. In all 

 essentials of structure the two birds are exactly similar ; and 

 Pachylossa is therefore merely a synonym of Prionochilus, of 

 which two species must now be attributed to the fauna of 

 British India, viz. Prionochilus vincens , of Ceylon, and P. me- 

 lanoxanthus, of Nepaul. 



Our illustration (Plate I.) represents both these species, 

 neither of which has been previously figured, of the size of 

 life. Figures 1 and 2 represent the male and female of P. 

 vincens from Mr. Vincent Legge's specimens, and figure 3 

 the above-mentioned example of H. melanoxanthus, lately ac- 

 quired by the British Museum, which is probably a male. 



The latter species is readily distinguishable from its Ne- 

 palese ally by its smaller size, by the white extending over the 

 whole of the throat, and by the white rump. 



* Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, xii. p. 1010. This name is commonly cre- 

 dited to Hodgson. By reference to the original passage, however, it will 

 be seen that the bird was described by Blyth, although he attributes the 

 name to Hodgson, The single specimen obtained by the latter appears 

 to have been lent to Mr. Blyth at Calcutta, and subsequently removed to 

 the British Museum, where it now is, mounted in the gallery. See Cat 

 Hodgson's Coll. in B. M. (1846), p. 60. 



t See Jerdon, B. of India, i. p. 378. 



b2 



