GECINUS. 23 



Gen. (2) iv, p. 579 ; v, p. 566 ; Hargitt, Ibis, 1888, p. 6 ; id. Cat. 

 B. M. xviii, p. 56 ; Oates in Hume's N. ^' E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 299 ; 

 Sharpe, Yarkand Miss., Aves, p. 109. 



Mong-choTi, Lepclia. 



Coloration. Male. Forehead and crown crimson ; plumes over 

 nostrils, upper lores, a line above the grey supercilium, occiput 

 and short occipital crest, and a broad malar stripe from the lower 

 mandible black ; the occiput and malar stripe more or less mixed 

 with grey ; sides of head, including lower lores, supercilia, area 

 below eye, and ear- coverts, ashy grey : sides of neck, hind neck, 

 and back moderately bright green, generally tinged with bright 

 yellow on the rump and occasionally with orange, but sometimes 

 only brighter green ; secondary wing-coverts, tertiaries, and outer 

 webs of secondaries yellowish olive ; quills dark brown, the inner 

 webs, except near the tips, with imperfect white bars, the outer 

 webs of the primaries with equidistant white spots, primary-coverts 

 barred ; tail-featliers black, with greenish edges near the base, the 

 median pair with imperfect greenish-drab bars; breast green, 

 duller and more olivaceous than the back, passing into greyish 

 white on the throat and chin, and into ashy grey or sometimes 

 brownish grey on the abdomen; lower wing-coverts banded white 

 and brown. 



Female. Whole forehead, crown, and nape black, the sides of 

 the feathers grey, producing a striped appearance. 



The young is duller in colour and the lower plumage and tail- 

 feathers are barred. 



Bill dull blackish brown ; eyelids purplish brown ; iris dull red ; 

 legs dull green ; claws greenish horn-colour {Oates). 



Length 12-5; tail 4-7 (3-8 to 5-1); wing 5-6; tarsus 12; bill 

 from gape 1'7. 



Distribution. From Murree and Kashmir throughout the Hima- 

 layas to Assam and Yunnan at modei'ate elevations, up to about 

 8000 feet to the westward and 5000 in tSikhim ; also the countries 

 between Assam and Burma, throughout Burma and in Siam. 



Habits., <S,'c. Breeds in the Himalayas from the middle of May to 

 the middle of June, laying four, five, or sometimes six white eggs, 

 moderately glossy or very polished, in a hole, usually bored in tlie 

 stem of a tree, but much nearer the ground than in the case of 

 G. squamatus. The average size of the eggs is 1*14 by "SB. 



951. Gecinus chlorolophus. The Small Himalayan 



Yellow-najped WooclpecTcer. 



Pious clilorolophus, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d^Hist. Nat. xxvi, p. 78 (1818). 

 Pious uepaulensis, Gray in Hardw. III. Ind. Zool. i, pi. xxxi, fig. 1 



(1830-32). 

 Gecinus chloropus, Blyth, Cat. p. 58 ; Tytler, A. M. N. H. (2) xiii, 



p. 367 (1854J. 

 Chrysopblegma chlorolophus, Horsf. 8^ M. Cat. p. 662 ; Jerdon, 



B. I. \, p. 289 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 97 ; xlv, 



