106 PARA.DOXORNITHID^. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris deep red or red-brown ; bill wax- 

 yellow to briglit yellow ; legs clear slate or plumbeous grey. 



Measurements. Length about 180mm. ; wing about 85 to 90mm. ; 

 tail about 100 to 110 mm.; tarsus about 30 mm.; culmen about 

 12 mm. 



Distribution. From Nepal to the Chin Hills and the hills south 

 of tlie Jjrahmnputra from the foothills up to 5,000 or even 

 7,000 feet. 



Nidification. This Parrot-Bill breeds in April and May and the 

 early part of Juue, making a very compact, deep nest of soft 

 grasses, a few shreds of bamboo-leaves and the bark of reeds, well 

 coated over with cobwebs and lined with fine grass-stems. It is 

 placed either in reeds, bamboo clumps or in bushes, low down and 

 generally well concealed l)ut sometimes quite exposed. The eggs 

 are normally only two in number, sometimes three. They are 

 pure white in ground-colour, very sparsely speckled and spotted 

 with tiny pinky-brown marks. Occasionally eggs are found which 

 are more like those of Psittiparus, but such are very rare. 

 Thirty-five eggs average 21-9 x 1 0"2 mm. 



Habits. Gould's Parrot-Bill is found from the level of the plains 

 of North Assam up to 7,500 feet in the Naga Hills, at which eleva- 

 tion Col. Tytler repeatedly took its nest. It is a shy, retiring 

 bird, the flocks in the cold weather slailking about in grass and 

 reeds, climbing with considerable agility but very loath to fly and 

 then usually only fluttering away into thicker cover a few yards 

 distant. When unaware that they are being watched they are in 

 the habit of fluttering a few feet into the air above the reeds or 

 bushes uttering a loud chirrup as they rise. They have the same 

 bleating or mewing cry which seems to be common to the family. 

 Although principally insect-feeders they also eat seeds and berries. 

 Stevens refers to the curious snapping sounds made by these birds 

 with their bills when feeding. 



(91) Paradoxornis ^uttaticoUis. 

 Austen's Parrot-Bill. 



Faradoxornis fftittaticollis David, Nouv. Arch. Mus., vii, p. 14 (1871) 

 (Szechuen, *W. China) ; Blanl'. & Gates, i, p. 62. 



Vernacular names. Dao movguslia gadeha (Cachari). 



Description. Differs ivom flavirostrism having the cheeks, chin, 

 throat and upper part of the breast pale fulvous \vbite, with 

 numerous delicate arrowhead-shaped marks of black, and the 

 remainder of the lower plumage of the same colour but without 

 tlie marks ; the head and crest of a jialer chestnut ; the bill about 

 half the size and the legs much feebler. 



