4354r TIMALIIi/.E. 



(376) Mesia argentauris argentauris. 



The Silver-eared Mesia. 



Mesia argentauris Hodgs., Ind. Kev., 1838, p. 88 (Nepal) ; Blanf. & 

 Orttes, i, p. 244. 



Ternacular names. Chi-ro-chi-rit (Kachiu); lJang-rap-cliil-[>lio 

 '(Lepcbii). 



Description. — Male, rorehead golden-yellow ; crown, nape, 

 lores, cheeks black, produced as a stripe under the ear-coverts ; 

 ear-coverts silvery-white ; upper back and s-ides of neck fulvous 

 yellow ; lower back, scapulars, inner secondaries and wing-coverts 

 alatv, some of the outermost of the latter edged with green ; 



Fig. 07. — Head of M. a. argentauris. 



rump slaty-green ; ui)per tail-coverts crimson : tail blackish 

 brown, the three outer ])airs of feathers edged with yellowish; 

 wings brown, the first three primaries edged with yellow, the other 

 quills with crimson near their bases and yellow elsewhere; chin 

 and throat deep orange-yellow ; lower plumage olive-yellow, 

 brighter on the breast and abdomen, the former of which is 

 obsoletely streaked darker; under tail-coverts crimson. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris red-brown to brown ; bill yellow- 

 ochre, tinged with greenish or brown at the base ; legs and feet 

 fleshy-yellow. 



Measurements. Length about 180 mm.; wing 74 to 78 mm,; 

 tail about 4.5 mm. ; tarsus about 25 mm. ; culmen 12 to 13 nun. 



The female and young have the upper and lower tail-coverts 

 orange-buft: and the latter also has the crown yellowish. 



Distribution. The Himalayas from Garhwal to East Assam 

 North and South of the Bralimaputra, Manipur, Lushai, Chin, 

 Kachin Hills, mountains of Central and S. Burma, Shan States, 

 Siam. East of this it is replaced by a nearly allied race, M. a. 

 cunhacei (Kloss). 



Nidification. Every word written on the nidification oP Liothrix 

 lutca would do equally well for this bird also and it is quite 

 impossible to tell nests and eggs of the one from the other. This 

 bird, howeA'er, breeds a little lower down than does the Liothrix. 

 Whilst the latter breeds principally between 4,500 and 7,000 feet 

 this bird breeds for the most part between 3,000 and 5,000 feet 

 and whereas the former prefers pine-forests, the present one likes 



