1876.] MS. ' ILLUSTRATIONS or INDIAN OENITIIOLOGY. 431 



Borabhoom; No. 2, Prionocldlus (jordoni, Tickell, ex Mergui. This last is Dicaum 

 tri(jonosti(jma* 6 . 



It is difficult to assume that Colonel Tickell would figure a different species under a title he 

 was the first to give to a bird he first discovered ; and yet it is impossible to recognize his figure 

 oi Piprisoma agile as belonging to that species. His delineations are generally not only so 

 beautiful, but so accurate, that we cannot permit ourselves to doubt that his figure of F. aijile 

 is a good representation of the bird it was drawn fromf. The bill is that of a true Licmiin ; and 

 the colouring and markings more nearly resemble those of I), chri/sorrhceum than any other species. 

 It is certainly not Piprisoma agile. Can it be the Prionochilas modestus, Hume (Str. F. 1875, 

 p. 298), possibly founded on female or immature males of some known species of the genus'? In 

 the letterpress Colonel Tickell correctly describes P. agile ; but the bird figured has the upper 

 plumage yellowish olive-green, without a trace of ashy, the upper tail-coverts more yellow than 

 olive, and the whole under surface albescent, with longitudinal streaks of olive-brown. 



Zosterops siamensis, Blyth (Ibis, 1867, p. 34), is well figured and described by Colonel 

 Tickell, from the Mooleyit range, under the title of, and confounded with, Z. palpebrosa, T. As 

 I cannot find that Blyth ever described this species in preciser terms than those given in the short 

 passage where he bestowed that title (/. c), I append a short description and give a figure of the 

 bird (Plate IX. fig. 1, in orig.). Above yellow olive-green, the yellow tint being ^jrominent and 

 most developed on the uropygium and upper tail-coverts, forehead, and space before the eye ; 

 underneath, axillaries, and under wing-coverts bright yellow ; quills and rectrices pale brown, 

 edged more or less with the colour of the back. Lores black, which colour extends to below the ^^^' 1^76, 

 eye. Wing 1-95. Z. austeni is an allied form of greater dimensions, above olive-green, without ^' ^ " 

 a yellow tint, and with only the chin, throat, and under tail-coverts clear yellow. 



Colonel Tickell's observations on lorazeylanica and /. typliia, which species are both figured 

 on the succeeding plate, do not throw any light on the mystery which envelops their mutations 

 of plumage. He seems to have simply recognized them as constituting two distinct species. 

 /. zeylanica <S , from Moulmein, is represented with the head and nape changing to black, and 

 the scapulars unmargined black. /. typhia <i , from Hazaribagh, is in typical plumao-e. lora 

 lafresnayi 2 , from a specimen shot by Colonel Tickell at Aseen, near Ye, is fairly depicted ; and 

 he states that it is a rarer bird than the two other species. 



To the Leaf-birds {Phyllornis) four plates are assigned. On the first P. jerdoni d , ex 

 Moulmein, and ? , ex Pyntee, Bengal, are stated to be figured. The occurrence of P. jerdoni in 

 Tenasserim is extremely doubtful, although the figure agrees best with that species. As described, 

 both birds belong to P. chloroceplialus. The example of P.javensis, which Colonel Tickell 

 discovered on the Mooleyit range in 1855 (J. A. S. B. xxiv. p. 277), is figured; its Tenasserim 

 habitat has been since confirmed by Mr. Davison, who found it at Ye. 



The plates and accounts given of the species belonging to the genera Yuhina, Orlolus, Irena, 

 and TJpupa, with which the volume closes, offer no matter for remark beyond this, that the fioure 

 of Psarolophus trailli, ex Darjeeling, applies better to P. ardens. 



* Colonel TickeU was not acquainted with the genus Prionochilus. 



t It has been already shown that the subjects of the plates do not always belong to the subjects of the letterpress 

 e. g. D. minimum. 



3k2 



