PARADOXORNITHID#. 103 
Family PARADOXORNITHID. 
When Blanford and Oates wrote the ‘Avifauna of British 
India’ very little had been recorded about the habits and nidifi- 
cation of this group of birds and it was, perhaps, on account of 
this that they were placed by them as a Sub-family of the Corvide. 
When Harington in 1914 wrote his “ Zimeliides” in the Journal 
of the Bombay Natural History Society, he incorporated the 
Paradoxornithide in this so-called Order. I can, however, see no 
reason for raising the Zimaliide to the rank of an Order, and 
though it appears that in many respects these curious birds do 
form alink between the Titmouses and Babblers, it appears prefer- 
able to give them the rank of a family between the two. 
The genus Panurus is undoubtedly a close relation of some of 
our Indian Parrot-Bills, and will have to be incorporated in the 
same family. 
The Paradowornithide differ from the Paride in having a much 
longer first primary, the plumage very soft and lax, and in having 
a thici, soft crest of feathers arising from the whole crown. 
From the Timaliide they differ in having the nostrils completely 
covered with bristles. 
They are very gregarious in their habits and build cup-shaped 
nests in reeds, bushes, ete., whilst their eggs are of several types. 
The bill is very deep, being greater in depth than length in all 
but Conostoma. The culmen is very rounded transversely and the 
margins of the mandible in most species are curiously sinuate. 
Key to Genera. 
A. Tail longer than the wing. 
a. Tail less graduated ; utero pair of 
feathers fully 3 4 length OE TAU sig eae Conostoma, p. 1035. 
6. Tail more oraduated ; outermost pair of 
feathers not more hee! 2 length of tail. 
a’. Height of bill more haat length. 
Commissure ereatly curved ........ PARADOXORNIS, p. 105. 
6’. Height of bill less than length. 
Commissure ver y slightly curved . SurHora, p. 107. 
B. Tail no longer, or shorter, “than wing. 
ce. Wing well over 3 inches or 76mm. -..... PSITTIPARUS, p. 116, 
d. Wing well under 3 inches or76mm..... NrosurHora, p. 115, 
Genus CONOSTOMA Hodgson, 1841. 
The genus Conostoma contains only one species, the largest 
member of the family. Itis characterized by a tail ionger than the 
wing, but with the feathers considerably Jess graduated than in 
the following genera. The bill is proportionately much longer. 
