106 PARA DOXORNITHID &. 
Colours of soft parts. Iris deep red or red-brown; bill wax- 
yellow to bright yellow ; legs clear slate or plumbeous grey. 
Measurements. Length about 180mm.; wing about 85to 90 mm.;. 
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 the Brahmaputra 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 June, 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 egrass-stems. It is 
placed either in reeds, bamboo clumps or in bushes, low down and 
generally well concealed but 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 eges average 21:9 x 16°2 mm. 
Habits. Gould’s Parrot-Bill is found from the level of the plains 
of North Assain up to 7,500 feet in the Naga Hills, at whieh eleva- 
tion Col. Tytler repeatedly took its nest. It is a shy, retiring 
bird, the flocks in the cold weather skulking about in grass and 
reeds, clirnbing with considerable agility but very loath fo 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 ery 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 gcuttaticollis. 
AvstEen’s Parrot-Bitt. 
Paradoxornis guttaticollis David, Nouv. Arch. Mus., vii, p. 14 (1871) 
(Szechuen, W. China); Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 62. 
Vernacular names. Dao mougasha gadeba (Cachari). 
Description. Differs from flavirostris in having the cheeks, chin, 
throat and upper part of the breast pale fulvous w hite, with 
numerous delicate arrowhead-shaped marks of black, and the 
remainder of the lower plumage of the same colour but without 
the marks; the head and crest of a paler chestnut; the bill about 
half the size and the legs much feebler. 
