ole TIMALIID®. 
Distribution. Sikkim to Assam North and East of the Brahma- 
putra, Abor and Miri Hills. The eastern limits are not yet 
known, but Harington obtained it in the Kachin Hills. 
Nidification. Similar to that of the previous two birds. Round 
about Margherita we found its nests on banks and sides of 
cuttings through the jungle, made of soft tow-like material mixed 
with moss, leaves and rubbish, more or less filling the base of the 
hole in which it was placed. The eggs were generally three only, 
rarely four and they differed from those of the Chestnut-headed 
Staphidia only in being a little more richly marked. One hundred 
eges measured on an average 16°6 x 13-3 mm. and the extremes 
were 18:0 x 13°2 mm., 16-2 x 13°7 mm. and 14°7 x 12°4 mm. 
The breeding season lasts from March to June. 
Habits. This little Staphidia is found in parties throughout 
the cold weather, according to Stevens sometimes numbering as 
many as thirty individuals. It haunts trees and brushwood alike 
both in forest and in the secondary growth and has the usual 
restless habits of its tribe. It is not a shy bird. It probably 
ascends as high as 4,000 feet in summer but is more a low-level 
bird, keeping for the most part from the foot-hills up to about 
2,000 feet. 
Genus SIVA Hodgson, 183%. 
The genus Siva contains two species which occur within our limits, 
these being divided into several well differentiated geographical 
races. They are distinguishable at a glance from other genera by 
their peculiar tail-feathers, the ends of which are obliquely truncated. 
The four central pairs are of equal length and the two outer pairs 
graduated. 
The bill is about half the length of the head, gently curved and 
notched ; the rictal bristles are long and the nostrils are covered 
by a membrane ; the head is crested and they are birds of hand- 
some plumage. 
Key to Species and Subspecies. 
A. Primaries edged with orange. 
a. Central tail-feathers red on only half 
their lengthy (epee eee ees « S. strigula strigua, p. 315. 
b. Central tail-feathers red on five-sixths 
oftheir length®, (7 ecmeperies sires S.s. castaneicauda, p. 314. 
B. Primaries edged with blue. 
c. Under plumage vinous-grey. 
a’. Upper plumage light ochraceous ; [p. 314. 
secondaries tipped with white .... S. cyan. cyanouroptera, 
b'. Upper plumage fulvous olive-brown ; 
no white tips to secondaries ...... S.c. wingatet, p, 315. 
d. Under plumage white. 
ce’. Forehead blue, indistinctly striped. 
a’, Upper plumage fulvous olive- 
ONO ie Caytcis Ma aeee to omaGn eS S. ¢. oatest, p. 316. 
b". Upper plumage dusky olive-brown. SS. c. sordida, p. 316. 
