SIVA. iltay 
(333) Siva strigula strigula. 
Tue SrrRIPE-THROATED SIVA. 
Siva strigula Hodgs., Ind. Rev., 1838, p. 89 (Nepal) ; Blanf. & Oates, 
Les 20S: 
Vernacular names. Megblim (Lepcha). 
Description. Forehead, crown and nape bright orange-brown ; 
a ring of yellowish feathers round the eye; sides of head grey, 
mottled with whitish and dusky; upper plumage slaty-green ; 
middle pair of tail-feathers chestnut-red on half the inner and 
one-third the outer webs at the base, the remaining two-thirds 
black tipped with white; the next pair black with a trace of red 
at the base and tipped yellow; the other feathers black with 
increasingly broad yellow tips, the outermost pair being all of 
this colour: wing-coverts and winglet like the back; primary- 
coverts black; primaries and outer secondaries black, the outer 
_—Head of 8. s. sfrigula. 
webs edged with orange, changing to yellow near the tips, inner 
secondaries chiefly slaty-grey on the outer webs and black on the 
inner and tipped with white; chin orange-yellow ; throat pale 
yellow, with narrow erescentic black cross-bars; a narrow 
moustachial stripe and a patch on the side of the neck black ; 
remaining lower plumage bright yellow, tinged with olivaceous on 
the sides of the breast and abdomen. 
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark reddish-brown; upper mandible 
dark brown, lower mandible light greyish-brown, tip white; legs 
and feet grey, claws light brown. 
Measurements. Total length about 165 mm.; wing 64 to 69 mm.; 
tail about 70 to 72 mm.; tarsus about 25 mm.; culmen 12 to 138 mm. 
“The young appear to have the crown light golden yellow inter- 
mingled with grey, and to have the bars on the throat less 
developed ” (Oates). 
Distribution. The Himalayas from the Sutle] Valley to Eastern 
Assam North and South of the Brahmaputra Valley. 
Nidification. The Stripe-throated Siva breeds in May and June 
at heights between 4,000 and 9,000 feet or higher, making a 
neat cup-shaped nest of moss, roots and bamboo leaves, sometimes 
with a few other dead leaves and reed-stems and lined with roots. 
