320 TIMALIID A. 
Colours of soft parts. Iris red-brown; bill reddish brown; 
feet orange-buff, claws horny-brown (Scully). 
Measurements. ‘otal length about 125 mm.; wing 59 to 
62 mm.; tail about 50 mm.; tarsus about 18 mm.; culmen 11 
to 12 mm. 
Distribution. Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan. 
Nidification and Habits. Nothing recorded. It is a bird of 
high levels, not being found below 6,000 feet and ascending up to 
10,000. 
(343) Yuhina nigrimentum nigrimentum. 
Tue Buack-CHINNED YUHINA 
Polyodon nigrimentum Hodgs., Gray's Zool. Mise., p. 82 (1844) 
(Nepal). 
Vuhinu nigrimentum. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 212. 
Vernacular names. Z'urringing-pho (Lepcha). 
Description. lorehead and crest black, each feather margined 
with grey; uape and sides of head grey; lores and chin black ; 
upper - plumage: and tail dull olive-green ; primaries and secondaries 
brown, narrowly margined with olive-green ; throat white; re- 
mainder of lower plumage fulvous, tinged with rufous. 
Colours of soft parts. Iris hazel; bill dusky above, the lower 
mandible pale and reddish ; feet and legs reddish yellow. 
Measurements. Total length about 115 mm.; wing 54 to 57 mm.; 
tail about 58 to 40 mm.; tarsus about 16 to17mm.; culmen about 
10 to 11 mm. 
Distribution. The Himalayas from Garhwal to Assam North and 
South of the Brahmaputra, Manipur, Chin Hills and N, Arrakan. 
Nidification. This little Yuhina breeds from 4,000 feet upwards 
throughout its range in the months of May, June and July. It 
makes a beautiful cradle-shaped nest of moss roots, a tiny scrap 
or two of moss and a lining of the finest grass stems. It is placed 
either in amongst the pendent roots of overhanging banks or in 
amongst the lichen on the lower side of dead branches, in nearly 
all cases well concealed and difficult to find. They measure only 
about 80 to 90 mm. in diameter by about 65 mm. in depth. The 
eggs number three or four and are pale sea-green in colour, 
lightly marked all over with freckles of reddish, and they measure 
about 16°5 x 12°2 mm. 
Habits. This ttle Yuhina keeps ouch to the higher branches 
of medium-sized and high trees, hunting about for insects in 
the manner of ‘Titmouses, as often hanging head downwards from 
the under side as scurrying along the upper, or even clinging, 
Tree-creeper lke, to the ‘bark of the trunk itself. They collect in 
flocks of some size and keep up a constant “ chip, chip ” the whole 
time, occasionally breaking out into a louder, shriller call. 
