amg) 
GENUS DICAUM 
Have short compressed bills, broad at the base, longish wings ; 
tail short. None of these birds, which are commonly known as soft- 
billed flowerpeckers, are either plentiful or readily met with in Dar- 
jeeling or the district. Most of them are seen on rare occasions. 
(241) MyzANTHE 1GNIPECTUS, Fire-breasted Flowerpecker, though 
fairly common in Sikkim, is rarely seen in Daxjeeling. It prefers 
an elevation of from 5,000 to 6,000 feet. J/yzanthe is 34 inches in 
length. It is usually made out by the vermilion patch on the breast ; 
above, black glossed with purple and green; quills blackish ; under 
parts buff. These Flowerpeckers are not nearly so common or 
friendly as their hard-billed brethren say (623—633); these are 
birds of smallish size, about 3 to 4 inches in length, which are 
plentiful and social in Darjeeling. Care must be taken, in the field, 
not to mistake such birds as Minla (618) or Flamimiceps, Flame 
fronted Flowerpecker (633) for Myzanthe as I have occasionally seen 
done, or one or other of Phylloscopine for sott-billed Flowerpeckers ; 
when viewing birds in their wild state. However when we come to 
Hard-billed Flowerpeckers, we will find ourselves, doubtlessly more 
at home among old friends in Darjeeling, possessing a personality 
quite their own. 
Famity CERTHIADA (Creepers) 
These birds form the second group, we found 7enwtrostres com- 
posed of. They are represented by two types (i) Certhinw, True 
Creepers, (ii) Sittine, Nuthatches. 
p > jie SS 
(i) Sup-Famity CERTHINE (True Creepers) 
So ealled on account of their peculiar mode of living and _ habits 
generally. Birds of typical structure, they compose, also link up a 
big and varied class, of birds, with more or less Tenuirostral ten- 
dencies. They are of small size 5 to 6 inches in length. Bill acute 
and compressed, generally long; feet large, with hind toe and claw 
large ; plumage sombre, having a mottled appearance, which aids 
these birds not a little in their vocation of creeping up a _perpendi- 
cular wall or tree, making them less liable to detection from would 
be enemies. Very few of the tree- or wall-creepers are met with in 
Darjeeling itself. In the district they are frequently seen either 
at an elevation above Darjeeling or below according to the distrihu- 
tion of each particular species. 
8 
