new. Species of Wren from N.E. India. 63 



Bill dark horny^ slightly paler at the commissure and tip, 

 gape black, mouth bluish fleshy ; irides light red ; legs san- 

 guineous fleshy ; claws very pale. 



Length — measured in the flesh, immediately after death — 

 4*15 inches, wing 1"95, tail 1*58, bill at front •41, and from 

 gape "52, tarsus barely "6, first primary '72, second 1'02, third 

 1"25, fourth to secondaries \o, length of hind claw nearly 

 •28. 



Besides the differences pointed out above^ the measure- 

 ments of the new species appear to be quite difi'erent. Oates 

 (' Fauna of British India,' vol. i. p. 340) gives the following 

 dimensions of E. imnctata — length about 4^5 inches, tail 1'2, 

 wing I'S; so that E. punctata would appear to be a bigger 

 bird, with a shorter tail and wing. The specimen of Elachura 

 haplonota above described was obtained on the Hungrum 

 Peak in the North Cachar Hills. It was trapped on its nest 

 under the following circumstances : — 



On the 11th May, 1891, I was engaged in visiting numer- 

 ous nests which had been previously marked down for me 

 by souie Naga boys. On being shown a nest built under a 

 big log, which had fallen so as to rest on two rocks, and was 

 thus slightly raised from the ground, I at once saw that it 

 was new to me, so that, instead of taking the eggs, I sat down 

 a short distance away from it to watch for a chance of shooting 

 the parent bird. I sat thus about half an hour, but no bird 

 visited the nest, though two small brown birds kept scut- 

 tling backwards and forwards over the log, now hidden in 

 the moss, now perched for a moment on one of the bunches 

 of orchids which grew all over it. In their actions they 

 closely resembled Pnoepyga pusilla, and as that bird is very 

 common about Hungrum, I thought they were of that 

 species. 



The Naga who was with me set some ^' mitliua hair nooses " 

 on the nest before leaving it, and that same evening we found 

 one of the birds caught in them. The nooses were again set in 

 the hopes that the mate might also be caught. On the morn- 

 ing of the 12th, on visiting the nest, we found that the other 

 bird had not returned; though I waited about a long time in 



