272 TIHALIIDJE. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris madder-red te deep brown ; orbital 

 skin light to dull smalt blue ; bill dark plumbeous or brownish blue,. 

 lower mandible paler ; legs, feet and claws very pale greenish or 

 yellowish white. 



Measurements. Total length about 140 mm. ; wing 5G to 60 mm 

 tail about 50 mm.; tarsus about 20 mm.; culmen about 13 to 14 mm. 



Distribution. From the extreme South of Tenasserim down 

 tbe Malay Peninsula to Borneo and Sumatra. 



Nidification. Nests taken by Davison and others in March and 

 April are described as balls of grass or reed-leaves about 6 inches in 

 diameter and placed in bushes. The eggs, two or three in number, 

 are glossy china-white spotted witb reddish all over but most 

 numerously at the larger end. In shape they are obtuse ovals. 

 Five eggs in my collection average about 16'9 x 13'6 mm. 



Eggs taken by Messrs. Hopwood and Mackenzie are described 

 as unspotted white with a bluish tinge. 



Habits. Said to be very common in the evergreen parts of 

 Tenasserim and the Malay Peninsula, haunting brushwood, small 

 trees and cane-brakes in parties, working the foliage for insects 

 much like a Titmouse and uttering a " sharp, metallic rolling 

 sound, which it utters chiefly when alarmed, but also at other 

 times " (Davison). 



Genus MIXORNIS Hodgson, 1842. 



The genus Mixornis differs from all other genera of slender- 

 billed Timaliince in having the nostrils oval, exposed and not 

 covered by a membrane, or scale, as in the others. Within Indian 

 and Burmese limits we have but one species which varies con- 

 siderably in different countries, forming subspecies or geographical 

 races which are not always easy to define. 



Mixornis rubricapilla. 



Key to Subspecies. 



A. Crown pale ferruginous, stripes on fore- 



neck and breast fairly well developed . . M . r. rubricapilla, p. 273. 



B. Crown more pale brown, less ferruginous, 



stripes on fore-neck and breast very fine. M. r. minor, p. 274. 



C. Crown more chestnut-rufous, stripes on 



fore-neck and breast decidedly heavier. . M. r. pileata, p.' 274. 



Having examined several hundred specimens of this little bird 

 in the British Museum and Tring Museum as well as those in the 

 Indian Museum and my own collection, I have come .to the con- 

 clusion that we cannot recognize more than three races of Mixornis 

 as coming within the limits of this work. Rippon's sulphurea is an 

 exact replica of many Assam and Bengal birds and the Southern 

 Shan States appears to he about the limit of this form. Northern 

 Siam specimens, from which G-yldenstolpe names his M. minor, are 

 certainly nearer South and Central Siam. forms, as also are specimens 

 from East Central Burma, so all these birds must bear his name. 



