PSEUDOMLNLA. 287 



Key to Species and Subspecies. 



A. Head grey ; a long 1 black supercilium. P. cinerea, p. 287. 



B. Head chestnut ; no black super- 



cilium. [p. 288. 



a. Crown dark chestnut P. castaneiceps castaneiceps, 



b. Crown light chestnut P. c. brunneicaudata, p. 289. 



(301) Pseudominla cinerea. 

 THE DUSKY-GREEN TIT-BABBLER. 



Minla cinerea Blyth, J. A. S. B., xvi, p. 449 (1849) (Darjeeling). 

 Sittiparus cinereus. Blanf. & Gates, \, p. 171. 



Vernacular names. Dao-pere kashiba (Cachari). 



Description. Upper plumage greyish green, the feathers of the 

 forehead, crown and nape margined with black; a broad black 

 band on either side of the crown from the forehead to the nape, 

 terminating in a number of streaks on the upper back ; a broad 



Fig. 54. Head of P. cinerea. 



pale yellow supercilium from the back to the nape ; a line through 

 the t-ye black ; ear-coverts mixed grey and black ; cheeks yellow, 

 tipped with black ; wing and tail-feathers suffused on the outer 

 webs with the colour of the back ; whole lower plumage yellow, 

 the sides of neck, breast and abdomen olivaceous. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris brown or reddish brown ; bill dark 

 horny-brown to nearly black ; legs fleshy- or reddish-brown ; 

 '' fleshy yellow " (Jerdon). 



Measurements. Total length about 110 to 115 mm. ; wing 53 to 

 58 mm. ; tail about 42 to 44 mm. ; tarsus about 23 mm. ; culmen 

 10 mm. 



Distribution. Nepal, Sikkim and Assam North and South of 

 the Brahmaputra. 



Nidiflcation. The Dusky-green Tit-Babbler breeds from 2,500 

 up to at least 6,000 feet but not often below some 3,500 feet. 

 The nesting season commences early in April and continues up to 

 the latter part of Julv. The nest is either a deep cup, semi-domed 

 cup or a complete oval and is placed either low down in bushes, 

 bamboo clumps, vines and creepers or, more rarely, very low down 

 in amongst the roots of the same. The principal materials in all 

 case? where bamboos are handy are bamboo leaves ; elsewhere soft 



