296 TIMALIIDJH:. 



Habits. This beautiful Sibia is not uncommon from 3,000 to 

 8,000 feet, frequenting forests in small parties or in pairs and 

 feeding largely on the insects which are found in flowering trees, 

 such as the cotton-tree etc. They are not noisy birds but 

 frequently utter a note which Jerdon terms " a sort of whistling 

 call," shrill but not unpleasant. According to Stevens it is found 

 in the foot-hills in Lakhimpur in January and February in flocks 

 numbering as many as twenty. 



Genus LEIOPTILA Blyth, 1847. 



Differs chiefly from Sibia in its much shorter tail ; this is longer 

 than the wing and well graduated, the outermost feather reaching 

 a little beyond the middle of the tail. The rictal bristles are a 

 little longer than in Sibia and there is a full crest in all the 

 species. 



Key to Species and Subspecies. 



A. Crown of head black or brown. 



. Median pair of tail-feathers "with a 



subterininal black band. 

 '. Kump and upper tail-coverts rufous. [p. 296. 



a". Darker ; breast rufous L. capistrata capistrata, 



b' 1 . Paler ; breast pale pinkish- 

 rufous L. c. pallida, p. 298. 



b'. Rump and upper tail-coverts ashy . L. gracilis, p. 298. 

 b. Median pair of tail-feathers uniform 



brown or black with a white tip. 

 c'. Rump and upper tail-coverts choco- 

 late-brown. 

 c". Inner secondaries black. 



a". Upper plumage brownish 



black L. m. melanoleuca, p. 299. 



b'". Upper plumage deeper black. L. m. radcliffei, p. 300. 

 d". Inner secondaries chiefly chest- 

 nut L. castanoptera, p. 300. 



d'. Rump chestnut. 

 e". Wing-coverts margined with 



ashy and chestnut. [p. 300. 



c'". Chestnut of back paler L. annectens annectens, 



d'". Chestnut of back darker .... L. a. saturata, p. 301. 

 f. Wing-coverts entirely black . . L. a. davwoni, p. 302. 



B. Crown of head bluish-grey like the 



upper back L. pulchella pukMla, p. 302. 



(311) Leioptila capistrata capistrata. 

 THE BLACK-HEADED SIBIA. 



Cinclosoma capistratum Vigors, P. Z. S., 1831, p. 56 (Himalayas) 



(Darjiling). 

 Lioptila capistrata. Blanf. & Gates, i, p. 196. 



Vernacular names. Sambriak-pho (Lepcha) ; Sesigona (Bhut.); 

 Sibya (Nep.). 



