SIVA. 313 



(333) Siva strigula strigula. 

 THE STKIPE-THKOATED SIVA. 



Siva strigula Hodgs., Ind.Eev., 1838, p. 89 (Nepal) ; Blanf. & Gates, 

 i, p. 208. 



Vernacular names. Meyllim (Lepcba). 



Description. Forehead, crown and nape bright orange-brown ; 

 a ring of yellowish feathers round the eye ; sides of head grey, 

 mottled with whitish and dusky ; upper plumage slaty-green ; 

 middle pair of tail-feathers chestnut-red on half the inner and 

 one-third the outer webs at the base, the remaining two-thirds 

 black tipped with white ; the next pair black with a trace of red 

 at the base and tipped yellow; the other feathers black with 

 increasingly broad yellow tips, the outermost pair being all of 

 this colour : wing-coverts and winglet like the back ; primary- 

 coverts black ; primaries and outer secondaries black, the outer 



Fig. 57. Head of S. s. strigula. 



webs edged with orange, changing to yellow near the tips, inner 

 secondaries chiefly slaty-grey on the outer webs arid black on the 

 inner and tipped with white; chin orange-yellow; throat pale 

 yellow, with narrow crescentic black cross-bars ; a narrow 

 moustachial stripe and a patch on the side of the neck black ; 

 remaining lower plumage bright yellow, tinged with olivaceous on 

 the sides of the breast and abdomen. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris dark reddish-brown; upper mandible 

 dark brown, lower mandible light greyish-brown, tip white; legs 

 and feet grey, claws light brown. 



Measurements. Total length about 165 mm. ; wing 64 to 69 mm. ; 

 tail about 70 to 72 mm.; tarsus about 25 mm.; culrnen 12 to 13 mm. 



"The young appear to have the crown light golden yellow inter- 

 mingled with grey, and to have the bars on the throat less 

 developed '' (Oates). 



Distribution. The Himalayas from the Sutlej Valley to Eastern 

 Assam North and South of the Brahmaputra Valley. 



Nidification. The Stripe-throated Siva breeds in May and June 

 at heights between 4,000 and 9,000 feet or higher, making a 

 neat cup-shaped nest of moss, roots and bamboo leaves, sometimes 

 with a few other dead leaves and reed-stems and lined with roots. 



