320 TIMALII1XE. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris red-brown ; bill reddish brown ; 

 feet orange-buff, claws horny-brown (Scully). 



Measurements. Total length about 125 mm. ; wing 59 to 

 62 mm.; tail about 50 mm.; tarsus about 18 mm.; culmen 11 

 to 12 mm. 



Distribution. Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan. 



Nidification and Habits. Nothing recorded. It is a bird of 

 high levels, not being found below 6,000 feet and ascending up to 

 10,000. 



(343) Yuhina nigrimentum nigrimentum. 

 THE BLACK-OHINNED YUHINA. 



Polyodon nigrimentum Hodgs., Gray's Zool. Misc., p. 82 (1844) 



(Nepal). ' 

 Yuhina niyrimentum. Blanf. & Gates, i, p. 212. 



Vernacular names. Turringiny-pJio (Lepcha). 



Description. Forehead and crest black, each feather margined 

 with grey ; nape and sides of head grey ; lores and chin black ; 

 upper plumage and tail dull olive-green ; primaries and secondaries 

 brown, narrowly margined with olive-green; throat white; re- 

 mainder of lower plumage fulvous, tinged with rufous. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris hazel ; bill dusky above, the lower 

 mandible pale and reddish ; feet and legs reddish yellow. 



Measurements. Total length about 115 mm.; wing 54 to 57 mm.; 

 tail about 38 to 40 mm.; tarsus about 16 to 17mm.; culmen about 

 10 to 11 mm. 



Distribution. The Himalayas from Garhwal to Assam North and 

 South of the Brahmaputra, Manipur. Chin Hills and N. Arrakan. 



Nidification. This little Yuhina breeds from 4,000 feet upwards 

 throughout its range in the months of May, June and July. It 

 makes a beautiful cradle-shaped nest of moss roots, a tiny scrap 

 or two of moss and a lining of th# finest grass stems. It is placed 

 either in amongst the pendent roots of overhanging banks or in 

 amongst the lichen on the lower side of dead branches, in nearly 

 all cases well concealed and difficult to find. They measure only 

 about 80 to 90 mm. in diameter by about 65 mm. in depth. The 

 eggs number three or four and are pale sea-green in colour, 

 lightly marked all over with freckles of reddish, and they measure 

 about 16-5x12-2 mm. 



Habits. This little Yuhina keeps much to the higher branches 

 of medium-sized and high trees, hunting about for insects in 

 the manner of Titmouses, as often hanging head downwards from 

 the under side as scurrying along the upper, or even clinging, 

 Tree-creeper like, to the bark of the trunk itself. They collect in 

 flocks of some size and keep up a constant " chip, chip " the whole 

 time, occasionally breaking out into a louder, shriller call. 



