5326 



these cases the same individual egg gives the extremes in breadth 

 and length. 



Habits very like those of Lvulus but Erpornis seems to keep 

 much to the tops of very high trees. In the non-breeding season 

 it is not usually found in heavy forest but prefers the thinner out- 

 skirts of big forests or the smaller forests which generally fill the 

 ravines and pockets in the grass-lands. It was common in 

 the thin deciduous forest in the North of the N. Cachar Hills, 

 where we found it in small parties diligentlv hunting the smaller 

 branches and twigs for insects. It is a very silent bird and I have 

 not heard its note. 



Subfamily LIOTRICHIN^E. 



This subfamily contains a number of genera the placing of 

 many of which is a matter of no little difficulty. Since Gates 

 wrote the first volume of the first edition of the Avifauna we 

 have learnt a good deal which has enabled us to eliminate several 

 genera which are obviously non-Timaliine, but further examination 

 of material anatomically may assist us to place yet others in more 

 suitable positions than the present. 



Of the 16 genera included by Gates in his Liotrichinw, the 

 following five have been removed to other families. Irena is now 

 placed in Oberholser's new Family Irenidce ; Melanoclilora has been 

 transferred to the Titmouses, Paridce ; Leptopoecile and Ceplialo- 

 pyrus have been included in the Regulidce, whilst Psaraglossa is 

 a true Starling and will be found in the Sturnidce. 



Of the remaining genera there are still some whose position is 

 especially doubtful. Cutia and Pterutliius have, it has been sug- 

 gested, many affinities with the Gampephagida and Harington 

 claims that tlieir nidification also proves this ; to me, however, the 

 nidification seems to point strongly to a position somewhere near 

 YuJiina, Lvultts etc. and, for the present, the reasons for their 

 retention in the subfamily seem greater than for their rejection. 



The position of Myzomis is problematical, and careful 

 examination of pterylosis and anatomy and a correct knowledge 

 of its breeding habits are urgently required. Chloropsis is in the 

 same group as Aethorliynchus and dSgitkina and seems to be in 

 many ways intermediate between the Ttmdliida and Pycnoiiotidce, 

 the fact that the sexes differ seeming to determine their position 

 in the former rather than the latter. Hypocolius is a very curious 

 bird with a very short first primary and may eventually have 

 to be placed in a family by itself. 



The subfamily as now restricted differs from the previous sub- 

 families of the Timaliidcf and from the Pycnonotidas in having the 

 sexes differing in coloration ; the young are very like the adults 

 but rather duller ; the wing and tail are generally not greatly 

 different in length ; the first primary, with the exception of 

 Hypocolius, is about half the length of the second ; the wing is 

 fairly rounded but longer and more pointed than in the preceding 



