AETHOBHYIf CHITS. 337 



(360) Hilarocichla rufiventer. 

 THE RUFOUS-BELLIED SHBIKE-BABBLEB. 



Ptenithius ritfivenler Biyth, J. A. S.B., xi, p. 18 (1843) (Darjiling). 

 Hilarocichla rufiventris. Blanf. & Gates, i, p. 243. 



Vernacular names. None recorded. 



Description. Male. The forehead, crown, nape, hind neck and 

 sides of the head black ; upper plumage chestnut ; wings black, the 

 secondaries tipped chestnut, a few of the primaries margined with 

 grey below the emarginations ; chiu, throat and upper breast ashy, 

 divided by a white line from the black of the head ; a patch of 

 golden yellow on each side of the breast ; remainder of lower 

 plumage soft vinous-brown, paler on the abdomen and lower tail- 

 coverts ; under wing-coverts pale vinous ; edge of wing white. 



Colours of soft parts. In the dry state the bill is black, bluish 

 on the lower mandible ; legs fleshy-brown. 



Measurements. Length about 200 mm.; wing 85 to 88 mm.; 

 tail about 85 mm. ; tarsus about 30 mm. ; culmen about 15 to 

 16 mm. 



Female. Forehead grey tipped with black; crown and nape 

 black ; sides of head grey, with a black patch at the end of the 

 ear-coverts; back, scapulars and upper part of rump bright green, 

 irregularly barred with black : lower rump and upper tail-coverts 

 chestnut ; central tail-feathers green with black shafts, black sub- 

 terminal bar and white tips ; the others black with a portion of 

 the outer webs green and all tipped with chestnut ; smaller wing- 

 coverts black, broadly tipped with green; greater wing-coverts 

 black on the inner webs and green on the outer webs; winglet and 

 primary-coverts black; quills black, the earlier primaries edged with 

 hoary-grey, all the other quills with green, the innermost having 

 the whole of the outer webs green ; chin, throat and breast grey ; 

 lower plumage dark vinous-brown, with a yellowish patch on either 

 side of the breast. 



Distribution. Nepal, Sikkim and the Naga Hills but its limits 

 are not yet known. 



Nidification and Habits. Beyond the fact that it is a. bird of 

 high elevations, nothing is known about it. 



Genus AETHORHYNCHUS Sundevall, 1872. 



In this genus the bill is very strong, nearly as long as the head, 

 very nearly straight and with the tip strongly notched and hooked ; 

 the nostrils are long ovals and the rictal bristles are weak. 

 The tail is almost square at the end. The 1st primary is about 

 half the length of the 2nd and the 3rd and 4th are longest 

 and not equal. The legs are not so strong as is usual in the 



