MYZORNIS. 345 



In Myzornis the bill is slender and nearly as long as the head, 

 distinctly notched, with the culmen gently curved ; the nostrils 

 are longitudinal and covered by a membrane ; the rictal bristles 

 are weak ; the head is not crested, but the feathers of the crown 

 are somewhat lengthened ; the wing is rounded ; the tail about 

 two-thirds the length of the wing and slightly graduated and the 

 tarsus is long and slender. 



The sexes are dissimilar. 



(367) Myzornis pyrrhoura. 

 THE PIKE-TAILED MYZOBNIS. 



Myzornis pyrrhoura Hodgs., J. A. S. B., xii, p. 984 (1843) (Nepal) ; 

 Blanf. & Gates, i, p. 233. 



Vernacular names. Llio-sayvit-plio (Lepcha). 



Fig. 65. Head of M. pyrrhoura, 



Description. Male. Lores and a patch behind the eye black ; 

 rest of the head and body bright green, the feathers of the fore- 

 head with black centres and a streak above and below the eye 

 still brighter green ; throat and upper breast suffused with red 

 and the lower breast and abdomen tinged with the same ; vent 

 and under tail-coverts chestnut-red; wing-coverts and inner second- 

 aries bright green ; winglet tipped with white ; primary-coverts 

 black, edged with green and tipped with yellow ; primaries brown, 

 the first eight tipped with Avhite, the outer webs of all deep black, 

 more or less edged with red ; outer secondaries with the outer 

 webs red and tipped with pinkish ; inner secondaries black with 

 some green on the inner webs ; tail-feathers red on the outer 

 webs, green on the inner, broadly tipped with dusky. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris red or red-brown ; bill dusky-brown ; 

 legs fleshy. 



Measurements. Length about 130 mm. ; wing 59 to 63 mm. ; 

 tail about 70 to 75 mm. ; tarsus about 22 to 23 mm. ; culmen 

 about 13 mm. 



Female has the primary- coverts green, tipped with white ; the 

 terminal spots on the secondaries pare white and the red on under 

 parts, tail and wings duller. 



Distribution. JS T epal and Sikkim from 6,000 feet upwards. 



Nidiflcation. No authentic record. 



Habits. A bird of high-level forests, from 6,000 to 10,000 feet 

 or more. 



