PNOEPYGA. 457 



Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill blackish ; legs brown. 



Measurements. Total length about 100 ram. ; wing 47 to 51 mm. ; 

 lail 31 to 35 nun.; tarsus about 20mm.; culinen about 11 to 

 12 mm. 



Distribution. Sikkim only as far as is known at present. 



Nidification. Nothing recorded beyond Hume's note to the 

 effect that it builds " a deep cup-shaped nest about the roots of 

 trees or in a hole in fallen timber; the nest is a dense mass of 

 moss and moss roots, lined with the latter. The eggs are spotless 

 white.'' A nest and four clutches of eggs taken in ISikkim at about 

 8,000 feet and sent to me do not ngree with this description. The 

 nest sent has evidently been egg-shaped and is made of dead leaves, 

 fine twigs, bracken and gmss, all very decayed and well matted 

 together. The lining is very much like that of the Long-tailed 

 Wrens' but is brown in colour instead of whitish and not quite so 

 firmly stuck together. The eggs, two clutches of four and two of 

 three, are just like those of Spelffiornis I. longicaudatus, i. e. pure 

 but rather dull white, feebly speckled with reddish-brown arid deep 

 purple-brown. They measure on an average for twenty eggs 1 8'1 x 

 14-1 mm., and the extremes are 19'9 X 14-2 and 18'6 x 14'5 mm. 

 maxima and 17'3 x 14-2 and 17'9 x 13'8 mm. minima. 



These nests were all found in heavy, damp forest and were 

 placed on the ground on banks amongst weeds, moss and caladiums. 

 They were taken between the 17th May and the 28th June, at 

 an elevation of 8,000 feet and over. 



Habits. Nothing recorded. Mr. Masson, who sent me the nest 

 and eggs, could only say that they belonged to a small Wren which 

 he could never catch on the nest or see quickly enough to shoot 

 as it left it. The birds apparently were not common, though t\\ey 

 were in fair numbers along the ridges above Darjeeling between 

 8,000 and 10,000 feet. They were never seen outside the dense, 

 damp, evergreen forest. 



Genus PNOEPYGA Hodgson, 1845. 



The genus Pnoepyga contains two species of Wren which are 

 characterized by an extremely short tail of six sol't feathers, com- 

 pletely concealed from view by long and ample rump feathers. 

 The wing, bill and feet are very much the same as in Spelceornis. 



The sexes differ in the female having the white on the under 

 parts replaced by bright fulvous. The young are very dull coloured 

 without any of the conspicuous barring and spotting of the adults. 



Key to Species. 



A. Wing well over 55 mm Pnoepyga squamata, p. 458. 



B. Wing well under 55 mm Pnoepyga pusilla, p. 459. 



