PRIONOPID/E. 



Length. 10 to 10*3 inches; wing 5 ; tail 4/2 104*4; tarsus 0*85; culmen 

 0-95 to i. 



Hab. The Malabar Coast, Southern India generally, and Travancore ; also 

 Assam, Arrakan, and British Burmah. It also occurs in Siam and Cochin- 

 China, in the Khasia Hills, Cachar, Ceylon and the Andamans. 



The Fairy blue "bird affects evergreen, dense, woody forests, and is more 

 abundant in the hilly tracts than in the plains. It is found in the Pegu Hills 

 down to Rangoon; in the Irrawaddy delta, and according to Davison, in all 

 the evergreen forests of Tennaserim. It is generally found in pairs, but 

 parties of 6 or 7 are not uncommon. Capt. Bingham found the nest in Tenna- 

 serim. It was cupshaped in form, and in structure like that of a Drongo. 

 Eggs, two, greenish white, marked with brown, 



Family. PRIONOPID^. 



Bill with a notch in the upper mandible. Nostrils more or less covered with 

 plumes. Tail moderate, rounded or square, and of 12 feathers. 



Sub-family. 



Bill higher than broad, wings short, not reaching the tip of the tail. 



Gen. TephrodorniS. Swainson. 



Bill moderately hooked and notched at tip ; a few rictal bristles, nostrils 

 covered with procumbent plumes ; wings moderate ; tarsus and toes short. 

 Outer toe longest and slightly syndactyle. 



170. Tephrodornis pondiceriana, Gmei. S. N. i. p. 939; 



Bly. J. A. S. J3., 1846, p. 305 ; Jerd. B. Ind. p. 410, No. 265 ; Murray, 

 Vert. Zool., Sind, p. 123 ; Hume, Sir. F. i. 435 ; Murray, Hdbk., ZooL, fyf., 

 Sind, p. 134. Tephrodornis indica, Cat. Hodgs. Coll. B. M. p. 90. 

 Tentheca leucura, Hodgs. Ind. Rev. i. p. 447. The COMMON WOOD-SHRIKE. 



Head, hind neck, scapulars, back and rump ashy brown ; the feathers of the 

 rump edged white ; superciliary streak fulvous white ; a dark brown streak 

 from the nostrils to the ear coverts ; upper tail coverts dark brown ; wings 

 dusky brown ; tail dark brown, with the two outer feathers white, and mar- 

 gined dusky on the outer web at the tip, basally dark brown ; chin and throat 

 white ; breast and upper abdomen greyish brown ; lower abdomen, vent and 

 under tail coverts white ; bill dusky horny ; legs plumbeous ; irides greenish 

 yellow. 



Length. 6'$ to 7 inches; wing 3-5 ; tail 2-75 ; bill at front 0-62. 



