CINCLUS. 53 



Above, including the lesser and median wing coverts, dark brown, the latter 

 and the greater series, also the scapulars, tipped with a spot of ochraceous buff ; 

 quills margined externally with reddish brown ; tail rufous brown ; lores dull 

 whitish ; ear-coverts with narrow whitish shaft streaks ; cheeks and throat dull 

 white, with dusky edgings to the feathers ; lower plumage white, with black 

 centres ; flanks dull brown or rufous brown, with fulvous edges ; under wing 

 coverts ochraceous buff. Bill blackish above, pale brown below ; legs and 

 feet pale brown ; irides deep brown. 



Length. 27 to 3-5 inches; wing 1-9 to 2; tail 0*5 ; tarsus o'8 ; culmen 

 0-55- 



Hab. Eastern Himalayas, extending into Tenasserim. Occurs in the hill 

 tracts of Eastern Bengal and in Nepaul. Mr. Davison, who got two species on 

 the highest part of Mooleyit, says he always met it in dense fern growths 

 edging the mountain streams in heavy forest. As a rule they do not fly when 

 disturbed, but get away out of sight in the undergrowth. 



478. Pnoepyga caudata, Biyth, J. A. S. B. xiv. p. 588 ; Godw.- 



Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix. p. 101 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 490, No. 331 ; Hume, 

 Str. F. 1879, p. 93; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vi. p. 305. The TAILED 

 HILL-WREN. 



Above dark olive brown, the feathers faintly edged with black ; no white or 

 fulvous spots on the wing coverts ; tail reddish brown ; lores, eyebrow, cheeks 

 and ear coverts dusky or ashy grey ; throat ferruginous, paling on the breast ; 

 under surface of body mottled with ochraceous, the feathers centred with 

 dark brown; the lower breast and flanks barred and centred with linear 

 streaks. Bill blackish ; legs brown ; irides brown. 



Length. 3-3 to 37 inches ; wing i'g to 2; tail T2; tarsus 075 ; culmen O'5. 



Hal. Eastern Himalayas, and, according to Jerdon, Nepaul and Sikkim. 

 He procured specimens at Darjeeling. 



Gen. CinclUS. Bechst. 



Bill of moderate length, straight, cultrate and slightly ascending ; no rictal 

 bristles; nostrils longitudinal; wings concave ; 1st quill very short ; 3rd and 

 4th sub-equal and longest ; tarsus longer than mid-toe. 



The Dippers, as the members of this genus are called, form one of the most 

 interesting group of birds among the whole class of Perchers, owing to their 

 peculiar habit of procuring their food under water, though they are noted 

 as birds of rapid flight. As far as I know, nothing has been investigated 

 anatomically in regard to any special organs they possess for the purpose. 

 That the feathers are like those of the Duck tribe impervious to water there 

 can be no doubt, else they could not fly immediately on leaving the water. 

 Their nests are made of moss and grass and placed on the banks of a stream, 



