96 TIMELIID/E. 



Above, including the wing coverts, slaty grey, slightly darker on the fore- 

 head and the greater series of the wing coverts ; primaries black, edged 

 narrowly on the outer web with greyish; secondaries the same ; four of them 

 white about the middle and forming a wing patch ; tail dusky, the feathers 

 with broad white or greyish white tips ; lores blackish ; beneath dark ashy, 

 paler on the abdomen ; under wing coverts and axil-lanes slaty grey. Bill 

 and legs slaty black ; irides reddish brown. 



Length. 13*510 14 inches; wing 475 to 4*9; tail 8*75; tarsus ri; 

 culmen I. 



Hab. Eastern Himalayas, extending to Bhootan, Burmah and Tenasserim. 

 It has been found in Nepaul, Bhootan and Sikkim. At Darjeeling it is said 

 to be very common at about 4,000 feet elevation, associating in flocks of six 

 or seven, and flying from tree to tree, feeding both on fruit and insects. At 

 Karenne, Capt. Wardlaw-Ramsay procured it at an elevation of 5,000 feet. 

 It has also been observed in the Dafla Hills in Assam. Mr. Gammie found 

 a nest in Sikkim, in the neighbourhood of Rungbee, near Darjeeling. It 

 contained 5 eggs. The nest, Mr. Hume says, is as perplexing as the eggs, 

 the first being like that of a bulbul, and the eggs not unlike those of a shrike or 

 minivet ; broad ovals, pointed towards one end, with a slight gloss, the ground 

 colour a slightly greyish white with a good many small spots and specks of 

 pale yellowish brown and dingy purple, chiefly confined to a large irregular 

 zone towards the larger end. Size o'86 to 0-93 x 0*7 to 073. 



Gen. Malacias. Cab. 



General characters as in Sibia, tail a trifle longer than the wimg ; head 

 crested. 



540. Malacias capistrata (Vigors), Hume, Sir. F. 1879, P- 97; 



Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vii. p. 403. Cinclosoma capistrata, Vigors, P. Z. S. 

 1831, p. 56. Sibia nigriceps, Hodgs. Icon. ined. in Br. Mus. Passer es, pis. 

 197, 198. Actinodura nigriceps, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xii. p. 98. Sibia 

 capistrata, Gray, Cat. Mamm., &V., Nepaul ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 55, No. 429 ; 

 Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 267. The BLACK-HEADED SIBIA. 



Head much crested ; crest black, falling back on the nape ; cheeks, ear 

 coverts, and sides of the face black ; base of chin white ; neck behind and on the 

 sides rufous ; upper back and scapulars ashy brown ; lower back, rump and 

 upper tail-coverts chestnut red; tail black, broadly tipped with bluish grey ; 

 the centre feathers rufous, with a broad sub-terminal band of black ; lesser and 

 median wing coverts dusky black, washed with ashy brown ; the greater series 

 bluish grey, tipped with black and white at the base, forming a transverse wing 

 bar ; primary coverts blue black ; quills blackish, externally bluish grey ; the 

 outer edges of the primaries paler ; inner secondaries chestnut rufous ; their 



