IXULUS. 



Ltngth. 5-25 to 5-4 inches ; wing 2-5 ; tail 2*05 j tarsus O 8 ; cul- 

 men 0*55. 



Hab. The Himalayas from Simla to Bhootan, extending also to the Khasia 

 hills, from where, also from the Nepaul Valley, Simla, Mussoorie, Darjeeling, 

 and Sikkhn it is recorded. According to Jerdon it is a common species 

 about Darjeeling. It associates in large flocks, is very active and incessantly 

 on the move among the foliage of bamboo trees hunting for insects, larvae, 

 &c. It breeds in the central region of Nepaul and about Darjeeling. Dr. 

 Gammie found a nest which, he says, was most artfully concealed in forest in 

 the cinchona reserves. It was a rather deep cup composed of moss and fine 

 root fibres, and thickly lined with the latter. It was suspended at a height of 

 about 6 feet from the ground amongst the natural moss, hanging from a 

 horizontal branch of a small tree, in which it was entirely enveloped. Mr. 

 Hodgson, however, says it builds on the ground in tufts of grass. The number 

 of eggs is said to be 3 4. Those in Mr. Hume's possession (Nests and 

 Eggs, p. 396,) are all of one type, rather elongated ovals, with scarcely any 

 gloss, and strongly recalling in shape and size, also in appearance, densely 

 marked varieties of the eggs of Hirundo rustica, but with the markings 

 rather browner and slightly more smudgy. The ground colour is white with 

 perhaps a slight yellowish tinge, or more or less pale salmon colour when 

 unblown ; they are profusely blotched, streaked, freckled and spotted with two 

 shades of dull but not dark brown, the one reddish, the other yellowish : the 

 markings are of a streaky and ill-defined character. Size 0*78 to O'8 in length 

 and 0-54 to 0-56 in breadth. 



643. Ixulns occipitalis, Blyth, J. A, S. B. xiv. p. 552 ; Jerd. B. 



Ind. ii. p. 259, No. 624 ; Godw -Austen, J. A. S. Beng. xxxix. p. 109 ; Hume, 

 Str.F. 1879, p. 104; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind.B. p. 395; Sharpe, Cat. 

 B. Br. Mus. vi. p. 613. Siva occipitalis, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng. xiii. p. 937. 

 Yuhina occipitalis, Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 276. The CHESTNUT-HEADED 

 FLOWER-PECKER. 



Crown and nape orange or/erntginous brown, with a half concealed white 

 occipital patch ; head crested, the long feathers with dusky centres ; lores and 

 feathers above and below the eye dusky blackish ; ear coverts the same, but 

 streaked mesially with white ; cheeks mottled orange, dusky and white ; 

 throat dull white ; foreneck and breast pale vinous, streaked mesially with 

 dusky ; centre of abdomen very pale with dusky streaks, the sides brown ; 

 vent and under tail coverts ochraceous buff ; wing lining white ; upper sur- 

 face of the body dusky olive brown ; the back with narrow white streaks, the 

 rump slightly washed with fulvous ; lesser and median wing coverts like the 

 back in colour and in character of streaks ; primaries edged externally with 

 yellowish olive; upper tail coverts margined with yellowish olive; tail dusky 

 brown. Bill black ; legs pale yellowish brown ; iris brown. 



