174 T1MELI1DA. 



Length. 4-6 inches ; wing 2-4; tail 0-9; tarsus 0*95 ; culmen 07. 



Hab. Eastern Himalayas. Recorded from Nepaul and Sikkim ; has been 

 found at Darjeeling. Hume says he received a single egg said to belong 

 to this species from Native Sikkim, where it was found in May, at about 

 I O,OOO feet elevation. Hume, however, says he discredits its authenticity, more 

 need not be said. 



Gen. Herpornis. Hodgs. 



Bill rather long ; culmen 0-5, conic, compressed, strong, straight and 

 pointed ; upper mandible longer than the lower and notched ; nostrils with a 

 round aperture, shut in by a membrane ; wings moderate, round, 5th and 6th 

 quills longest, the first small ; tail bifurcate ; legs and feet moderately strong. 

 A single species in India ; two others belong to the Malayan peninsula and 

 the Burmese countries. 



659. Herpornis xantholeuca (Hodgs.), Blyth and Wald. t B. 

 Burnt, p. Iio; BlytJi, Cal. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. lOi ; Jerd., B. fnd. ii. 

 p. 264; Hume, Sir. F. 1874, p. 479; 1875, p. 142. lora xantholeuca, Hodgs., 

 Icon. ined. Br. Mus. Passeres, pi. 177, figs. I, 2 (No. 760). Herpornis 

 xantholeuca, Blyth and Wald., B. Burm. p. i lo ; Godiv.-Aust., J. A. S. B. 

 xlv. p. 83 ; Sharpe, Ibis, 1876, p. 41 ; Anderson, Zool. Exp. Yunnan, Aves, 

 p. 631 ; Hume and Dav., Str. F. 1878, i. p. 374; Hume, Sir. F. 1879, 

 pp. 104, 157; Bingham, Sir. F. 1880, p. 190; Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. 

 p. 151. The WHITE-BELLIED FLOWER-PECKER. 



Head which is much crested, and the whole upper plumage, including the 

 tail, upper wing coverts and tertiaries greenish yellow ; the primaries and 

 secondaries brown, externally edged with brighter greenish yellow than the 

 back ; under tail coverts bright yellow ; under wing coverts pale yellow ; lores 

 ashy white ; cheeks and under surface of the body also ashy white ; the 

 flanks and vent yellow ; axillaries ashy white, washed with yellow ; upper 

 mandible fleshy horn colour, the edges and the whole lower mandible light 

 flesh colour ; gape yellow ; mouth yellow ; eyelids plumbeous ; iris brown ; 

 legs and claws pinkish flesh colour. 



Length. 4-8 inches; wing 2-65 ; tail r8 ; tarsus 07; culmen 0-55. 



Hab. The Indo-Burmese countries, the hill tracts of Eastern Bengal, 

 Sikkim and Nepaul, also down the Malayan peninsula. Gates says it is 

 found in all the forests of Pegu, alike in the hills and plains. It is recorded 

 by Blyth from Arrakan. In Tenasserim Mr. Davison found it distributed 

 throughout the evergreen forests, and, according to Captain Bingham, it is very 

 common in the Thoungyeen Valley. It affects forests only. Gates adds that 

 he generally found it in large companies, each flock scattered over several 

 contiguous trees, under the leaves of which the birds were searching for minute 

 insects on which they feed. They keep up a continuous twitter. He has 

 never been able to find the nest, and there is nothing known of the nidification 

 of the species. 



