CONOSTOMA. PARADOXORNIS. Gl 



member of the subfamily. It is characterized by a tail longer 1 ban 

 the wing, and the tail-feathers are considerably less graduated than 

 in the next two genera. It is found at very high elevations. 



Fig. 21. Head of C. amodium. 



50. Conostoma SBmodium. The Red-Ulled Crow-Tit. 



Conostoma aemodius, Hodys. J. A. S. B. x, p. 857, pi. (1841) ; Blytk, 



Cat. p. 101. 

 Conostoma aemodium, Hodys., Horsf. $ M. Cat. i, pp. 213, 377 ; Jerd. 



B. I. ii, p. 10 ; Blanf. J. A. S. B. xli, pt, ii, p. 46 j Hume, N. $ E. 



p. 237 ; id. Cat. no. 381 ; Sharps, Cat. B. M. vii, p. 485 ; Oates in 



Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. i, p. 42. 



TJie Red-billed Jay-Thrush, Jerd.; Lho-rannio-pho, Lepch. 



Coloration. Lores and feathers in front of the eyes dark brown ; 

 forehead greyish white ; upper plumage olive-brown with a rufous 

 tinge ; outer edges of primaries ashy, of the secondaries rufous, 

 and the tertiaries, with the tips of the secondaries, ashy ; tail ashy 

 grey, more or less washed with rufous along the middle of the 

 feathers ; chin, throat, and sides of head brown, with a vinous 

 tinge, becoming paler on the rest of the lower plumage. 



Bill dull orange ; legs slaty grey ; iris brown (Jerdon). 



Length about 12 ; tail 5-5 ; wing 5'2 ; tarsus 1*5 ; bill from 

 gape 1. 



Distribution. Nepal arid Sikhim, apparently at very high eleva- 

 tions. Blanford met with it at 11,000 feet on the Chola range, 

 and the nest has been found on two occasions at 10,000 feet in 

 Sikhiin. This bird extends to the high mountains on the frontier 

 of China and Tibet. 



Habits, <$fc. Constructs a hemispherical nest of stems and blades 

 of grass and bamboo-leaves on a branch of a bamboo in May. The 

 eggs, probably three in number, are dull white, blotched and streaked 

 with yellowish brown and spotted about the larger end with inky 

 purple ; size I'll by -8. 



Genus PARADOXORNIS, Gould, 1836. 



The genus Paradovornis, as I restrict it, contains two species 

 found in India. It differs from the last germs by its more graduated 

 tail and by its very deep bill. Very little is known of the habits 

 and nothing whatever of the mode of nidification of either species. 



