POMATOKHINUS. 117 



produced down the sides of the breast and abdomen chestnut ; 

 the portion below the neck streaked with white ; sides of the body, 

 vent, and under tail-coverts dusky olive-brown. 



The colour of the crown varies much, being frequently the same 

 colour %s the back or very little darker. An indistinct rufous 

 collar is sometimes present on the hind neck in birds from Assam 

 and Tipperah. 



Bill horny yellow ; the base of the upper mandible dusky ; iris 

 reddish cream-colour ; feet plumbeous, the soles yellowish ; claws 

 livid horny (Scully). 



Length about 10; tail 4'5; wing 4; tarsus 1/3; bill from gape 



On examining the large series of this bird in the British Museum 

 which lias become available since Sharpe wrote his Catalogue of 

 this family, it seems quite impossible to recognize P. pinwilli as a 

 species or even as a race, all the characters pointed out as belonging 

 to it being shared by others throughout the Himalayas to Assam. 

 Simla birds are no doubt small, but the size increases gradually, 

 ranging, as regards the length of wing, from 3-6 at Simla to 4-4 in 

 Arrakan. 



.Distribution. Throughout the Himalayas from Simla to Sadiya, 

 and through the hill-tracts of Eastern' Bengal, Tipperah, Cachar, 

 and Manipur to Arrakan. 



Habits, $c. Breeds in Sikhim from April to June, constructing a 

 cup-like nest of grass and leaves on or near the ground in brush- 

 wood and thick grass. The eggs, usually four in number, measure 

 1 by -73. 



117. Pomatorhinus nnchalis. The Tweeddale Scimitar Babbler. 



Pomatorhinus schisticeps, Hodgs. apud Hume, S. F. iii, p. 121. 

 Pomatorhinus leucogaster, Gould, apud Blyth fy Wald. Birds Burm. 



p. 113 ; Wardlaw Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 465 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. 



vi, p. 282. 

 Pomatorhinus nuchalis, Tweedd. A. M. N. H. (4) xx, p. 535 (1877) ; 



Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi. p. 284; Wardlaw Ramsay, Ibis, 1878, p. 134; 



Hume, Cat. no. 403 ter ; id. S. F. ix, p. 251 ; Oates, B. B. i, p. 71 ; 



Sharpe, Cat. B. M. vii, p. 413. 



Coloration. Resembles P. schisticeps. Differs in not having any 

 white streaks on the sides of the breast and abdomen, and in having 

 the culmen black only in the immediate vicinity of the nostrils and 

 not, as in P. schisticeps, over the basal half. 



In this species the rufous collar on the hind neck is generally 

 well indicated. 



Bill orange-yellow ; the base of the lower mandible and the gape 

 dusky ; inside of mouth flesh-colour ; iris pale yellow ; eyelid and 

 ocular region pale lavender ; legs dusky plumbeous ; claws horny 

 brown. 



Length about 9; tail 3'9 ; wing 3'5 ; tarsus 1*2; bill from 

 gape 1-2. 



