128 CBATEROPODID^E. 



in thick forests, usually in pairs, but occasionally in small parties. 

 It keeps much more to the ground than any Pomatorhinus, hopping 

 about in a very ungainly manner." 



Genus XIPHORHAMPHUS, Blyth, 1843. 



This genus merely differs from Pomatorhinus by its excessively 

 long and still more slender bill. Only one species is known. 



133. Xiphorhamphus superciliaris. The Slender-billed 

 Scimitar Babbler. 



id. 111. Ind. Orn. pi. 49 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xlv, pt. ii, p. 198 ; 

 Hume, Cat. no. 406 ; Sharps, Cat. B. M. vii, p. 433 ; Hume, S. F. 

 xi, p. 153 ; Gates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. i, p. 89. 



Karriok-tamveep, Lepch. 



Fig. 34. Head of X. superciliaris. 



Coloration. Lores black ; chin and upper throat white streaked 

 with ashy ; with these exceptions, the whole head is slaty grey 

 with white tips to the feathers at the side of the crown, forming 

 an interrupted white supercilium from the forehead to the nape ; 

 upper plumage bright rufous-brown ; tail dark brown or blackish, 

 the outer webs on their basal halves washed with the colour of the 

 back ; wings dark brown, the outer webs olive-brown, and the 

 tertiaries rufous-browu ; breast and abdomen ferruginous ; sides 

 of the body, vent, and under tail-coverts rufous-brown; thighs 

 plumbeous. 



Bill dusky black, plumbeous at the tip ; legs leaden brown ; iris 

 red-brown (Jerdori). 



Length nearly 9 ; tail 3-6 ; wing 3 ; tarsus 1*2 ; bill from gape 

 to tip straight 2*3. 



Distribution. This bird occurs in Sikhim. Hodgson figures the 

 bird and nest, but his notes show that his specimens were procured 

 in Sikhim and not in Nepal. The only other locality from which 

 the species is known is the Manipur hills, where Godwin- Austen 

 obtained it on the Konchungbum Peak. 



Habits, $c. Breeds in Sikhim in May and June, constructing a 

 globular nest of leaves and grass on the ground or in thick bushes or 

 tufts of grass. The eggs are pure white, and measure 1-03 by '72. 



