SIVA. 207 



. J A. S. B. xlvii, pt. ii, p. '21 ; Jliunc, Cat. no. (\'2>> ; Gates, 

 B. B. i, p. 150; Shurpej Cat. B. M. vii, p. 017 j Salcatlori, Ann. 

 Mm. Civ. Gen. (2) v, p. OOu. 



Coloration. Blyth thus described the bird: "Length about 5 

 , of closed wing 2| indies, and of tail the same; bill to gape 

 \ inch and tarsi f inch. Colour greyish brown above, each feather 

 with a white mesial streak ; below albescent throughout ; outer- 

 most tail-feather | inch shorter than the middle pair, and largely 

 tipped with white, as is also the next, and the antepenultimate 

 and next within gradually less so, the outer four feathers succes- 

 sively graduating." 



Tickell thus described it : " Iris blood-red brown ; bill dark 

 horn ; legs reddish horn ; upper parts including a blunt crest ashy 

 brown. Each feather shafted whitish. Bemiges and centre pair 

 of rectrices reddish clay-brown, llest of tail dusky sepia, more 

 and more tipped white externally ; chin, throat, and all underparts 

 ashy-white." 



I append also a translation of Salvadori's description of a bird 

 of this species procured by Tea in Tenasserim : " Upper parts grey, 

 with white streaks along the shafts, the feathers of the cap a little 

 darker, lengthened, and forming a distinct crest ; remiges grey, 

 narrowly margined with white towards the end of the outer web ; 

 tail graduated, dark grey, the four outer feathers with white tips 

 increasing in length from the outermost to the fourth ; lower parts 

 whitish ; bill and feet dark horny." 



I have not been able to examine a specimen of this species, and I 

 therefore quote the above descriptions. I have seen a carefully 

 executed plate of the bird, and I notice that the ear-coverts are 

 rufous and that the lores and a supercilium are grey, points not 

 noticed in the above descriptions. 



Distribution. Tickell procured this bird at Tretoungplee, on 

 Muleyit mountain in Teuasserim, at 3000 feet, and Eea at Plapoo 

 on the same mountain. No one else appears to have meb with it. 



Genus SIVA, Hodgson, 1838. 



The genus Siva contains four species, which are found in the 

 Himalayas and the mountain-ranges of Burma ; two species extend 

 down the Malay peninsula to Perak. 



They are birds of handsome plumage. The bill is about half the 

 length of the head, gently curved and notched ; the rictal bristles 

 are long, and the nostrils are covered by a membrane ; the head is 

 crested. 



The tail-feathers are very peculiar, the ends being obliquely 

 truncated, and only the two outer pairs are graduated, the other 

 four pairs being of equal length. 



In habits all the species seem to be alike. They are quite 

 arboreal, being found generally in small flocks in trees of consider- 

 able size, the leaves of which they search for insects. 



