248 CRATEBOPODID^:. 



yellow, the chin suffused with bright red ; remainder of the lower 

 plumage dull yellow. 



Female. Resembles the male, but has no red whatever on the 

 head and chin, and the yellow parts are duller and tinged with 

 green. 



The young resemble the female, and the males assume the adult 

 plumage in the spring of their first year. 



Bill plumbeous ; legs leaden-brown (Jerdon) ; iris dark bro\vn 

 (Hume Coll.). 



Length about 4 ; tail 1*3; wing 2-4; tarsus -5; bill from gape 35. 



Distribution. The whole of the Himalayas from Gilgit and Murree 

 to Bhutan, where this species is found from 3000 to 9000 feet. In 

 the winter it descends to the plains, and I have examined specimens 

 obtained at that season at Cawnpore, Etawah, Aligarh, Eaipur, 

 Nagpur, and Saugor. It extends into Afghanistan. 



Habits, fyc. Breeds at Murree in April and May, constructing its 

 nest, which is made of fine grass, in a hole in a tree or stump at 

 no great height from the ground. The eggs are not known. 



Genus PSAROGLOSSA, Hodgs., 1844. 



The genus Psaroglossa contains one bird which has been univer- 

 sally considered a Starling, but in my opinion erroneously so. 

 Neither its structure, its habits, nor the colour of its eggs show 

 any affinities with the Slurnidce. 



In Psaroglossa the sexes are differently coloured and the rict.-il 

 bristles are well developed. In the Starlings the sexes are always 

 alike and the rictal bristles are absolutely wanting. I think there- 

 fore that it is preferable to disassociate this genus from the Starlings 

 and place it in the present family. The young, moreover, appear 



Fig. 76. Head of P. spiloptera. 



to resemble the adult female very closely, and not to be streaked as 

 is the case with the majority of the Starlings. 



In Psaroglossa the bill is slender and curved and the nostrils 

 small and circular ; the rictal bristles are strong. The feathers of 

 the crown are short and pointed. The wing is long and pointed 

 and the first primary is minute. The tail is short and square. 



