PSARCGLCSS.V. 249 



261. Psaroglossa spiloptera. The Spotted-wing. 



Lamprotornis spilopterus, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 35; Gould, Cent. 



pi. 34. 

 Saroglossa spiloptera ( Vi(/.}, Horsf. Sf M. Cat. ii, p. 545 ; Jerd. B. I. 



ii, p. 330 ; Hume, N. # E. p. 434 ; Godw.-Awst. J. A. S. B. xliii, 



pt. ii, p. 170 ; Wald. in Blyttis Birds Burm. p. 91 ; Brooks, 8. F. 



iii, p. 254 ; Armstrong, S. F. iv, p. 334 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi, 



p. 394 ; Wardlaw Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 461 ; Hume, Cat. no. 



(591 ; id. S. F. ix, p. 256, xi, p. 2U8 ; Oatcs, B. B. i, p. 394. 

 Psaroglossa spiloptera (Vic/.'), Bhjth, Cat..^. 109 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. 



xiii, p. 117 ; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nded. i, p. 161. 



The Spotted-iving Stare, Jerd. ; Puli at Mussoorie. 



Coloration. Male. The upper plumage from the forehead to the 

 upper back grey, each feather edged with black ; back and scapu- 

 lars grey, each feather edged with brown ; rump plain brown ; 

 upper tail-coverts rufous-brown ; tail brown tinged with rufous ; 

 lores, cheeks, and ear-coverts black ; chin and throat deep chestnut- 

 maroon ; the whole lower plumage rufous, paler and whiter on the 

 middle of the abdomen, and all the feathers narrowly edged with 

 whitish : primaries, secondaries, and primary-coverts black edged 

 with metallic blue, and all the primaries with a white patch at their 

 bases; wing-coverts dark brown edged with grey; tertiaries light 

 brown ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white. 



Female. The whole upper plumage brown with greyish centres 

 to the feathers, most conspicuous on the head and back and nearly 

 obsolete on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; lesser and median 

 wing-coverts brown, with asubterminal grey band ; greater coverts 

 brown, broadly edged with grey; primaries . and secondaries 

 blackish with glossy margins, the bases of the former whitish ; 

 tertiaries like the back ; tail dark brown ; sides of the head uniform 

 dark brown ; lower plumage brown, with broad whitish margins to 

 the feathers and the whole suffused with a pale tinge of fulvous ; 

 lower part of abdomen and the under tail-coverts nearly pure 

 white. 



The young appear to resemble the female. 



Irides dull white ; bill dusky black, reddish black at base of lower 

 mandible ; upper and lower mandibles margined with pale yellow ; 

 legs, feet, and claws black (Armstrong). 



Length 7'5 ; tail 2-5 ; wing 4-2 ; tarsus *85 ; bill from gape 1. 



Distribution. The Himalayas from Dharmsa'la to the head of the 

 Assam valley and also, but more rarely, the plains of Upper India ; 

 the Khasi and Garo hills ; Cachar; Manipur; the Karen hills east 

 of Toungngoo ; the southern part of Pegu near the Eangoon 

 river ; doubtfully Tenasserim. 



This bird appears to be found up to 6000 feet. It also, as before 

 noted, occurs in the plains, Mr. A. Anderson having killed one at 

 Fatehgarh on the 2nd June. 



