282 CBATEROPIDID^E. 



coverts, wings, and tail dark brown ; the quills of the wing with the 

 outer webs mostly olive-green, those of the tail edged with green- 

 ish and tipped below with pale ochraceous ; chin and throat white ; 

 breast and sides of the neck ashy brown, with white shaft-streaks ; 

 sides of the body brown with indistinct shaft-stripes ; abdomen 

 and vent brownish white ; thighs and under tail-coverts ochra- 

 ceous ; under wing- coverts and axillaries ochraceous brown. 



Legs and feet dark horny-brown or black ; bill black ; iris pale 

 or litharge-red ( Hume $ Davison). 



Length about 11; tail 5; wing 4*7; tarsus 1*1: bill from 

 gape 1-2. 



Distribution. The southern portion of Tenasserim as far north as 

 Mergui. This species extends down the Malay peninsula to 

 Sumatra. Java, and Borneo. 



ffabits, $r. This bird was observed by Davison to keep in parties 

 and to frequent spare jungle in preference to forest. It occasion- 

 ally descends to the ground. A nest found at Kossoom in July in 

 the Malay peninsula was a shallow saucer made of creeper-stems 

 with some grass and moss, and placed in a bush. The ground- 

 colour of the eggs varied from pale pink to warm salmon-pink, and 

 the markings were reddish and purplish. The eggs measure about 

 1-05 by -75. 



Genus IDLE, Blyth, 1844. 



The genus lole is not characterized by any trenchant characters. 

 In many respects it is intermediate between Hemixus and Pycno- 

 notus, but differs from both in the sharp carination of the upper 

 mandible of the bill. 



In lole the feathers of the crown are slightly lengthened, but 

 they do not form a crest. The bill is about three-quarters the 

 length of the head, and when viewed laterally is of much the same 

 shape as that of Hemixus figured above (fig. 84, p. 263). The 

 nuchal hairs are short. 



One species occurs in Southern India, one in the Nicobar 

 Islands, and two in the eastern parts of the Empire. 



Key to tJie Species. 



a. Lower plumage streaked /. malaccensi*, p. 283. 



b. Lower plumage imstreaked. 



a'. Crown and upper plumage uniformly of the 



same colour. 



a". The entire lower plumage bright yellow. /. icterica, p. 283. 

 b". The lower plumage dull olive-yellow; 



the under tail-coverts fawn-brown .... /. virescens, p. 284. 

 b'. Crown of a different colour to the upper 



plumage * /. nicobariensis,ip. 285. 



