HKMIPUS. 471 



side of the head, the whole of that part being fulvous speckled and 

 mottled with brown ; the quills and tail are the same as in the 

 adult. 



Birds in adult plumage are comparatively rare, but are met with 

 at all seasons of the year. The majority of birds of both sexes are 

 in various stages of immature plumage, showing that the adult 

 plumage is not assumed under two or three years. 



Legs and feet pale plumbeous blue, lavender-blue, sometimes 

 almost smalt-blue ; irides brown ; edges of eyelids black ; more or 

 less of both mandibles pale plumbeous or pale dull blue (Hume $ 

 Davison). 



Length 6-8 ; tail 3 ; wing 3'2 ; tarsus '85 ; bill from gape '9. 



Distribution. The extreme southern part of Tenasserim. 



This species occurs in winter in the Malay peninsula, Sumatra, 

 and Siam, and it breeds iu China. 



Genus HEMIPUS, Hodgs., 1845. 



The genus Hemipus contains three species, two of which are 

 found within our limits and one in the Malay peninsula. 



These birds have the habits of Flycatchers, catching their insect 

 prey entirely in the air, and generally perching on the summits of 

 high trees. 



In Hemipus the sexes differ in colour. The bill is about half 

 the length of the head, very much depressed and rather wide, the 

 nostrils nearly hidden by hairs. The wing is pointed and the tail 

 graduated. The plumage is a mixture of black or brown with white 



Key to the Species. 



a. Head and back glossy black ............ H. picatus $ , p. 47-1. 



I. Head glossy black, back brown .......... H. capitalis , p. 472. 



, Head and back brown 



484. Hernipus picatus. The Black-backed Pied Shrike. 



Muscicapa picata, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1 832, p. 85. 



Hemipus picatus (Sykes), Blyth, Cat. p. 154 ; Horsf. $ M. Cat. i, 



p. 136 ; Jerd. B. I. i, p. 412 ; Hume, N. $ E. p.' 178 ; id. S. F. i, 



p. 435, iii, p. 93 ; Sharpe. Cat. B. M. iii, p. 307 ; Leyge, Birds 



Ceyl. p. 375 j Hume $ Dav'. S. F. vi, p. 207 ; Ball, S. F. vi'i, p. 210 ; 



Hume, Cat. no. 2G7 ; Damson, S. F. x, p. 365 ; Oates, B. B. i, 



]>. 258 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 148; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 93 ; Oates 



in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. i, p. 327. 



The Little Pied Shrike, Jerd. ; Viyum-pho, Lepch. 



Coloration. Male. The upper plumage with the lores and ear- 



coverts glossy brown ; the rump-feathers broadly tipped with 



white ; chin, vent, and under tail-coverts pure white ; the remainder 



of the lower plumage pale vinaceous ; cheeks and sides of the neck 



white, produced so as to form an indistinct white collar round the 



neck; lesser M ing-coverts black; median coverts black, broadly 



