474 LA.3THD.*:. 



upper tail-coverts white, the longer ones ashy brown ; tail ashy 

 brown with a rufous tinge, all the feathers narrowly tipped with 

 whitish ; the shafts reddish brown ; greater wing-coverts ashy 

 brown, edged brighter ; quills ashy brown with rufous shafts, r all 

 edged and tipped brighter; nasal plim.es, lores, ear-coverts, and 

 feathers under the eye black ; under this black a broad white streak ; 

 lower plumage cinereous, tinged with buff on the breast and becoming 

 albescent on the abdomen ; vent and under tail-coverts pure white. 



Fig. 141. Head of T. 



Female. The forehead, crown, and nape of the same colour as 

 the back ; band through the eye pale brown ; otherwise not differing 

 from the male. 



The young resemble the adult female, but have the margins of 

 all the feathers of the upper plumage whitish, forming cross bars. 



In the male the bill is black; eyelids dark plumbeous: iris 

 yellowish brown ; legs plumbeous brown ; claws dark horn-colour. 

 In the female the bill is brown; the gape and the base of both 

 mandibles flesh-coloured. 



Length 8'5; tail 3*5 ; wing 4-5; tarsus '85 ; bill from gape 1*2. 



Distribution. The Himalayas from Nepal to Assam up to about 

 4000 feet ; the whole of the hill-tracts of Assam ranging south 

 throughout the whole of Burma and Karenuee. 



This species probably extends down the Malay peninsula for 

 some distance, but the point where it meets the allied T. yularis 

 is not known. It is found in Siam and China. 



T. yularis differs from T. pelvicus, so far as the adult males are 

 concerned, in having the crown and back of the same deep bluish 

 ashy and the tail nearly black. The former runs very close to 

 T. sylvicola. 



Habits, fyc. A nest of this species found in Sikhim at 3000 feet 

 was a massive cup made of tendrils of creepers and stems of plants 

 and decorated with the flower-stems of grasses. It was obtained 

 in April and contained four eggs, white marked with yellowish 

 brown and measuring about -93 by *73. 



487. Tephrodornis sylvicola. The Malabar Wood-Shrike. 

 Tephrodornis sylvicola, Jerdon, Madr. Journ. L. S. x, p. 236 (1839) ; 

 Blyth, Cat. p. 153 ; Jerd. B. L i, p. 409; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii, 

 p. 277 ; Hume, Cat. no. 2(54 ; Vavison, S. F. x, p. 365 ; Barnes, 

 Birds Bom. p. 147; Oates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. i,p. 331. 

 Pliari latora, Hind. 



Coloration. Male. Nasal plumes, lores, and a broad band round 

 the eye to the ear-coverts black ; forehead, crown, nape, hind neck, 



