480 LANIID^E. 



Coloration. Male. The whole head, back, scapulars, and lesser 

 coverts glossy black ; lower surface from behind the throat, rump, 

 upper tail-coverts, and under wing-coverts scarlet ; greater coverts 

 black, very broadly tipped with scarlet; primaries black with a 

 band of scarlet across all but the first two ; secondaries scarlet at 

 the base and black elsewhere ; each of the later secondaries with 

 a scarlet oval drop near the extremity of the outer web ; tail scarlet, 

 except the middle pair of feathers and the bases of the others, which 

 are black. 



Female. Forehead, paling posteriorly up to the crown of the 

 head, the sides of the head, and the whole lower plumage yellow ; 

 rump and upper tail-coverts yellow tinged with green ; back of 

 the head, back, scapulars, and lesser coverts deep grey ; greater 

 coverts blackish tipped with grey ; primaries dark brown, with a 

 band of yellow across all but the first three ; secondaries dark 

 brown, the bases of all bright yellow ; the later secondaries with 

 an oval yellow spot near the tips of the outer webs ; tertiaries 

 plain dark brown : middle tail-feathers black ; the next pair black, 

 with the terminal half of the outer web yellow ; remaining feathers 

 yellow with the bases black. 



Bill and legs black ; iris brown (Hume Coll.). 



Length about 9 ; tail 4'3 ; wing 4'15 ; tarsus '8 ; bill from 

 gape '95. 



The third primary in this species is sometimes entirely black, 

 and in the same way the middle pair of tail-feathers are occasionally 

 slightly margined with scarlet. 



Fig. 143. Head of P. speciosus. 



Distribution. The Himalayas from the Sutlej valley to the extreme 

 eastern part of Assam up to elevations of 5000 or 6000 feet ; 

 the N. W. Provinces and Oudh ; Chutia Nagpur and the Central 

 Provinces as far south as Bastar and Jeypore ; Bengal ; Assam 

 and all the hill-ranges southwards to Manipur and extending to the 

 Kakhyen hills east of Bhamo. Eea recently procured this bird in 

 Karennee. 



This species overlaps the range of the next in the hill-tracts of 

 Assam and Northern Burma, but there is no evidence to show that 

 the two species interbreed, nor have I seen any specimen which 

 could not be with certainty assigned to one or the other. 



Habits, $c. According to Hodgson P. speciosus commences to 

 breed in April and constructs a beautiful cup-shaped nest of moss 

 and moss-roots coated with lichens and spiders' webs in a slender 



