PEBICROCOTU8. 483 



green marked with pale yellowish brown and appear to measure 

 about -9 by -67. 



P. xantJiogaster from Sumatra and Borneo and P. exsul from 

 Java belong to this section of the Mini vets. 



495. Pericrocotus brevirostris. The Short-billed Minivet. 



Muscipeta brevirostris, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 43. 



Phcenicornis brevirostris ( Vigors), Gould, Cent. pi. 8. 



Pericrocotus brevirostris ( Vigors), Blyth, Cat. p. 193 ; Horsf. 8f M. 

 Cat. i, p. 141 ; Jerd. B. I. i, p. 421 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, 

 pt. ii, p. 27; Henders. $ Hume, Lah. to Yark. p. 184; Hume, 

 N. $ E. p. 183 ; Sharps, S. F. iv, p. 209 ; Hume, S. F. v, p. 187 ; 

 Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 211 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped., Aves, 

 p. 648 ; Hume, Cat. no. 273 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 268 ; Sharpe, 

 Cat. B. M. iv, p. 79; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 435; Oates, B. B. i, 

 p. 240 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 152 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 96; Oates 

 in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. i, p. 337. 



Coloration. Male. The whole head, back, scapulars, lesser wing- 

 coverts, sides of the head, and throat glossy black ; entire lower 

 surface, rump, and upper tail-coverts crimson ; greater coverts 

 black, tipped with crimson ; primaries black, all except the first 

 four with a crimson patch upon them ; secondaries crimson on the 

 basal half and black on the terminal half : tertiaries wholly black ; 

 middle tail-feathers black ; the next pair black with the greater 

 portion of the outer web red ; the others all red, except at the 

 bases, where they are black. 



temale. Forehead, rump, upper tail-coverts, and all the lower 

 plumage yellow ; ear-coverts greyish yellow ; crown of the head, 

 back, and scapulars ashy green ; lesser wing-coverts brown, edged 

 with green ; median and greater coverts brown, tipped with yellow; 

 wing brown, marked with yellow in the same manner as the male 

 is marked with red ; tail also as in the male, the red being replaced 

 by yellow. 



Bill and legs black ; i rides dark brown (Jerdon). 



Length about 7*5 ; tail 4 ; wing 3*5 ; tarsus *6 ; bill from 

 gape *75. 



The intensity of the colouring of this species varies much ac- 

 cording to locality. Specimens from Sikhim and Assam and the 

 tract of country reaching down to Tenasserim are a deep crimson, 

 whereas skins from more western countries are a dull scarlet. 



Distribution. The Himalayas from Murree and Gilgit to Assam, 

 up to 10,000 feet of elevation ; the plains of India from the foot 

 of the Himalayas to about the twentieth degree of north latitude, 

 with the exception apparently of Sind, Cutch, and Kattywar. From 

 Assam P. brevirostris ranges southwards through the hill-tracts as 

 far as Karennee on the one side and to Arrakan, according to Blyth, 

 on the other. I did not procure this species in Pegu, but a specimen 

 obtained by Davison in the pine-forests of the Salween river, and 

 now in the British Museum, is referable to it. 



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