PEEICROCOTUS. 487 



about 5000 feet; the N.W. Provinces, Oudh, and Bengal; Assam 

 and its hill-ranges, extending down through Burma to Bassein, 

 Eangoon, and Mergui. 



The distribution of this species over the peninsula of India has 

 not been ascertained with any degree of accuracy. Ball gives it, 

 apparently with certainty, from Goomsur, Jeypore, and the Godavari 

 valley. Jerdon records it from Malabar, and Lord A. Hay appears 

 to have procured it in the hills dividing Tinnevelly from Travancore, 

 as mentioned by Jerdon. I have seen no specimens collected in 

 the localities recorded by Ball and Jerdon. 



Habits, $c. Breeds in May and June, constructing a cup- shaped 

 nest of very fine twigs and grass, coated with lichens and cobwebs, 

 on a branch of a tree. The eggs are described as being greenish 

 white, marked in various ways with brown and purple, and mea- 

 suring about '8 by -6. 



500. Pericrocotus peregrinus. The Small Minivet. 



Parus peregrinus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 342 (1766). 



Parus malabaricus, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 1012 (1788) ; Hume, S. F. \, 

 p. 182. 



PLcenicornis peregrina (Linn.}, Gould, Cent. pi. 9. 



Pericrocotus peregrinus (Linn}, Blyih, Cat. p. 193 ; Horsf. 8f M. Cat. 

 i, p. 140 ; Jerd. B. 1. i, p. 423 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 184 ; Hume, 

 S. F. i, p. 177, iii, p. 96 ; Sharpe, S. F. iv, p. 209 ; Hume, S. F. v, 

 p. 179; id. Cat. no. 276; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 366; Sharpe, Cat. 

 B. M. iv, p. 76; Gates, B. B. i, p. 245; Barnes, Birds Bom. 

 p. 152 ; Gates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. i, p. 339. 



Bulal-chasm, Hind. ; Sath-sayili, Chota sath saki kapi, Beng. ; Bunkum- 

 pu-jitta, Tel. ; Batuyene Kurula, Kos-kurula, Ceyl. 



Coloration. Male. Forehead, crown, nape, hind neck, scapulars, 

 and lesser wing-coverts pale to dark grey according to locality ; 

 rump and upper tail-coverts pale to deep scarlet ; the two middle 

 pairs of tail-feathers blackish, the others blackish with a gradually 

 increasing red tip ; chin, throat, fore neck, and sides of the head 

 from dusky grey to black ; breast scarlet ; remainder of lower 

 plumage varying from saffron to orange ; wings brown to black, 

 the first four or five primaries plain, the others and the secondaries 

 with a median patch varying from pale red to scarlet. 



Female. The grey of the upper parts is paler than in the male 

 from the same locality ; the sides of the head and the whole lower 

 plumage white, more or less tinged with pale yellow ; wing brown, 

 with the wing-spot varying from yellow to pale orange ; tail much 

 as in the male. 



Bill black ; inside of mouth flesh-colour ; legs, toes, and claws 

 black. 



Length about 6 ; tail 3 ; wing 2-65 ; tarsus '6 ; bill from 

 gape -6. 



The variations of colour in this species are very great, but are 

 always a matter of degree and not of kind, and are correlated with 



