PIPEISOMA. 383 



Piprisoma agile (Tick.), Blyth, Cat. p. 228; Jerd. B. I. i, p. 376 ; 



livavan, Ibis, 1867, p. 430, pi. x ; Hume, N. 8f E. p. 158 ; id. 



S. F. i, p. 434 ; id. Cat. no. 240 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 579 ; O. F. 



L. Marsh. Bird*' -nesting Ltd. p. 69, pi. ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 260; 



Gates, B. B. i, i). 338 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 139. 

 Prionochilus squalidus (Burt.), Sharpe, Cat. B. M. x, p. 73. 

 Piprisoma squaliduni, Oates in Hume's N. 8f E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 277. 

 Chitlu jitta, Tel. 



Coloration. Upper plumage ashy green, purer green on the 

 rump and upper tail-coverts ; wings and tail brown edged with 

 olive-green ; the latter tipped with white, broadly on the outer- 

 most feathers, more narrowly on the others, the middle feathers 

 being almost without any white; lores, cheeks, chin, and throat 

 white ; sides of the head and neck ashy brown ; a narrow brown 

 streak down each side of the throat; lower plumage pale ashy yellow 

 streaked with greenish brown. 



Iris light brick-red ; bill pale plumbeous horny ; legs dusky 

 plumbeous (Cleveland). 



Length about 4 ; tail 1'3 ; wing 2*4 ; tarsus "5 ; bill from 

 gape -45. 



Distribution. Throughout the Himalayas at low elevations from 

 the Sutlej valley to Sikhim, and throughout the peninsula down to 

 Ceylon. The western limits of this species are difficult to define 

 owing to want of specimens and records of occurrence. It is said 

 to be very common at Baroda and then there is a great gap up to 

 Ktiiwah and another up to Dehra. I have seen specimens from all 

 three places but from no other locality west of them. 



To the east it can be traced to Midnapore and Dinapore, but it is 

 probable that it does not pass the longitude of Calcutta. Hume, 

 commenting on a collection of birds made by Inglis in Cachar, 

 states that it occurs in that district, but the Cachar speci- 

 mens in the Hume Collection that I have examined, as noted below 

 are referable to P. modestum. I formerly erroneously recorded 

 P. squalidum (P. ayile) from Pegu and Tenasserim. 



Habits, fyc. Constructs a small purse-like bag suspended from a 

 horizontal twig on a tree, from February to May. The materials 

 are fibres and the down of flower-buds felted together into a 

 pliable fabric which will bear crushing in the hand and then re- 

 cover its shape. The eggs, two or three in number, are white or 

 pinkish, marked in various ways with brownish pink or claret- 

 colour. They measure *63 by *45 *. 



922. Piprisoma modestum. Hume's Flower -pecker. 



Prionochilus modestus, Hume, S. F. iii, p. 298 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. 



vi, p. 200 ; Hume, Cat. no. 240 sex ; Bingham, S. F. ix, p. 171 ; 



Hume, S. F. x, p. 198, note ; Oates, B. B. i, p. 340 ; Sharpe, Cat 



B. M. x, p. 74. 

 Piprisoma agile (Tick.), apud Oates, S. F. x, p. 198. 



* The Prionochilus pipra, Less., of Hume's Catalogue, entered with doubt and 

 stated by Lesson to have been received from Ceylon, is lodopleura pipra, now 

 known to occur only in the New World. 



