VARIOUS PERCHING BIRDS 183 



Magpie-Robin Another noteworthy bird is the magpie - robin (Copsychus 



and snama. saularis), which ranges throughout India and Burma as far as 



Moulmein. Of equally wide distribution is the shama (Cittocincla macrura), a 



bird frequently kept in confinement by the Malays. 



The crow-tits, an Oriental group of birds distinguished by a 

 Crow-Tits. . 1 



thick crest and a deep, short, and compressed beak, are largely 



represented in India and the Malay province. They feed solely on insects. A well- 

 known member of the group is the yellow-billed species (Paradoxomis flavirostris) 

 which inhabits Assam, the Khasi Hills, Bhutan, Sikhim, and Nepal, where it 

 generally frequents reed-thickets. 



The flower-peckers are small birds of much the same habits as 

 Flower-Peckers. . . L 



tits, wandering about m small parties, and frequenting tall trees. 



They resemble sun-birds in having the edges of the beak serrated for a portion of 



its length, but the beak is shorter. They feed on insects, honey, and soft fruits, and 



construct pear-shaped hanging nests with an entrance-hole at the side. One species, 



the Nilgiri flower-pecker (Dicceum concolor), is confined to the western coast of 



India, a second, D. virescens, is peculiar to the Andamans, but nine others are common 



to India and the Malay countries, while others range over the Malay Peninsula and 



Islands to New Guinea and Australia. One of the most widely distributed is the 



scarlet-backed flower-pecker (D. cruentatum), whose habitat extends eastwards 



from Calcutta to China and southwards to Sumatra. 



The gorgeous sun-birds {Nectar iniidce) resemble flower-peckers 

 in the long tubular tongue, but are distinguished by the long, cylindrical 

 beak. Although mainly African, the group is well represented in Burma and the 

 more eastern countries of the Malay province, while nine species are known from 

 India. All have a richly coloured plumage, with a metallic gloss, resembling in this 

 respect, as well as in their habits, the humming-birds of America which to a certain 

 degree they represent in the Old World. They feed on tiny insects, which they 

 capture with their tongues in flowers, as well as on honey. They do not, however, 

 hover like humming-birds over flowers, but cling to them after the manner of tits. 

 In this -group the sexes differ in plumage, and the nest is pensile. 



In the spider-hunters, on the other hand, the plumage lacks 

 a gloss, the two sexes are alike, and the nest is attached by its 

 rim to a broad leaf. These birds are represented by numerous species in India and 

 the islands of the Malay Archipelago ; a striking member of the group being the 

 little spider-hunter {Arachnothera longirostris), the range of which extends from 

 the Western Ghats of India to the Malay Archipelago. 



The allied* group of white-eyes have, like the flower- 

 peckers and the sun-birds, the tongue adapted for catching minute 

 insects and sucking honey. This organ is extensile and forked at the tip, where it 

 is provided with a brush of horny fibres. In general colour these birds are green, 

 but they take their name from the white rings encircling their eyes. They are 

 represented by about sixty species distributed over the tropical countries of Africa 

 and Asia, the groups of islands belonging to both, and the whole of the Australian 

 area. The Siamese white-eye (Zosterops siamensis) inhabits the forests and gardens 

 of southern Pegu, Tenasserim, Siam, and Cochin China. These birds dwell in small 



