OF SOUTHERN TRAVANCORE. 37 



spicuously dark shafted, in not bavin g the ear-coverts Avhitish, 

 and in having- the under tail-coverts ferruginous like the abdo- 

 men and not olivaceous as jerdoni is said to have. I feel by no 

 means certain that the two will prove to be really distinct. 



The Travancore hill birds seem to differ slightly from the 

 Palni birds ; the crowns are not nearly so dark ; the ear-coverts 

 are browner, the sides of the neck olivaceous and not grey as in 

 the Palni birds ; and the throat and upper breast are much paler, 

 almost white in fact, and much more conspicuously paler shafted. 

 I have not a sufficient series to enable me to determine whether 

 these differences are constant aud sufficient to warrant their 

 separation, but I am inclined to doubt it. 



442.— Schcenicola platyura, Jerd. 



The re-discovery of this long lost species is one of the most 

 interesting results of Mr. Bourdillon's labours. 



He obtained one specimen, a female, on the 18th April in 

 open grass land at Colathoorpolay Patnas, at an elevation 

 of 3,800 feet in the Assamboo Hills, the southernmost section 

 of the Western Ghats, in fact about three degrees due south of 

 Goodalore where the lost type and hitherto unique specimen 

 was obtained, and in what is virtually a continuation, though, 

 broken, of the same range of hills. 



The specimen measured in the flesh : — 



Female. — Length, 5'75 ; expanse, 8 - ; wing, 2'5 ,• tail, 2*5; 

 tarsus, 0'88 ; hind toe and claw, 0*6 ; claw only, 0*29 ; mid toe 

 and claw, 0*83; inner and outer toes equal without claws, and 

 without claws, exactly equal to middle toe without claw and 

 terminal joint; claw of inner toe larger than that of outer 

 toe ; 3rd, 4th, and 5th quills equal, possibly 4th a shade 

 longer, 2nd quill 0'4, and 1st quill 0'9 shorter than 4th. 

 Vible portion of 1st quill, 0'8 long and about 0'2 wide. Tail 

 of ten feathers (in this specimen, and none seem wantino-) ; 

 feathers soft and very broad, much rounded ; two central pairs 

 about the same length, the three succeeding pairs each 0'25 

 shorter than preceding ; the lower tail-coverts are very full and 

 lax and extend just to the tips of the shortest tail feathers, or 

 to within 0'75 of the end of the tail. Bill almost precisely like 

 that of Dumeticola affinis, (to which the whole upper surface bears 

 a strong resemblance; but stouter ; culmen, from frontal bone 

 to tip, 58. 



The whole upper surface of the bird is a rich rufescent olive 

 brown, a shade browner and deeper colored than in Cetti's Warbler, 

 and perhaps the faintest shade less rufescent than in Dumeticola 

 afinis and bruneipectus. The crown and tail are rather browner ; 

 the tail obsoletely rayed darker. The inner webs of the quills 



