r ON AN OVERLOOKED SPECIES OF REGULOIDES. 129 



Museum obtained near Calcutta. These all showed that the fine 

 dark markings of the head fade very rapidly. 



This appearance of tbe head, coupled with the bright plumage 

 of the birds, led Mr. Hume to think he had got a new Regu- 

 hides ; but this is not the case, I think, and the brown-headed 

 bird of the North- West, hitherto standing unchallenged as Regu- 

 loides superciliosus, is the new bird, if new it can be called, and 

 at any rate the one which is now in want of a name. 



The brightest North-West example I ever obtained, I sent to 

 Mr. Dresser ; and it is referred to in Birds of Europe. 



I shall quote the entire description of the species from Mr. 

 Dresser's work : — 



Reguloides superciliosus. 



ic Adult male in breeding plumage (Lake Baikal, May 22nd.) 

 Crown, nape, back, and scapulars greyish olive ; rump and 

 upper tail-coverts washed with green ; wings dull dark brown ; 

 all the quills, except the inner secondaries, edged with yellow- 

 ish green on the outer web ; inner secondaries slightly, and 

 larger and median wing-coverts broadly, tipped with white, 

 slightly shaded with sulphur yellow ; rectrices dull dark brown, 

 narrowly edged on the outer web with pale yellowish green ; 

 sides of the face white, intermixed with greyish olive ; from 

 the base of the bill over the eye to the nape, a tolerably broad 

 dirty white stripe ; underparts including chin and throat white, 

 on the flanks washed with greenish grey ; bill dark brown ; iris 

 dark brown ; legs light brown. Total length about 3£ inches ; 

 culmen, 045 ; wing, 21 ; tail, 1'7 ; tarsus, 0*7 ; first primary 

 short, but 0'25 longer than the wing-coverts and 0*9 shorter 

 than the second, which is 0*3 less than the third ; third and 

 fourth about equal, being the longest. 



ie Adult male in autumn (Darasun, 29th August) differs from 

 the above-described bird in having the upper parts very much 

 greener, the tips to the wing-coverts and secondaries, and the 

 stripe over the eye (which latter is large and clearly developed) 

 being bright sulphur yellow instead of white ; flanks washed 

 with pale greenish yellow, with but little trace of grey. A 

 specimen shot by Mr. W. E. Brooks, of Etawah, on the loth 

 October, has the upper parts duller than the bird killed in 

 August above described ; the margins to the wing-coverts and 

 secondaries are dull yellowish buff; the superciliary stripe is 

 yellowish buff ; and the flanks and breast are washed with pale 

 buff with a yellowish tinge. 



"Female, — Similar to the male, but a trifle duller in colour." 



I have given in italics the part of the above description relat- 

 ing to the Etawah bird, that I wish to be noted. I have not 

 seen a brighter-coloured specimen of the North- West bird. 



17 



