386 BIRDS OCCURRING IN INDIA NOT DESCRIBED 



437 bis.— Layardia rufescens, Blyth. 



Colour deep brown above, with no admixture of grey except 

 on the crown and bordering 1 the primaries ; flanks, abdomen, 

 and lower tail-coverts much the same, but the throat and breast 

 vinaceous brown ; bill, orbital skin and feet bright orange- 

 yellow ; irides white. Length about 10 inches; wing, 4 inches; 

 tail, 5 inches ; its outermost feathers, 1*75 inches less ; bill to 

 gape, 1 inch ; tarsi, 1*37 inch. — Blyth, Ibis, 1867, 300. 



453 bis. — Spizixos canifrons, Blyth. 



Spizixos, nobis, n. g. — General structure of Pycnonotus, but 

 differing greatly in the shortness and (for a member of this 

 group) extraordinary thickness of the bill, the lateral outline 

 of which approaches that of Conostoma aemodium, Hodgson, 

 except that the tip of the upper mandible curves more decidedly 

 downward over that of the lower mandible, being also pointed 

 and distinctly notched, with a sinuation corresponding to the 

 notch in the lower mandible : as viewed from above, however, 

 the resemblance to the beak of the Conostoma ceases, for that 

 of the present bird narrows evenly to a point from a tolerably 

 wide base ; the ridge of the upper mandible is obtusely angu- 

 lated, and it is distinctly arched, rising at base where concealed 

 by the feathers of the forehead. Rest as in Pycnonotus, but 

 approaching to Criniger. 



Sp. canifrons, nobis.- — Length about eight inches, of wing 

 probably three and three-quarters (but the first primaries were 

 growing in the specimen), and of tail three and a half ; bill 

 to forehead a little exceeding half an inch, and to gape three- 

 quarters ; tarsi also three-quarters of an inch. General colour 

 bright olive green, becoming yellowish-green and more vivid 

 on the rump and margins of the primaries, and inclining also 

 to yellow on the belly, and more decidedly on the lower tail- 

 coverts ; forehead and chin pale ashy ; the nape, with the sides 

 and front of the neck, somewhat darker, passing into blackish 

 on the throat ; and the crown black, its feathers lengthened to 

 form a crest nearly an inch high ; tail-feathers largely tipped 

 with blackish ; bill yellow ; and legs brown. 



Hab. — Oherra Poonjee, or the hill ranges bordering on 

 Sylhet to the northward.— Blyth, J. A. S. B., 1845, 571. 



