422 BIRDS OCCURRING IN INDIA NOT DESCRIBED 



763— Otocoris pencillata, Gould. 



It appears to me, as already noted, S. F., I., 529, that 

 Otocoris pencillata, Gould, and 0. longirostris, Moore, Nos. 763 

 and 764 of Jerdon, are quite inseparable. All that can be said 

 is, that the birds from the high hilly country have somewhat 

 longer bills and are, perhaps, slightly larger birds than those 

 of the flat country of Yarkand and westwards. 



I considered (S. F., I., 36) — and Mr. Blanford concurred in 

 this view {torn, cit, 417j — that his 0. elwesi was identical with 

 •pencillata, i.e., longirostris. 



Mr. Dresser, however, in his " Birds of Europe," Pt. XXXIIL, 

 Art. 0. bilopha, considers Mr. Blanford's bird to be identical with 

 0. alpestris, which should, according to this view, be included 

 in our avifauna. 



I do not agree with Mr. Dresser ; if 0. alpestris is separa- 

 ble from 0. pencillata, then it is to the latter and not the 

 former that 0. elwesi should be assigned. 



There is no good description in Jerdon of either pencillata 

 or longirostris, and I therefore reproduce from " Lahore to 

 Yarkand" my description of the species founded on a large 

 series of Himalayan and Yarkand specimens. 



Dimensions. — Male. — Length, 8*5 ; expanse, 14'5 ; wing, 5*2 ; 

 first three primaries sub-equal; first slightly longest ; fourth, O'l ; 

 fifth, 0'55 ; sixth, 1*0 shorter than first ; tail from vent, 3*75 ; 

 bill at front, 0*55 ; from gape, 08 ; tarsus, 0"92 ; mid-toe to 

 root of claw, 0*55 ; its claw, straight from root to point, 

 0*35 ; hind toe to root of claw, 0*3 1 ; its claw, 055. 



Female. — Length, 7 ; wing, 4*5 ; proportions of primaries, 

 similar to those of the male ; tail from vent, 2*75 to 3* ; bill 

 at front, 0*5 ; from gape, 0*65 ; tarsus, 0*8 ; mid-toe to root 

 of claw, 0*46 ; its claw straight from root to point, G - 27 ; hind 

 toe, 0*3 ; its claw, 0*37. 



Description. — Bill, upper mandible and tip of lower, blackish 

 brown ; rest of lower mandible bluish, tinged yellow towards 

 the base. 



Plumage. — Male, fresh -moulted, killed 9th October. — Lores, 

 narrow band on the forehead, a broad cheek stripe running partly 

 down the sides of the neck, the whole of the upper breast, a 

 bar across the front of the crown, and the streak on each side 

 of the crown (some of the feathers of which are linear, pointed 

 and fully 0*6 in length), and a small streak under the eye 

 joining into the cheek stripe, velvet black, the bar on the 

 front of the crown above being partly obscured owing to the 

 tips of the feathers being vinaceous ashy ; forehead, between 

 the two black hands, a broad streak over the eye extending 



