BIRDS OF TENASSERIM. 245 



a habit of jerking up its tail and dropping its wings slightly as 

 it hops along, which I have never observed in its congeners. 



As above mentioned, it is almost exclusively aground bird, but 

 one evening I shot a male high up in a tree ; it attracted my at- 

 tention^ by the peculiar short double note it was uttering, quite 

 unlike its ordinary note, and every time it uttered it, it flapped 

 its wings and jerked up its tail. Usually it is found singly, oc- 

 casionally a couple together. During the morning and eVenino- 

 they call, and may then be heard answering one another in all 

 directions. 



They do notbreed, I think, within our limits, but go proba- 

 bly to Siamor iuto the higher portions of the hills dividing Siam 

 from Tenasserim. At any rate specimens dissected in° April, 

 May and June showed no signs of breeding.— W. D.] 



346 ter.— Anthocincla phayrei, Blyth. (3). Male. 

 Descr. S. F., III., 109, pi. 2. ' 



(Tonghoo, Phayre.) Dargwin ; Sinzaway Reserve ; Younzaleen ; Wimpong. 



Very sparingly distributed in suitable localities throughout 

 the northern and central portions of the province, 



[A very rare bird in Tenasserim, and confined apparently to 

 the plains and low hills. I have seen it only some half a dozen 

 times. It has all the habits of a true Pitta, keeping and feed- 

 ing, so far as I have observed, exclusively on the ground. It 

 affects moderately thin tree jungle. I observed it on one occa- 

 sion close to Meetan. I have never, that I am aware, heard the 

 note of this Thrush.— W. D.] 



I formerly described the male from Dargwin in the Salween 

 District, a place about 120 miles north of Moulmein. Another 

 male, kindly shot for me by Captain Bingham in the Sin- 

 zaway forests near Pahpoon, measured in the flesh : — 



_ Length, 9 ; expanse, 13'4 ; wing, 3'9 ; tail, 23 ; tarsus, 12 ; 

 bill from gape, 1*6. 



The plumage and the colors of the soft parts were as in the 

 specimen originally described. 



A female shot at Wimpong, fifteen miles south-east of Thatone, 

 measured :— Length, 9 ; wing, 3*9 ; tail, 235 ; tarsus, 1-2; bill 

 to forehead, 1*4. 



The female only differs from the male in having the breast 

 and sides more densely black spotted, in having the ear-coverts 

 much the same color as the back, only a little pencilled with 

 blackish dusky instead of, as in the male, black, a little pencilled 

 with the color of the back, and in having the nape, occiput, 

 and middle of the crown unicolorous with the back instead of 

 jet black as in the male. The aigrettes are also a little shorter 

 and rather less pure white. The under tail-coverts are very 

 much more faintly tinged with red. 



