BIRDS OF TENASSERIM. 335 



never striated. I have tested this fact in about two hundred 

 specimens. M. rubicola, on the other hand, the feathers of 

 these parts are, it seems to me, equally invariably more or less 

 dark centered, generally very conspicuously so, always as far as 

 I can judge recognizably so, and Blyth's name must of course 

 stand. 



All the Tenasserim specimens belong to the smaller race. I 

 do not find amongst them a single one of the larger birds 

 called robusta by Tristram, so common in Assam and North- 

 Eastern Bengal. I have already fully discussed this supposed 

 species, S. R, V., 242, et seq., and need therefore say no more 

 about it here. 



484 — Pratincola leucura, Blyth. 



Davison found this species common in jheels in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Pahpoon, but somehow omitted to preserve speci- 

 mens. Major Lloyd procured it at Tonghoo. A rare visitant 

 to the northern portions of the province. 



486.— Pratincola ferrea, Hodgs. (6). 



("Tonghoo, Tonghoo Bills, Karennee, from 2,500 to 4,000 feet, Earns.) Pah- 

 choung ; Pine forests, Salween 5 Kyouk-nyat. 



Confined to quite the northern portions of the province and 

 not common there. 



In fact all Pratincolas are comparatively rare in Tenasserim. 



507 6is.— Larvivora cyane, Pall. (31). 



Kollidoo ; Dargwin ; Pabpoon ; Endingnone ; Yea ; Hankachin ; Fakcban ; 



Bankasoon ; Malewoon. 



Sparingly distributed throughout the better-wooded por- 

 tions of the province, but not ascending the hills. 



[This bird occurs in the better-wooded portions of the 

 province, but does not ascend the higher hills. Usually it is 

 found singly, occasionally in pairs, keeping entirely to the 

 ground, where it hops about hunting among the dead leaves 

 for insects, on which alone it lives. It is by no means a shy 

 bird, and when disturbed it hops away after the manner of 

 a Pitta, stopping every few yards, with a low chuck, chuck, 

 chuck, repeated very quickly, jerking its tail up and down at 

 the same time. Occasionally, when disturbed, it will fly up on 

 to a low branch, but it drops almost immediately to the 

 ground and hops away. The only note I ever heard it utter 

 was the chuck, chuck, chuck, above alluded to. — W. D.] 



