128 LIST OF BIRDS IN MANIPUR, 



In the young male approaching maturity the upper surface is 

 slatey, but still with an olive shade, and the head though darkest 

 is most olive ; the ground of the chin and throat is white, as 

 in the young (not the youngest) females, but the ground of 

 the entire upper breast (where the black will be in the 

 perfect adult} is a pure iron grey, unmixed with olive or 

 ferruginous, and it is largely spotted with black. 



In the Dibrugarh district this species appears to be rather 

 rare, though I have several specimens thence, and Godwin- 

 Austen records it from the Garo hills ; but beyond these I have no 

 knowledge of its occurrence anywhere in Assam, Sylhet or 

 Cachar, nor do I know of its having been as yet observed any- 

 where in British Burmah. 



[I procured three specimens in all from the Dibrugarh 

 district, where it is rare, and evidently only an occasional visit- 

 ant, my birds being shot in January, 1880, among the coolie 

 lines ; — 



Length. Expame. Tail. Wing, Tarsnx. Bill from gape. Weight. 



$ ... 865 14-0 3-15 4-60 110 112 2-0 ozs. 



$ ... 9-0 13 75 3 20 4-65 1-20 1 18 2-40 „ 



? ... 8-70 14-0 3-10 4-60 M5 112 2-35 ,, 



Soft parts coloured as in Mr. Hume's specimens from Mani- 

 pur.— J. R. C] 



361.— Merula boulboul, Lath. 



I shot a pair of these and saw two or three others in the 

 wooded slopes of the Barak valley in the Western hills, but 

 I never again met with them in Manipur. I did not preserve 

 the specimens, as there could be no mistake about the species, 

 and our hands were overfull, but I measured them with the 

 following results : — 



Male. — Legs and feet brownish orange ; bill orange red ; 

 irides brown ; edges of lids orange yellow. 



Female. — Legs and feet yellowish brown ; bill dark brown, 

 yellow at edges and gape ; irides brown ; edges of lids pale 

 yellow. 



I noted that both birds (like Sikhim specimens) were of a 

 darker tint than our Simla ones. 



I have this species from N.-E. Cachar and Shillong, but 

 there is as yet no other record of its occurrence in Assam, 

 Sylhet or Cachar, and it is not known to extend to British 

 Burmah. 



