208 LIST OF BIRDS IN MANIPUR, 



cold weather, while none have it in the summer; it is seasonal 

 as I explained in the case of the Suyas, and, as I shall 

 hereafter show, in the case of many, if not all, of the Prinias. 

 I give particulars of two males killed on the 13th March, 

 both still showing a dingy supercilium (in December and 

 January birds it is very white and pure ), I note the date 

 because the colour of the soft parts also change with the 

 season : — 



Legs and feet fleshy buff; claws browner; bill entirely 

 black ; irides yellow with an orange tinge. 



This species seems to be universally distributed in all 

 suitable localities throughout the plains portion of Assam, 

 Sylhet and Cachar. 



[This species is common in all the " pathars " where these 

 are uncultivated and covered with a coarse kind of grass. 

 During the breeding season (the rains) the inside of the 

 mouth becomes black, and this is the case with all the species 

 of Prinias I have shot. They are difficult birds to preserve, 

 as they generally are blown to pieces, and others again are 

 never retrieved, being lost amongst the dense cover they 

 frequent. — J. E,. C] 



It is equally widely spread throughout British Burmah, but 

 there are here wide tracts, hills or dry plains where it is 

 unknown, and it is only in the south of Arakan, in Southern 

 Pegu and; Southern Tenasserim, so far as I know, that it is at 

 all common. 



In Assam we find also 534. — Prima socialis, Sykes, or rather 

 a bird intermediate in size between this, the Southern Indian 

 form, and 535. — P. steioaiti, Bly., the dry up-country race. 

 I have it only from Shillong, but God win- Austen seems to 

 have got it in the East Naga hills, and found it common in 

 the Darrang district, in the shorter grass near the bases 

 of the Dafla hills from the Burrie river to the Bishnath plain. 

 I have no further record of its distribution in Assam, Sylhet or 

 Cachar, nor do I know that it extends to any part of British 

 Burmah, 



538.— Prinia hodgsoni, Bly. (1844). 



When I first began shooting in the Manipur valley, in February 

 I found P. rufula, God.-Aust, very common, but somewhat 



