ASSAM, SYLHET AND CACHAR. 281 



Here they were much more numerous than this latter, and 



even in the Manipur basin, all over which we occasionally 



found them, this was, though in a lesser degree, the case. They 



were, however, more difficult to shoot, they clung even more 



closely to cover, and when roused flew only a few yards 



and immediately dropped. The white of the inner web of 



the external tail-feather shows out very conspicuously when 



they fly. They affected precisely the same localities as 



fucata, and in Manipur (it is very different elsewhere) we 



almost invariably found the two together. 



The following are particulars of those 1 measured : — 



Length. Expanse. Tail, Wing. Tarsus, Bill from gape. Weight. 



$ ... 5-5 8 5 2 3 2-65 0-65 04 0-47 oz. 



„ ... 5-7 8-6 2-4 2 77 061 0-4 0*45 „ 



„ ... 69 8-6 2-3 2-8 0*7 0'4 0'5l ,, 



5-83 8-7 2-4 275 07 1 0-46 0-6 „ 



? ... 5-7 8-6 23 2-68 0'62 0*44 0'48 „ 



Legs and feet brownish fleshy to pale fleshy pink ; claws 

 browner ; upper and tip of lower mandible pale to darkish 

 brown ; rest of lower mandible and gape pale horny pink, 

 or pale bluish horny, with or without a pinky tinge, or pale 

 brownish fleshy ; irides brown. 



Taking a large series I cannot discover any constant 

 difference between the sexes, though the crowns in the 

 females are commonly rather duller coloured, and in many 

 cases 1 by this predicted the sex correctly previous to 

 dissection. 



I found numbers of this species in a dense reed grass and 

 scrub belt that lined the sloping banks of a loilg tank-like 

 hollow, manifestly a portion of some old river bed a few miles 

 east of Phenchooganj in Central Sylhet. There were no 

 fucata here. I got it again near Karimganj, and twice in the 

 Cachar district, and I had previously received it from 

 Shillong and from Joonkotollee in the Dibrugarh district, 

 and Godwin- Austen records it from the base of the Garo 

 hills, and says it was one of the commonest birds in the Naga 

 hills at from three to five thousand feet elevation. 



Occurring, thus, almost at sea level in Sylhet, it is curious 

 that in British Burmah we only know of its occurrence at 

 above 5,000 feet on Mooleyit in Central Tenasserim. Kamsay, 

 however, got it in Karenee at 5,500 feet. We never once 

 observed it on the bills, Eastern or Western, in 

 Manipur. 



[This species is the commonest Bunting in Dibrugarh, and 

 affects drier cover than the others. The white on the tail- 

 feathers is very conspicuous when in flight in these birds. 



36 



