ASSAM, SYLHET AND CACHAR. 283 



The males have a rather sweet chirping song which they 

 pour forth in March and the early part of April perched on 

 the bare tops of small trees, and when a number are singing or 

 chirping together quite a pleasant little concert is produced. 



To the best of my belief they leave by the end of ^ April. 

 Neither in May nor June (I was little in the basin, it is true) 

 did I notice any. 



The following are details : — 



Length. Expanse. Tail. Wingi Tarsus, Bill frorr. gape. Weight. 



$ ... 6-5 9 6 2-7 3 01 0-82 0-53 081 oz. 



„ ... 6-6 9-6 2 6 3-03 08 0'52 88 ,, 



6 5 9-3 2-52 297 O'TB 05 0-84 ,, 



$ ... 6-1 9-3 2-4 2-8 08 0-5 071 „ 



„ ... 6-1 9-1 2-6 2-77 0-9 0-5 69 „ 



Legs and feet brown, darkest on feet ; upper mandible 

 blackish brown or dusky ; tip of lower mandible brown ; gape 

 and major portion of lower mandible pale horny fleshy, or 

 brownish white, or pinky horny ; irides brown. 



The changes of plumage of this species do not seem to be 

 understood. Jerdon is absolutely wrong in several particulars, 

 and Dresser very hazy. Whence he got the female he figures 

 I do not know. Out of some 400 specimens we have not one 

 anything like so grey. If his figure is correct it must be 

 summer plumage which we never see. 



The adult female scarcely varies at all from the 15th of 

 October to the 1st May. Individuals vary a good deal though 

 killed in the same month, but you can match every November 

 bird with some April bird, with two exceptions : these latter 

 are always a clearer yellow on the lower surface with less of 

 the brownish fulvous wash (with or without obsolete darker 

 striations) on the lower throat and breast, and are always a 

 colder and rather greyer brown on the upper surface. 



The females of the year, even as late as the next April, are 

 a colder brown above and a paler duller hue below, and 

 much more distinctly striated on the breast than the 

 adults. 



Now all through October, November and December, the 

 great body of the adult males are undistinguishable from the 

 adult females, but early in January the yellow of the lower 

 surface begins to brighten, the maroon gorget begins to peep 

 out, and maroon begins to appear on the tips of the ear-coverts 

 and the forehead and in the two crown stripes. By the end 

 of January the breast band is very clear, though the tips of 

 its feathers are still narrowly fringed with yellow ; the entire 

 cap, nape, rump and upper tail-coverts are maroon, though the 

 feathers are still excessively narrowly fringed with light brown ; 



