196 Contributions to the Ornithology of India, Sfc. 



rufous. P. tristis has the upper parts brown, paler than P. fns- 

 catus, and with scarcely any olivaceous tinge, and the wing 

 lining and axillaries, pale primrose yellow. 



*' The third, hitherto unnoticed species, which I call P. neg- 

 lectiis, has the upper surface a grey earthy brown (the color of 

 Phyllopneuste ramd) , and the wing lining and axillaries white. 

 In dimensions and structure (and in plumage with the above 

 exceptions) P. neglecim agrees pretty closely with P. tristis. 



" P. neglectus is common in the cold weather in the Punjab, 

 and in the Doab, at least, as low down as Agra ; but hitherto 

 I have seen no specimens from Central India or the Lower 

 Doab." 



This tiny little leaf-hunter, the smallest of the whole group, 

 is not uncommon along the banks of the Indus, and through- 

 out Upper Sindh where ever thick clumps of the babul {Acacia 

 Arahica) are met with. It is a very silent, self-concealing bird, s^ 

 creeping about amongst the feathery leaves of the acacia, 

 and very difficult to secure. The bird is too often either so 

 blown to pieces as to be past preservation, or else escapes al- 

 together. Even when a tolerable specimen is obtained, it is 

 difficult beyond measure, so delicate is tlie skin, to preserve it, 

 and though I must have shot at more than twenty birds, I Ot; 

 only brought home with me four specimens, and two of these 

 far from satisfactory ones. <^ 



The fresh bird Can never be mistaken, so tiny is it, for any " ^ 

 of the other Phjlloscopi ; tristis, which at first sight, it most ^ 

 closely resembles, weighs, on the average, fully double as much ; -^ 

 tristis varies from 0*3 to 0*4 oz., neglectus, from 0'15 to less than ^ 

 0'25 oz. The following are dimensions, (the sexes not varying '^1 

 appreciably, though the female is a trifle the largest) of speci- ^ 

 mens measured in the flesh. 



Length, 4 to 4-3 ; expanse, 6 • 35 to 6 '4 ; tail, from vent, 1*4 to 

 1-6; wing, barely 2 to 2-15; bill, at front, 0-27 to 0-3; tarsus, 0-68 

 to 0'71. The frourth primary, the longest ; the third and fifth, a 

 hair's-breadth shorter; the second, 0*26 to 0*3; and the first 1 to ^ 

 I'l shorter than the fourth; the irides arebrown ; the legs and ^ 

 feet black ; the bill black, paler, or horny greenish in some, at the x 

 base of the lower mandible. The lores are brownish white; a com- 

 paratively pure and very narrow white streak runs from the 

 nostrils over the lores and eyes, but not beyond. The whole upper 

 surface is dull earthy brown, with, in some, a faintly olivaceous 

 rufescent tinge on the back, most couspicuous on the rump ; the 

 quills and tail are a moderately dark hair-brown, narrowly mar- 

 gined on the outer webs with pale olivaceous brown, much the 

 same color as the upper parts ; the secondaries are very narrowly 



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