A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF NEPAL. 291- 



very rapidly and noiselessly amongst tlie bushes it frequents, 

 and its note is subdued and not unmusical. 



425.— Trochalopterum lineatum, Fig. 



Two males, Valley, June and November, — Length, 8'2 ; ex- 

 panse, 9'55 and 9*8 ; wing, 3'05 and 3*16; tail, 3'6 and 3*8 ; 

 tarsus, 1*05 and I'l ; bill from gape, 0'85 and 09 ; bill at 

 front, 0"55 and 0"65 ; closed wings short of tail, 2*3 and 3'0. 



Three females, Valley, May, June and August, — Length, 7'7 

 to 8-1 ; expanse, 8-9 to 9-3 ; wing, 2*85 to 2 9 ; tail, 3*6 to 3-8 ; 

 tarsus, 0-95 to 1'05 ; bill from gape, 0'8 to 0'85 ; bill at front, 

 0*54 to 0"62 ; closed wings short of tail, 2"5 to 2"9. 



Bill dusky; the base of the lower mandible greyish or brown- 

 ish horny ; irides brown or reddish brown ; feet fleshy brown ; 

 claws livid horny. 



These birds differ from specimens shot in Kashmir in 

 having the head darker and with more marked glistening 

 blackish shafts to the feathers ; the chin, throat, and breast 

 are rufous, whereas Kashmir examples have the chin whitish, 

 and the throat and breast tinged with grey. Compared 

 with numerous specimens from Simla and Koteghur, in Mr. 

 Hume's museum, the difference is not so marked, but still 

 the Nepal birds are all more deeply coloured. Two specimens 

 in Mr. Hume's collection, labelled Trochalopteron imbricatum, 

 ''Dolaka, Nepal, January 1 87 5,'^ are identical with my birds. 

 Mr. Hodgson gives a figure of a bird, obtained in the Kachar 

 of Nepal, which he calls setafer, and this is quite distinct from 

 lineatum ; but then he figures what is obviously the Nepal race 

 oi lineatum, -Andi Q2^s, \i -aUo setafer. In "Nests and Eggs," 

 p. 266, Mr. Hume enters '^ Trochalopteron imbricatum, Hodgson," ' 

 and quotes Mr. Hodgson^s notes to the effect that it breeds 

 commonly in the central region of Nepal during April and 

 May. Now imbricatum is, I apprehend, a title bestowed by 

 Blyth and not by Hodgson ; and the description of the nest 

 and eggs quoted by Mr. Hume most probably refers to lineatum 

 which breeds in the valley of Nepal. I conclude that my five 

 specimens entered above, and the two specimens in Mr. Hume"'s 

 museum from Dolaka, are simply a local deep-tinted race of 

 lineatum quite unworthy of specific separation from the western 

 form of that species; and that Mr. Hodgson, having confound- 

 ed two very distinct species (judging only from his drawings) 

 under the same name, it follows that, unless his published des- 

 cription of setafer agrees with his type specimen from the 

 Kachar, or Upper Northern region of Nepal, that name can- 

 not be retained. It is to be hoped that some one will examine; 

 the types of setafer and of Garulax imbricatus, Blyth, and clear' 



