400 A FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS 
445.—Hypsipetes ganeesa, Sykes. 
“Very abundant at the higher elevations, and found also, 
though in smallnumbers at the foot of the hills. They are 
gregarious and very noisy birds, apparently preferring tbe tops 
of high trees, though they feed also on berries, &c., found in 
the secondary jungle.—F’. W. B.” 
Doubts having been again raised of late years as to the 
specific identity of Hypsipetes neilgheriensis of Jerdon, and 
Hi. ganeesa, Sykes. I have carefully compared seven speci- 
mens from Mahabaleshwar, with nine from the Neilgherries, three 
from the Assamboo Hills, and four from Ceylon. I find that 
adults and young birds from the three former localities are 
precisely similar; in the younger birds, the wings are browner, 
and the bills smaller, but there is no difficulty in matching 
every Mahabaleshwar bird with some Neilgherry one. Birds 
from Ceylon are in all respects, but one, identical with those 
from the other localities, but they certainly do appear to have 
somewhat larger bills. 
I entertain no doubt that the birds from all these localities 
should henceforth stand under Sykes’ name of H. ganeesa. 
450.—Criniger ictericus, Strickl. 
“A very common bird chiefly frequenting secondary jungle, 
wandering about in small flocks and feeding almost entirely on 
seeds and fruits.—F. W. B.”’ 
464.—Phyllornis malabarica, Lath. 
“ A common bird in open jungle with large trees. The male 
makes an attempt to sing, uttering a few notes, something like 
those of the Bronzed Drongo (Chaptia enea).—F. W. B.” 
469.— Irena puella, Lath. 
“ One of our commonest birds, occurring in the jungles at the 
foot of the hills and up to 3,000 feet. Both sexes have a clear 
twittering note which they utter from the top of some tree 
shortly before sunset, and during the breeding season throughout 
the greater part of the day. Their food consists partly of 
insects and partly of berries. Their breeding season is Feb- 
ruary and March, and I have obtained fresh eggs as late as 
April. A note of a nest taken appears in the rough draft of 
Mr. Hume’s “Nests and Eggs” of Indian birds, p. 298.— 
BF. Way 
A male measured :—Length, 9°5 ; expanse, 15°5; wing, 4:95; 
tail, 4:12; tarsus, 0°67 ; bill from feathers, 0°87; from base of 
skull, 1:07; lower tail coverts fall 1:17 short of end of tail ; 
upper tail coverts 1°8 short of end of tail. 
