BIRDS OF UPPER PEGU. 93 



267.— Hemipus picatus, Sykes. 



Specimens, male and female, (the latter being, as already 

 noticed, Stray Feathers, 1873, p. 435, the supposed capitalis of 

 McClelland,) sent from Thayetmyo, differ in no respect from 

 others from various parts of India, from Ceylon to Nipal. 



Mr. Oates says : " I shot a pair about ten miles due east of 

 Thayetmyo, and met with it again in the Evergreen Forest. It is 

 not at all common : the sexes do not appear to differ in size. Speci- 

 mens of both measured: Length, 5*35 to 5'45 ; expanse, 7*6; 

 tail, from vent, 2'3 to 2'4; wing, 2*3 to 2*4; bill, from 

 gape, 0-7. 



" A male had the bill black ; the inside of the mouth, bluish 

 black ; the irides, hazel ; eyelids, grey ; legs, plumbeous brown ; 

 claws, horny. The female was similar, except that the inside of 

 the mouth was dusky fleshy." 



268 bis.— Volvocivora avensis, Blyth. 



This species was originally described by Blyth (Journal, Asiatic 

 Society, 1846, p. 307) under the designation of melanoptem , 

 from specimens sent from Arracan by Captain Phayre. Russell, 

 however, had pre-occupied this name for an Australian species, 

 and Blyth changed it to the one above quoted. This has also 

 been sent from Tenasserim by Dr. Heifer; and now we have it 

 from Pegu, where Mr. Oates says that it is "a tolerably common 

 bird. I have always found it solitary, searching for insects in 

 densely foliaged trees. It extends over the Pegu Hills, and I 

 procured an adult male in Pegu town on the 11th March. Speci- 

 mens of both sexes measured by me varied as follows : Length, 

 8*55 to 9*3; expanse, 13 to 13"6; tail, from vent, 3'9to4 - 2; wing, 

 4-2 to 4-35; bill, from gape, 0*86 to 0-91; tarsus, 0*8 to 0-9. 

 The bill is black ; the inside of the mouth, fleshy yellow ; irides, 

 dull red ; eyelids, plumbeous ; feet and claws, black. The front 

 of the tarsus in many birds has a metallic gloss." 



This species, in the case of the adult male, has the entire head, 

 neck all round, breast, back, scapulars, rump, and upper tail coverts, 

 pale iron grey, much paler than in melaschistos , and of about the 

 same color as the back in ISykesii. The wings and tail, black, 

 with a greenish metallic lustre ; the former, with most of the 

 quills, excessively narrowly margined with white on the outer 

 webs, most conspicuous on the second primary and on the later 

 secondaries, and with the lesser coverts, especially towards the 

 shoulder of the wing, tinged with iron grey ; and the tail, with 

 all the feathers, tipped with white, the central pair almost 

 obsoletely so, and the exterior lateral ones broadly so; the 

 abdomen, greyish white, turning to pure white on the vent and 

 lower tail coverts. The central tail feathers a good deal suffused 



