BIRDS OP UPPER PEGU. 123 



black and white ; and in others again (and this was the form that 

 Blyth long- ago separated as melanotis) they are entirely black. 

 This does not appear to be a sexual difference : to the best of my 

 remembrance both sexes vary equally in this respect. Is it seasonal, 

 or is it due to age ? This is a problem I should like to see solved. 



There is another problem scarcely less puzzling, and that is 

 the relation of the present species to moniliger, Hodgson. This 

 latter is nothing but a smaller race of pectoralis j which it matches 

 feather for feather; its ear coverts vary just as those of pectoralis 

 do, but it is very distinctly smaller, and has a wing fully half 

 an inch shorter. It might be supposed that these were different 

 sexes of the same species, but this is certainly not the case ; we 

 have both sexes of each race. 



If these races occurred in different localities, the matter would 

 be comparatively easy ; but, as far as I know, wherever the one 

 is found the other also occurs, and this is certainly the case in 

 Sikhim, in the Bhootan Dhooars, in Assam, the Tipperah Hills, 

 and Pegu. 



How are we to explain these two persistent differently-sized 

 races, precisely similar in every other respect, living side by side, 

 and yet apparently not interbreeding? At any rate, I have never 

 seen a specimen intermediate in size between the two races. 



Mr. Oates says : " Within our limits this species is as common 

 as Belangeri, and of similar habits. I found tbe nest of this bird 

 on the 27th April. The nest I have already described in Nests 

 and Eggs, Pt. II. A pair I shot measured as follows : — 



"Male: Length, 12*7; expanse, 17; tail, from vent, 5*1; 

 wing, 5'7 ; bill, from gape, 1'5 ; tarsus, P95. 



" Female: Length, 12; expanse, 17; tail, from vent, 5; wing, 

 5 - 7 ; bill, from gape, 1"5 j tarsus, 1*8. 



" The hides are reddish brown; the upper mandible, dark brown ; 

 lower mandible, bluish horny at base and tip, darker in the middle; 

 inside of mouth, bluish fleshy; eyelids and bare patch behind, 

 grey ; edges of eyelids, orange yellow ; legs, light plumbeous ; 

 claws, bluish white. " 



413. — Garrulax moniliger, Bodgs. 



Identical with specimens from other localities referred to in 

 the preceding. 



Mr. Oates remarks : " This species is not so common as pecfc- 

 ralis, but is of the same distribution. I shot one female off her 

 nest on the 27th April in the Pegu Hills. The nest is described 

 in Nests and Eggs, Pt. II. A pair I shot measured as follows : — 



"Male: Length, 12 ; expanse, 15*2; tail, from vent, 4*8; 

 wing, 5 ; bill, from gape, 1*3; tarsus, 1*74*. 



"Female: Length, 11*2 • expanse, 14*3 j tail, 4*7 ; wing-, 4 - 6; 

 bill, from gape, 1*3* tarsus, 1*72. 



