A LIST OF THE BIRDS OF PEGU. 209 
213.—Chatarrhea gularis, Bly. (439 dis.) 
Confined to the Thyetmyo and Prome districts up to the 
foot of the hills. Particularly abundant in Thyetmyo itself, 
and fairly common elsewhere. 
214.—Megalurus palustris, Horsf. (440.) 
Very common in the grass plains west of the canal and extend- 
ing south of the canal some distance, possibly as far as Rangoon. 
It does not seem to be known that the sexes differ not only in 
size, but also very markedly in colouration.* Iam sorry my 
specimens are all packed up, and that I cannot describe them in 
this paper. 
215.—Criniger griseiceps, Hume. (451 dis.) 
A common bird in all the forests on the eastern slopes of the 
Pegu hills. 
I received three specimens of a Criniger from Mr. deWet, 
who shot them only a few miles east of Tounghoo, and _conse- 
quently outside my limits. They agree exactly with flaveolus 
from the Himalayas, with the exception of the crest, which is 
conspicuously tipped yellow. I note that Mr. Blyth records 
flaveolus from Tenasserim.f Neither Mr. Davison nor Captain 
Ramsay appear to have found it. 
216.—Ixus davisoni, Hume. (452 quat.) 
Confined to the southern portions of the province. I have 
procured it at Rangoon, and all the way up the road to Pegu. 
Also at Kyeikpadein. Dr. Armstrong procured it at Elephant 
* This latter is certainly not generally known, nor is it in my opinion a fact, The 
bird being specially familiar to me, I was much surprised when I read Mr. Oates’ 
remark as to the sexes differing materially in colouration—but livé and learn—I deter- 
mined at once to make up, by careful study, for my past ignorance. I had lying 
handy a large series of this species killed and sexed by myself in Manipur, I examined 
these, but could detect no sexual difference in plumage. Then I turned out between 
thirty and forty of each sex, from various parts of India, Assam and Burma, but 
here too failed to discover any trace of what Mr. Oates contends for. I found 
that specimens of both sexes varied in colouration to an extraordinary extent; first 
according to season, from the warm rufescent streakless head, nape and extreme 
upper back, with unspotted, often yellow, throat and breast, and uniform fulvous 
brown, lower parts of the freshly moulted bird to the cold greyish brown strongly 
streaked head, white throat, strongly spotted or streaked lower throat and upper 
breast and dingy white lower parts of some of the April and May birds; and 
second according to individuals, birds of the same (as well different) sexes shot at 
the same place on the same date, differing very markedly both in tone of colour 
and in the character and intensity of the streakings of the upper surface (especi- 
ally of the crown), and the spottings, if I may so call the markings, on the lower. 
throat and upper breast. But I have been able to find no male that I could not 
match with some female, and no female that I could not match with some male.— 
Ep., S. F. 
+ Griseiceps had not then been discriminated. There is little doubt that the’ 
birds Blyth referred to were really griseiceps. In those days, we knew so little of 
the possible variations of what are now common Himalayan birds, that small 
differences were not much attended to.—Hp., S. I’. 
