398 NOTES ON SOME BIRDS COLLECTED ON THE NILGHIRIS 
Female.—Length, 7°71; expanse, 11°41; tail, 3-18; wings, 
3°3; tarsus, 1°] ; bill from gape, 0°9 ; weight, 1-05 02. 
Irides wood brown ; > Upper mandible black 5 lower mandible 
fleshy, the tip blackish ; tarsus reddish fleshy; feet darker ; claws 
dark reddish brown ; ; gape yellow. 
631. aT AON ET ONS palpebrosa, Tem. The White-eyed 
‘it. 
This pretty little bird is very abundant on the higher ranges 
of the Nilgiiris. It also extends over the slopes, but diminish- 
es in numbers the lower down it gets, till in the low country 
of the Wynaad, &c., it may be said to be rare. Except during the 
breeding season, it goes about in small flocks, working about 
among the trees and bushes in a most systematic manner, keep- 
ing up a continuous twitter the while. As faras I have observed, 
I believe it to be entirely insectivorons, but according to Hutton 
it eats berries too (vide B. of I., Vol. II., p. 266). I have found 
many hundreds of its nests in my time, but I certainly never 
found one, as stated by Hutton, suspended with fibres of silk or 
hair, but alwavs securely hung in the fork of some branch or 
twig of a bush. 
645.—Parus nipalensis, Hodgs. The Indian Grey 
Tit. 
Occurs all over the Nilghiris and the Wynaad, and the better 
wooded portions of the Mysore country. It is aburdant on 
the higher ranges of the Nilghiris, specially near the inhabited 
parts. The natives of the Nilghiris call it Puttant Kurivi 
(Anglicé Pea Bird) from the destruction it commits among peas, 
It also eats fruits and berries of various kinds, and insects as 
well; in fact its food appears to be as much vegetable as animal. 
It has the usual habits of the tribe, except that it usually goes 
singly or in pairs, and seldom indeed in flocks. A male mea- 
sured in the flesh :— 
Length, 5°7; expanse, 9:2; tail, 2-4; wing, 2°8; tarsus, 
0:78; bill from gape, 0°53; weight, 0-6 oz. Bull black; legs 
and feet plumbeous. 
648.—Machlolophus aplonotus, Bly. The Southern 
Yellow Tit. 
This Tit does not ascend to the plateau of the Nilghiris, but 
it is not uncommon in the vicinity of Coonoor, Kotagherry 
and from thence down the slopes, and into the Wynaad. Unlike 
the last species it avoids the immediate vicinity of habitations 
keeping more to the jungles. Its note is exactly like that 
of its northern representative—M/. xanthogenys. 
