MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 251 



Gammie observes : — " As might be expected from the bird's habit of 

 feeding on the insects on moss-covered trees in moist forests, the nests 

 were in forest by the side of streams.' 



Gates notes: — "Frequents high trees, feeding on fruit and insects. 

 Found throughout Himalayas from the Hazara country to Bhutan at 

 elevations of from 5,000 to 8,000 feet." 



Major Walton in his Xotes on birds collected in Kumaon, says : "Very 

 common, especially on the edge of forest. It has a very loud, shrill song, 

 which it sings perched upon some conspicuous branch. Besides this, it has 

 a variety of very harsh notes."' 



I think the measurements given by Gates in the " Fauna" for this species 

 are a little small. Selecting three Simla specimens at random in my collec- 

 tion, I find that the length varies from 9" 4" to 9' 9"; the expanse from 

 n-5" to 12-6"; the wmy from 3-9" to 4-25"; the tei7 from 4-25" to 4-75"; 

 the bill from gape from 1' to 1-05''; and the tarsus from 1-1" to 1*45". Gf 

 course the case may be different with a large series of birds from various 

 parts of these mountains, but judging from the measurements given by 

 Scully (S.F. Vol. VIII, p. 292) of 18 Nepal birds, it would seem that 

 specimens from the Eastern Himalayas are, on the whole, slightly smaller 

 than those found westwards. Hume, however, commenting (Rough Draft, p. 

 267), on the separation by Gray of the Western bird from the Nepal form 

 as a distinct species, under Hodgson's name Sibia nigriceps, observed that 

 the onhj difference which he could detect was that eastern specimens were 

 a shade brighter coloured. 



The female in this species is the smaller bird. 



The mouth is pale fleshy. 



In the description of this species. Gates makes no mention of the facts 

 that the feathers of the head are white shafted for their basal halves, and 

 that the chin feathers are whitish, or very pale fulvous (more so in females) 

 passing into the rufous of the breast. Again in the females, the head fea- 

 thers are sometimes dark sooty-brown. The collar round the iqyper portion 

 of the neck is not bright hwt pale rufous. The lesser wing-coverts in my 

 specimens are not rufoits, but dark hroionish-greg mixed with black; the 

 primaries are distinctly insinuated towards the tips; and the tertiaries, 

 besides being pale shafted for their entire lengths, are usually edged with 

 black on the inner margins. 



Gn three or four occasions, I have had the good fortune to witness the 

 courtship of these birds, which is rather amusing. Gne runs, or rather hops, 

 along a branch, with drooping wings and cocked tail, till it reaches its mate, 

 and then both birds sit, side by side, with ruffled feathers for a few seconds, 

 after which this process is repeated over and over again ; the birds eventually 

 flying off to another tree, and commencing afresh as before. A peculiar sharp 

 twitter or chuckle is emitted by one of the birds during these antics, but the 



