1 62 JO URNAL, BOMB A T NA TUBAL HISTOR Y SOCIETY, Vol. X. 



orange-b" .a, or dull crimson, and I cannot make out that the colour 

 refers in any way to sex or age. 



The nest of this bird is quite typical of the family, that is to say, it 

 is a small purse made of seed-down, cotton, and other similar soft 

 materials — feathers I have never known the bird make use of — fastened 

 together with fine grasses, fibres, and generally a good many cobwebs. 

 The lining is made of the very softest of simul down, and is very 

 neatly matted down into the interior of the nest. 



As a rule it is not fastened to anything far from the ground, a 

 slender hanging twig, falling within some four to eight feet, being the 

 height which seems to be preferred. 



My eggs average about "63" X '4:5", and are of the soft chalky texture 

 common to all the family. They are, of course, pure white. 



(366) Dictum ignipectum. — The Fire-breasted Flower-pecker. 



Hume, No. 241 ; Oates^ No. 915. 

 I have only seen one pair of these birds. These were shot out of 

 a small flock which were searching for insects in low bushes by a 

 roadway close to Diyungmukh at the extreme north of the district. 

 It must be a very rare bird, as I have not heard of any one else meet- 

 ing with it, and some Cacharies and Mikirs to whom I shewed the 

 birds had no name for them and did not seem to recognize them at all.* 



(367) Dictum olivaceum. — The Plain- coloured Flower-pecker. 



Hume, No. 237 Ter.-, Oates, No. 917. 



Extremely common everywhere above 1,000 feet up to the very 

 highest peaks ; breeding principally at about 4,000 feet. It is some- 

 times seen in the plains, but seldom wanders out of the hills. 



The nidification differs in no way from that of I), concolor ; 

 the nest is a tiny purse of soft down, well matted together and bound 

 with a few fibres and many very fine shreds of grasses. 



It is not, however, built in such lofty situations as is that of 

 I), concolor, and is, more often than not, placed on twigs not more than 

 six feet from the ground. My eggs average about '57" X "40", which 

 appears to be a good deal smaller than are the eggs of D. concolor, 



* Since wriiing clie above, I have seen a good many more of these birds, and I find they are not 

 uncommon at Hungrum and on the surrounding high peaks, but, when feeding on high trees, as 

 they seem generally to do, it is not easy to tell them from others of the same family. I find them 

 breeding at Hungrum. 



