NOTES ON INDIAN TIMELIIDES AND TSUIB ALLIES. 627 



skins with no data, and look very like assimilis from Karennee, but show 

 the black stripe in front of the eye and are in my opinion nothing but 

 faded specimens of chryscea. 



Distribution. — Karennee and the S. S, States bordering Karennee, and 



Byingyi Hill. 



SlACHYRHIS CHRYS^A BINGHAMI, Rippon. 



The Chin Hills Golden-headed Babbler, 



Stachyrhis binghami, Rippon, Bull.,B. O. C, xiv., p. 84, 



Similar to chrys(sa, differs in having ear-coverts slaty-green; upper 



plumage as in assimilis ; under parts dull orange to dull yellow ; the black 



streak in front of the eye present. 



Distribution. — Mt. Victoria, Chin Hills. 



Stachyrhidopsis, Sharpe, 1883. 



Gates, F. B. I., i., p. 164; O. Grant, P. Z. S., 1900, p. 476; and Ibis, 1907, 

 p. 183 ; Rothschild, Bull., B. O. C, xiv., p. 8. ; Hartert, Nov. Zool., 

 xvii., p. 232. 



''This genus differs from Stachyrhis in having the culmen perfectly 

 straight, and in laying spotted eggs." (Gates.) 



They have the following characteristics : a short rounded wing ; wing and 

 tail about equal in length; the feathers of the forehead soft and not 

 harsh as in Stachyrhis ; the bill, small, conical ; the upper edge of the upper 

 mandible and the lower edge of the lower mandible quite straight, (very 

 similar to that of the Goldfinch) ; bill not notched ; rictal bristles very 

 short ; and no hairs overhanging the nostrils, which are protected by 

 a covering membrane. 



In style of plumage they are very similar to Mixoi-nis, and consequently 

 may be confused with that genus, they can however be easily separated by 

 their bills. In Mixornis, the nostrils are oval and exposed, and the culmen 

 curved, whilst in this genus, the nostrils are covered by a membrane, and 

 the culmen perfectly straight. 



The members of this genus build retort shaped nests, of bamboo leaves 

 and grass, which are generally well concealed in overhanging tufts of grass. 

 They lay white eggs more or less spotted with reddish-brown. 



This is a very confusing genus of small birds which extend from the 

 N. W. Himalayas to China and the islands of Formosa and Hainan, and 

 also into Burma and the Malay Peninsula. 



Key to Species. 



a. Crown rufous to chestnut ; chin not black. 



a\ Throat yellowish . . . . . . S. ruficeps. 



b^. Throat whitish . . . . . . . . S. rufifrons. 



b. Crown fulvous ; chin black . . . . . . jS. pyrrhops. 



( For easier comparison I have tabulated the differences between the 

 geographical races of S. ruficeps and S. rufifrons.) 



Distribution. — S. i>yrrhops, Hodgson, Himalayas, Murree to Nepal ; S. 

 ruficeps ruficeps, Blyth, Sikhim and Nepal ; S. ruficeps bhamoensis, Harington, 

 Bhamo and Shan Hills ; S. ruficeps davidi, Gustalet, Kwang-tung, Foh-kien, 

 Foochoo , Hunan, Szechuen, China ; S. ruficeps prcecognitus, Swinhoe, 

 Formosa ; S. ruficeps goodsoni, Rothschild, Hainan ;. S. rufifrons rufifrons 

 Hume, Pegu, Shan States, and Tenasserim, Burma ; S. rufifrons ambigua, 

 sub-sp. nov., Sikhim and Assam ; S. poliogaster, Hume, Malay Peninsula. 



Note. — S. sidphura, Rippon, Bull., B.G.O., xi., p. 11 (1900); Harington, 

 Bull., B.G.C., xsxiii., p. 63 (1913), is not a Stachyrhidopsis, but Mixtornis 

 gularis rubricappilhcs, this name therefore becomes a synonym of that species. 



