670 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIII. 



be more green, or even purple, in very old males, and more blue in 

 the jT^ounger birds. Some young males of this and other species of 

 the family retain a brown or rufous tint on the vi^hite portions of the 

 feathers in their first spring moult (vide Oates' type specimen of 

 ivilliamsi). 



Adult female. — The upper plumage varies from a pure olive brown 

 to a rich chestnut brown, the feathers with pale edgings. In some 

 cases these pale borders are very pronounced, and in a few they are a 

 very pale bujff or practically white on the scapulars, tertiaries, and 

 greater wing coverts. Below, the breast varies from a dull grey 

 brown, with paler and more grey margins to the feathers, to a rich 

 bright rufous brown, with strongly marked paler borders. 



The tails vary considerably ; in some specimens the two central 

 tail feathers, in others four, and in a few six, are chestnut or 

 chestnut mottled with brown. A few specimens in the British 

 Museum marked $ , but in all probability really (j , have the under 

 plumage much darker, almost a blackish brown, with pronounced 

 shaft stripes, which occasionally become V-shaped. The variations 

 recorded do not depend in the least upon locality ; birds both S 

 and $ from the one district, Balisera in Sylhet, show the greatest 

 divergence, so great indeed that from this one small area, a cluster 

 of tea gardens, Oates has named no less than four species, i.e., 

 horsfieldi, ohscurus, tuickhami, j)rendergasti. 



Distribution. — The area shown as inhabited by this bird is colour- 

 ed green in Map No. 1, and maj, roughly speaking, be said to 

 extend from the East of Bhutan down the Cachar, Sylhet, Ohitta- 

 gqng and Arakan sub-maritime and lower hill regions as far South 

 as Akyab. It then extends East through Assam, N. and S. of the 

 Brahmapootra, as far as the 99° long., and is found in the larger 

 river valleys, extending considerably South into areas, the higher 

 parts of which are inhabited by other species or sub-species. Down 

 the Manipur Bivei", it has been obtained as far South as Falam, on 

 the Chindwin down to its junction with the Yti River, and probably 

 still further down stream. On the Irrawaddy typical specimens 

 have certainly been got as far South as Sinkan below Bhamo, and 

 there is also a doubtful record from Zowchaun. 



It is probably found in the valleys of the Upper Chindwin and 

 Oyu, as there is a specimen in the B. M. from Tazone to the N. of 

 these valleys which Oates himself admits is a pure horsfieldi. 



The following types and other specimens in the British Museum 

 Collection ticketed under other names are all horsfieldi. 



Genncsus mearsi. — Type of species S No. 73, Oates' Coll. Nanywa. This 

 is a young bird but is a quite typical horsfieldi ; the alleged difference, the 

 blue shown on the feathers of the rump, is one of age and condition only, 

 and Oates' type of mearsi is exactly like specimen No. 89.5.13.580 of the 

 B. M. Coll, from the Khasia Hills and other specimens from Bhutan. 



