﻿1874.] Hill Eanges of tie N. E. Frontier. 179 



The nest is 4 inches across, neatly made with a foundation of dry old 

 leaves and broad blades of grass ; the sides of thin stalks of a thistle and 

 thin sticks, and lined within with very fine grass ; taken in a low tree. 



S^izixos canifrons breeds in the neighbourhood of Shillong, in May. 

 Young birds are seen in June. 



JEnicurus nigrifrons of 1st List, Vol. XXXIX., Pt. II., p. 107, is 

 JE. mactdatus, Vigors, in immature plumage. 



584 of same list is, I find, guttatus, Gould, in which the white mark- 

 ings on the back are all circular, this would appear to replace maculatus in 

 all these Eastern Hills, for I have never yet shot a specimen, like this last 

 north-west form. 



Up to March, when we left Munipur, I did not observe any Parrots or 

 Hornbills m any part of the valley, or hills bounding it. The natives say 

 that later in the season parrots are very numerous and do considerable injury 

 to the crops. Of Swifts I saw only one, a large species, which I failed to secure. 

 Cypselus infumatus, Sclater, occurred in the Naga villages, and was very 

 numerous in the large one of Padhang. Pnoepyga must be rare, for I did 

 not get a single skin anywhere in N. E. Munipur. The country- gets 

 much drier on that side and the forest less dense, with a good deal of grass. 

 Buntings were very plentiful and Emberiza jpusilla appeared everywhere 

 to be the commonest bird in the Naga Hills, at 3 — 5,000 feet. 



In the pine forest that covers the slopes of the hiils descending into 

 the Umiam valley, one of my men marked a nest on June 25th ; I proceeded 

 to the spot soon after I had heard of it, and on coming up to the tree, a pine, 

 saw the female fly ofi" out of the head of it. But the nest was so well 

 hidden by the boughs of the fir, that it was quite invisible from below. The 

 bird after a short time came back, and I then saw it was Sibia gracilis, but 

 was very shy and seeing us went off again, and hung about the trees at a dis- 

 tance of some 50 yards ; while thus waiting, some 4 or 5 others were also 

 seen. The female, however, would not venture back, and I sent one of my 

 Goorkhas up, to cut off the head of the fir, nest and all, first taking out 

 the eggs.*" It contained three of a pale sea-green, with ash-brown streakings 

 and blotchings all over. 



The nest was constructed of dry grass, moss, and rootlets, and the green 

 spinules of the fir were worked into it, fixing it most firmly in its place 

 in the crown of the pine, where it was much forked. 



Sibia has habits very like Fhgllornis : they hang about the outer 

 branches much in the same manner, and there is again a certain like- 

 ness in general coloration between S. gracilis and Otocomptsa jocosa barring 

 the colored under tail-coverts of the last. However, in Sibia the form of 



* This nest is in the Indian Museum. 



