352 BIUDS OF INDIA. 



straw and grass, resembled a large ball supported on sticks, with a 

 hole in the side ; the nest ^Yas well concealed, and was with 

 considerable difficulty discovered.* 



Gen. Taccocua, Lesson. 



Char. — Bill short, or of a moderate length, much compressed, 

 the culmen regularly arching; commissure and gonys straight, or 

 slightly concave; nostrils basal, in a slight depression near the gape, 

 Avith a tuft of bristly feathers bordering their upper edge ; wings 

 rounded ; 3rd and 4th quills nearly equal and longest ; tail long, 

 graduated ; tarsus high ; feet adapted for walking, of moderate size, 

 the hallux short ; claws short and moderately curved. 



This, remarks Mr. Blyth, is a mere terrene form of Phcsuicophaus. 

 They have a shorter, more compressed, and highly coloured 

 bill. There is no bare skin round the eye, and the eye-lashes extend 

 round the front of that organ ; the feathers of the head, also, are 

 very bristly. In habit they most resemble theCoucals; and indeed 

 they maybe said to be Centro-podime, with the short hallux and claw 

 of Zanclostomus. The group is peculiar, as far as we know, to 

 India proper, none having been found to the east of the Bay of 

 Bengal. 



'J'his genus comprises four species, or races, which resemble one 

 another very closely ; but differ in some details of size and 

 coluration. 



219. Taccocua Leschenaultii, Lesson. 



Zanclostomus sirkeer, JilRDON, Cat. 230 — and 2nd Suppl. Cat. 

 230 — Blytii, Cat. 381 — Jungli totali, H. — Adavi chiihika, and 

 Futu chilluha, Tel,, i. e., Jungle Parrakeet, and Ant-hill Parrakeet. 



The Southern Sikkeer. 



Descr. — Above, pale earthy brown ; head inclining to ashy ; 



throat whitish; fore-neck and breast ashy, tinged with ferruginous; 



belly dark ferruginous, there being a marked distinction between 



the two colours; feathers of the head, neck and breast, with the 



' Since the above was in type, I have had the opportunitj- of seeing it at 

 Dacca, where it is certainly very abundant. I also obtained two nests, the one with 

 two, the other with four white eggs. The nests were, in both instances, formed by the 

 living grasses rudely bent down among the thorny twigs of a bush to form a. seat 

 for tiie eggs, and theu continued upwards, forming a dome over the nest. 



