492 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



stream about 4,500 feet high. Adams observed it among stony 

 pluces in glens, and around the margins of the avalanches on the 

 Cashmere ranges, common. 



The next species has been separated by Mr. Blyth as a distinct 

 form or sub-genus under the name of Spiloptera. It differs from 

 true Troglodytes by its shorter and deeper bill, and by the spotted, 

 in place of barred, character of its plumage. 



334. Troglodytes punctatus, Blyth. 



J. A. S., XIV., 589— Blyth, Cat. 918— 31archok-pho, Lepch. 



The Spotted Ween. 



Descr. — Upper parts fuscous-brown, with a pale or white speck 

 on the tip of each feather ; tail barred, as in the European Wren ; 

 the feathers softer and more graduated ; tertiaries comparatively 

 broad, of a dark mahogany color ; bars on the outer webs of pri- 

 maries the same color ; under parts delicately mottled with pale 

 spots, thickest on the breast, fewest on the belly, which has a ful- 

 vous tinge ; bill horny-brown; legs pale brown; irides brown. 



Size of the European Wren : wing If ; tail 1;^. 



This Wren is very rare at Darjeeling. I procured a single speci- 

 men, and Mr. Blyth has obtained only one. 



Gen. RiMATOK, Blyth. 



Syn. Caulodromus, Gray ; Merva, Hodgs. 



Cltar. — Bill longer than the head, slightly compressed, curved, not 

 notched; nostrils basal, ovate; gape extending to the eye, with only 

 a few inconspicuous hairs ; legs moderately strong ; tarsus scutel- 

 late ; toes long, the outer longer than the inner ; claws not much 

 curved, hind claw large ; wings bowed and rounded, 5th, 6th and 

 7th quills equal and longest ; tail short and weak, the feathers 

 slender with soft slightly-pointed tips ; plumage lax, very much 

 so over the rump. 



This remarkable genus was described in the same year by three 

 naturalists; but Llr. Blyth's name has the priority, and was 

 moreover founded on the identical specimen belonging to Mr. 

 Grace, that afterwards, on the arrival of that gentleman in London, 



