PERICROCOTUS PEREGRINE'S. 367 



the North-west Provinces, and the Punjab paler still, and finally those from Sindh much the palest of all. As 

 regards size, examples from different parts of India, Burmah, and the Andamans are shown to vary in the wing, 

 both in males and females, from 2-6 to 2-9 inches. I observe that three specimens in the British Museum from 

 Kamptee measure 2-6 in the wing, and they have the upper surface precisely as in Ceylonese birds, the breast 

 perhaps a trifle less brilliant, and the wing-bar extending out to the 6th primary. A fourth, from Madras, has 

 the wing 2-8, and the wing-bar reaching to the 5th primary. In Ceylon specimens I have always found this 

 band limited to the 5th quill, the first four being without any orange marking. Mr. Hume notices that from 

 Anjango, Sindh, Dehra, Tenasserim, and Elephant Point males sometimes have the wing-bar extending upon 

 the 5th quill, and from Akyab, Amherst, Port Blair, Moulmein, and Alteran river females exhibit the same 

 character. 



Distribution. — The Little Minivet is generally diffused throughout Ceylon, but it is more numerous in the 

 northern half, from Colombo to Jaffna, than to the south of the former place. It may often be seen in the 

 cinnamon-gardens and in the adjacent cultivated, though woody, country. It is plentiful in the Jaffna 

 peninsula, where it replaces the last species, and is also numerous throughout the dry forest-regions between 

 there and Dambulla, as also in the Seven Korales and corresponding low country on the other side of the 

 island. To the south of the Haputale ranges it is likewise to be found in the forests. In the damper portions 

 of the south-west of the island it is not so frequent. I have observed it in most of the coffee- districts ; and 

 Mr. Holdsworth records it as a winter visitor to Nuwara Elliya, but it is neither so common there nor in the 

 hills of the south as the foregoing species. 



On the continent this bird enjoys a more extended range than any of its congeners. Mr. Hume writes : — 

 "I have the species from almost every part of India, Burmah (including Pegu, Arrakan, Tenasserim), and 

 the Andamans ; but it is not known to occur in the Nicobars, and is not found, to the best of my knowledge, 

 in the north-west Punjab (Trans-jhilum, in fact), and it neither ascends the Nilghiris nor the Himalayas.-" 

 In the latter assertion, as regards the south of India, the experience of Messrs. Bourdillon and Fail-bank bear 

 him out ; for the former does not record it from the Travancore hills, and the latter did not find it above 

 5000 feet in the Palanis. Mr. Armstrong says it is abundant in Rangoon, and Mr. Davison found it to be a 

 permanent resident in the Andamans. From the latter island its range extends still further to the south, as 

 Lord Tweeddale records a specimen in Mr. Buxton's collection from Lampong, S.E. Sumatra. Mr. Wallace 

 also procured it in Java. 



Habits, — This pretty little bird frequents a variety of open situations, but does not like the interior of 

 heavy forests. It is found in the compounds about native villages, among isolated groves, in bushy jungle 

 dotted with large trees, in woods surrounding paddy-fields, and in forest near the edges of tanks and rivers. 

 It usually frequents large trees and keeps mostly to the upper branches. It associates in small parties, which 

 often consist of several females in company with one male, the whole uttering a weak sibilant note resembling 

 the syllables tsetse, tsetze, and moving on in the pursuit of insects from one tree to another. It may some- 

 times be seen in company with the preceding species, and often launches out into the air to capture a 

 passing insect. Mr. Holdsworth noticed that at Nuwara Elliya it frequented bushes ; but in low country it 

 is usually seen seeking for its food in the top branches of umbrageous trees. Jerdon remarks that it is a 

 "restless and active little creature, ever engaged in diligently examining the extreme branches of trees, 

 gleaning among the foliage, and hanging from the slender twigs like a Titmouse. It feeds upon various 

 larvag (which are its favourite food) and small insects." 



Nidification. — I have reason to believe that this bird breeds in the Western Province in May and June, 

 but I was never fortunate enough to obtain its nest. In India it nests during the months of June, July, and 

 August. Mr. Hume writes that the nest is small and neat, and done up generally, like a Chaffinch's, to 

 resemble the bark of the tree on which it is placed. It is sometimes " composed of very fine needle-like 

 twigs carefully bound together externally with cobwebs and coated with small pieces of bark or dead leaves. 

 .... There appears to be rarely any regular lining ; a very little down or cobwebs form the only bed for the 

 «ggs, and even this is often wanting." Mr. F. Blewitt writes that in Jhansie and Saugor the tamarind is the 

 favourite tree : nests built in them were composed of " fine petioles of leaves with a thick coating all over 



