Genus OKTHOTOMUS. 



Bill long and slender, straight, tip entire. Nostrils basal, lateral, and somewhat advanced ; 

 rictal bristles minute. Wings short and rounded ; the 1st quill more than half the length of 

 the 2nd ; the 4th and 5th the longest. Tail very narrow, the centre feathers, in some, elongated 

 at the breeding-season. Tarsus long, stout, and scutellate in front. Toes slender, claws much 

 compressed. 



Nuchal " hairs " moderate. 



OKTHOTOMUS SITTOKIUS. 



(THE INDIAN TAILOR-BIRD.) 



Orthotomus sutorius, G. E. Forster, Ind. Zool. p. 17 (1781). 



Motacilla sutoria, Penn. Ind. Zool. p. 17, pi. 8 (1790). 



Motacilla longicauda, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. '954 (1788). 



Orthotomus longicauda (Gm.), Strickl. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1844, xiii. p. 35; Blyth, Cat. B. 



Mus. A. S. B. p. 144 (1849); Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 120 (1852); Layard, Ann. 



& Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 262 ; Moore, P. Z. S. 1854, p. 81; Horsf. & Moore, 



Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. i. p. 317 (1854) ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 165 (1863) ; Holdsw. 



P. Z. S. 1872, p. 455; Hume, Nests and Eggs, ii. p. 331 (1874); Gates, Str. Feath. 



1875, p. 135 ; Butler & Hume, t. c. p. 479. 

 Orthotomus sutorius (Forst.), Hodgs. in Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 82 (1844) ; Walden in Blyth B. 



Burm. p. 120 (1875); Fairbank, Str. Feath. 1877, p. 406; Davison & Hume, ibid. 



1878, p. 345. 

 Le petit Figuier a longue queue de la Chine, Sonn. Voy. Ind. ii. p. 206 ; Long-tailed Warbler, 



Lath.; The Rufous-headed 'Tailor-bird, Kelaart. Phutki, Hind. ; Tuntuni, Beng. ; Patia, 



lit. "Leaf-bird," Nepal.; Likkujitta, Telugu. 

 Tavik, Sinhalese, from the note. 



Adult male. Length 4-2 to 5-0 inches (according to length of tail in breeding-season), average normal length 4-3 ; 

 wing 1-8 to 1-9 ; tail 2-0 to 2-5, centre feathers 0-75 to 0-8 longer than the rest ; tarsus 0-75 ; middle toe and claw 

 0-55 ; bill to gape 0-65 to 0-7. 



Adult female. Smaller than male; length 4 - l to 4*2 inches ; wing 1-7. 



Iris pale reddish ; eyelid rufescent yellow ; bill fleshy, with dusky culmen ; legs and feet fleshy reddish or " flesh- 

 colour." 



Forehead and crown rufous, changing into ashy on the nape, and thence into the olive-greenish of the hind neck, 

 back, scapulars, and lesser -wing-coverts ; quills and tail light brown, the latter tipped pale and with a subterminal 

 bar of darker brown ; tail-feathers towards their bases, and the wdng-coverts and tertials, edged with the hue of 

 the back ; the primaries edged with olivaceous ; throat, face, and under surface whitish, purest on the lower breast ; 

 the flanks and sides of chest ashy grey ; a dark patch (usually concealed) on either side of the throat, formed by 

 the bases of the neck-feathers and the blackish skin of that part ; under wing-coverts rufescent yellow, and the 

 thighs brownish rufous. The elongated centre tail-feathers are yellowish olive-green, and they are indistinctly 

 tipped and banded bike the rest. The nuchal hairs are small in this species. 



Young. Birds of the year have the under mandible dusky and the legs brownish fleshy. 



The forehead and crown are dusky rufous ; the upper tail-coverts and margins of tail-feathers near the base are slightly 

 rufous ; otherwise as in the adult. 



