46 W. T. Blanford— Zoology of Sihkim. [No. 1, 



skinning — length 4'7, wing 2'4, tail T85, tarsus - 75, bill from forehead 03, 

 from gape 055 inches. Iris dark brown, bill black above, bluish grey below ; 

 legs purplish horny. 



Crateropidce. 



376 Heteeomoepha toicolor, Hodgs. — This I only saw in one place 

 in the Lachung valley, between 7,000 and 8,000 feet of elevation. The birds 

 were in flocks, skulking in dwarf bamboo jungle in the usual Crateropidine 

 manner. 



381 Colostoma (emodiiim, Hodgs. — This also I met with but once. 

 I came upon a flock making a great noise amongst dwarf bamboos at about 

 11,000 feet elevation on the Chola range. 



Perhaps neither of the last two birds should have been comprised, as 

 neither was found above the lowest limit of pines. 



417 Tkochalopteeum suBinsricoLOE, Hodgs. — This appears to range 

 much higher than its congener T. chrysopterum. I shot it at about 11,000 

 feet on the Chola range, and about 9,000 in the Lachung valley. Iris 

 yellowish grey. 



I cannot at all admit the justifiability of separating this species, T. 

 phoeniceum and T. squamatum from the other forms of Trochalopterum, as is 

 done by Horsfield and Gray. To place these three forms in a distinct genus 

 from T. chrysopterum and T. affine appear tome a violation of natural affinity. 

 There is no difference in the shape of the wing to which any importance can 

 be attached. As a rule the 6th primary is the longest in all, but both the 

 5th and 7th are so nearly the same length, that specimens may be found in 

 which either of them slightly exceeds all the others. Then, as to the bills, 

 T. subunicolor differs quite as much from T. phoeniceum, as the latter does 

 from T. chrysopterum or T. affine. The structure of the feet, general dimen- 

 sions, the plumage, and habits are precisely similar in all, and I thoroughly 

 agree with Dr. Jerdon in classing all together. If any of the group deserve 

 separation, it appears to me that the forms from the Malabar hills T. 

 cacchinans, Jerdoni and Fairbanhi, are better entitled to distinction than 

 those placed in Mr. Gray's genus Pterocyclus, a name long previously 

 employed amongst the Mollusca, as has repeatedly been pointed out before. 



419 T. AEEnfE (Hodgs.). — This is the only Crateropidine which can be 

 said to belong fairly to the fauna of sub-alpine Sikkim ; it ranges much 

 above all other forms, and Jerdon is quite right in his suggestion that it fre- 

 quents the higher mountains. On the Chola. range it abounds at 11,000 to 

 about 13,000 feet, hi rhododendron scrub and on the skirts of the pine woods, 

 and in Northern Sikkim I found it far from rare at the same elevation or a 

 little lower. Its habits are precisely the same as those of T. chrysopterum, 

 and other allied forms. Iris olive. 



