378 Appendix to Mr. Blyth's Report [No. 149. 



Sylvia guzuratta, Lath. ; Orthotomus sphenurus, Swainson ; and Sylvia 

 nificapilla, Hutton," Elsewhere he remarks, of the Malayan species, 

 "according to my observation, the Edela ruficeps, Lesson, {Orthotomus 

 edela, Tem. p. c. 599, /. 2,) is the same as Motacilla sepium, Raffles, 

 but is not the Orthotomus sepium of Horsfield.* 



The true Timaliai, with which the Malacocerci have been often ar- 

 ranged, are chiefly a Malayan group, and several presumed new species 

 from Singapore have been described by me in J. A. S. XI, 793 et seq.f 

 One common Malayan species, T. pileata, Horsf., extends into 

 Assam, Nepal, and Bengal generally ; and there is also one allied 

 to T. gularis, Horsf., (which latter is common in Tenasserim,) the 

 T. chloris, XI, 794, this being the type of Mr. Hodgson's Mixornis, 

 and, as I suspect, the Motacilla rubicapilla, Tickell, J* A. S., X, 576. I 

 am aware of no other Indian species of true Timalia t unless T. 

 hyperythra, Franklin, be retained in it ; but the following group is 

 considerably allied : — 



Stachyris, Hodgson. Beak moderately slender, straight, compressed, 

 and tapering sharp to the extremity, where the tip of the upper man- 

 dible has a very slight downward inclination, with little or no trace of 

 a notch ; nostrils almost closed by an impending scale ; and rictus 

 nearly smooth. Tarse of mean length and strength, the outer and 

 inner front toes subequal ; and claws moderate. Wings rounded, the 

 5th, 6th, and 7th primaries equal and longest : exterior three or four 

 pairs of tail-feathers graduated. Crown subcrested, the feathers of this 

 part semi-erect and more or less divergent. 



1. St. nigriceps, Hodgson. Length five inches and a half, of wing 

 two and a quarter, and tail two inches : bill to gape eleven-sixteenths 

 of an inch ; and tarse above three-quarters of an inch. Upper-parts 



* Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 1842, p. 371, and 1844, p. 35. Accordingly, the Indian 

 Tailor-bird would rank as O. longicauda ; that of Sumatra as O. edela ; the Javanese 

 species as O. sepium; and Mr. Swainson describes a fourth, from the S. W. coast of 

 Australia, as O. longirostris. Mr. Strickland, who has recently examined the speci- 

 mens upon which Col. Sykes and Dr. Horsfield founded their descriptions, writes me 

 word ; that "Orthotomus lingoo, Sykes, seems to be the young of his O. Bennetti ; but 

 I may be wrong," he adds: and he mentions that " O. sepium has the whole head and 



chin rufous, breast olive-brown, belly cream-colour, upper-parts olive : not Mot. 



sepium, Raffles." 



f One or more of these are probably identical with the Sumatran, T. lugubris, T. 

 mitrata, or T. striolata, of M. M. Muller and Temminck, Tydschrif voor natuurlyke 

 geschiedenis, &c. (44 to 1835,) the descriptions of which I have not seen. 



