978 Mr. Blyttis Report for December Meeting, 1842. [No. 143. 



overhanging roof or canopy, formed by the lining of the upper third or 

 more of the nest being made to project semi- circularly over the ori- 

 fice, and then finished externally like the rest with coarser material, 

 and some bits of leaves and the like to disguise the nature of the fabric. 



N. minima; Cin. minima, Sykes, P. Z. S., 1832. p. 98. A dimi- 

 nutive species, allied to the last, from the upland forest-jungles of 

 southern India. The Society is indebted for a specimen to Mr. Jerdon. 



N. Mahrattensis ; Certhia Mahrattensis, Latham : Cin, orientalis, 

 Franklin : C. epauletta, Hodgson, Ind. Rev, I, 272 : C. currucaria, 

 apud Sykes, post-nuptial plumage. Visits the neighbourhood of Calcutta 

 only in the cold season, when it is not uncommon. On its arrival, 

 both sexes are clad in the plumage referred to N. currucaria by Sykes ; 

 and before they leave, all have more or less completely assumed 

 their nuptial dress, which also is alike in both sexes. In Nepal it is 

 probably a summer visitant only ; and it extends westward to the 

 Indus, and southward to Ceylon, but I have never seen it from the 

 eastern side of the Bay of Bengal.* 



N. lotenia ; Certhia lotenia, Lin. : C. polita, Latham, Jerdon : C. 

 purpurata, Vieillot, Shaw. Allted to the last, but distinguished by its 

 superior size, its much larger and more curved bill, and brown under- 

 parts from the breast, also by the admixture of green in its glosses. 



* I have lately procured the young of this species, which is dark olive-green above, 

 and tolerably bright yellow on the under-parts ; wings dusky, with brownish margins 

 to the tertials; and tail black, its exterior feathers tipped with whitish, and the outer- 

 most pair largely so, extending far up their outer webs. To this plumage would suc- 

 ceed the purple breeding dress; and the Cin. strigula, Hodgson (Ind. Rev. 1837, p. 

 272), would seem to be founded on a specimen which had began to throw out the 

 purple feathers as "a long central stripe from chin to breast," just as is shewn by 

 another specimen before me, which however is moulting into the purple garb from the 

 non-breeding livery of the adult, this last being, 1 apprehend, Mr. Hodgson's female 

 strigula. The following is that naturalist's description. "Above dark olive-green, 

 below bright yellow, shoulders and a long central stripe from chin to breast, brilliant 

 deep blue ; alar and caudal plumes dusky or black, the latter tipped and margined 

 laterally in the extremes, with white ; a paler line over the eyes, and darker one 

 through them: bill dusky; legs black. The female is earthy-brown above, and 

 greenish-yellow below. She is without gular stripe or shoulder-spot. Size and cha- 

 racters of [N. Mahrattensis\" 



Since writing the above, 1 have found a skin referred by Mr. Hodgson to the female 

 of his strigula, but which has no trace of " greenish-yellow" on the under-parts, these 

 being uniform dull albescent : so far as I can make out, from the condition of the 

 specimen, 1 should judge it to be an old female Mahrattensis in the non-breeding 

 plumage. 



