1843.] Mr. Blyth's Report for December Meeting, 1842. 983 



D. concolor, Jerdon, Madr. Jl. XI, 227. Length about four inches, 

 of wing two inches and one-tenth, and tail an inch and one-eighth; 

 bill to forehead seven-sixteenths of an inch, and tarse half an inch. 

 Above, brownish-olive; beneath, dull greenish-white: bill and legs 

 brownish- cinereous : sexes alike. Frequents the highest branches of 

 lofty trees on the Malabar range and Neilgherries : and 



D. Tickellice, Nobis ; Nectarinia minima, Tickell, J. A. S. II, 577. 

 Length three inches to three and one-eighth, by six inches across ; 

 of wing an inch and three-quarters to one and seven-eighths, and tail 

 seven-eighths of an inch ; bill to forehead three-eighths of an inch ; 

 and tarse seven-sixteenths of an inch. Above ashy-olive, paler beneath ; 

 wings and tail darker: bill pale flesh-coloured, with dusky tip; and 

 legs leaden-brown ; irides dark : sexes alike. Habits similar to the last, 

 emitting frequently a loud chirping for its size. This bird is common 

 about Calcutta, — -Mr. Hodgson has sent it from Nepal, — and Captain 

 Tickell mentions it to be common in saul-jungle in Borabhum and 

 Dholbum.* 



Among the gay-coloured species, there is at least one in Bengal; viz. 



D. erythronotum, Auct. Not rare in the vicinity of Calcutta, and 

 occurs in Assam and in the Tenasserim provinces ; but I am unaware 

 of its existence in the Indian peninsula. In Tenasserim the D. cantil- 

 lans is likewise numerous ; and further south, in the Malay peninsula, 

 Mr. Eyton notices, besides D. cantillans, saccharinum and eruentatum 

 (Horsf.), a new species described by him as D. ignicapilla in P. Z. S. 

 1839, p. 105. 



Certain species with shorter bills constitute Mr. Hodgson's division 

 Myzanthe, of which the Australian D. hirundinaceum is character- 

 istic. Allied to that species is 



M. ignipectus, Hodgson. Length about three inches and a quarter, 

 of wing an inch and seven-eighths, and tail an inch and one-eighth ; 

 bill to forehead five-sixteenths of an inch, and tarse three-eighths of 

 an inch. Colour of the upper-parts black, with a mingled purplish and 

 green gloss, or, in one Darjeeling specimen before me, they might be 

 termed glossy dark green; under-parts pale buff, with a vermillion 

 patch occupying the greater portion of the breast in the male: the 



* Mr. Jerdon has also just obtained a specimen in Southern India. 



