934 On the Leiotrichane Birds of the Subhemalayas. [No. 156. 



Tanagra sinensis, Gmelin, founded on la Mesange de Nankin of Sonnerat, 

 which is referred to Parus by Temminck,/?. c. 287, fig. 1, a figure which is 

 cited by Mr. Swainson, who assigns " India" as the habitat ; and deduc- 

 ing his generic diagnosis from the present species, that systematist writes 

 — " Tail moderate, deeply forked," this being a feature unnoticed in 

 Sonnerat's description, which evidently refers to the species under con- 

 sideration, wherein the form of the tail may be compared to that of 

 a female black Grouse (Tetrao tetrix), but having its central pair of 

 feathers a third shorter than the rest.] L. calipyga, Mihi [being also 

 Bahila calipyga, Hodgson, Ind. Rev. 1838, p. 88 ; subg. Calipyga, Ibid., 

 J. A. S., X. 29.] Above and flanks sordid vernal green [or olive- 

 green, tinged with yellow on the crown] ; below gamboge- yellow [the 

 belly yellowish white] ; outer margin and base of the primaries the 

 same ; centrals [i. e. secondaries] edged with sanguine ; rest of alars and 

 caudals black. Bill coral-red : legs fleshy-brown. Female with the 

 caudals green like the back, and the central alars not edged with san- 

 guine. Length six inches and a half, the bill five-eighths of an inch ; wing 

 two inches and nine- sixteenths ; tail two and one- third ; tarse to sole 

 an inch and one-sixteenth ; central toe and nail three-quarters of an inch ; 

 hind- toe five-eighths : weight about 1 oz. Hab. central and north- 

 ern hilly regions [of Nepal] ; feeds equally on grass- seeds, and 

 upon insects and their larvae and pupae. [The foregoing description 

 of this bird refers to the newly moulted plumage, for as the fea- 

 thers become old the colours fade very considerably, the green of 

 the upper parts changing to plain grey, the yellow of the throat 

 and breast to a dull buffy hue, and the yellowish tinge of the abdo- 

 minal region disappears altogether. Analogous losses of colour occur, 

 to a greater or less extent, in the other species, but particularly 

 in the next ; and in like manner the bright yellow on the wings of 

 Garrulax chrysopterus and certain allied species, fades to whitish-grey, 

 and the Cissa sinensis (v. Kitta venatorius, Gray), which at first is of a 

 beautiful and deep sea-green, becomes gradually of a pale verditer-blue, 

 while the sanguine hue bordering its large wing-feathers changes to 

 dull leaden- grey ; the same being more or less observable in all the 

 various forms (so common on the Himalaya) which have wing-markings 

 of the same general character as those of Leiothrix, Garrulax (v. Ian* 

 thocincla); #c] 



