562 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. 



by the nude soft membrane. Tongue as long as the bill, moderately 

 extensile, cleft nearly to the base, and the prongs convolved and fila- 

 mentous, forming a full brush : wings medial, the fifth quill longest. 

 Tail nearly even and divaricate. Alars and caudals wedged and 

 mucronate. Legs and feet strong and repert. Types, gularis, occipita- 

 lis, and nigrimenta : the two former published ; the last new. 



" Y. nigrimenta, H. Above olive-brown ; below rufescent-yellow ; 

 cheeks and throat white ; tip of chin, and lores, black : crest slaty- 

 blue, legs fleshy. Bill dusky above, ruddy-fleshy below. Length four 

 inches and a half; bill five-eighths of an inch ; wing two inches and 

 one-eighth ; tail one and five-eighths ; tarse three-quarters of an inch ; 

 central toe and nail half an inch ; hind seven-sixteenths. [Non vidi.~] 



" These birds are genuine Meliphagidce, with the brushed tongue of 

 the type of that group. They feed on tiny insects that harbour in the 

 cups of large deep flowers, such as the Rhododendrons, and to which 

 the birds cling with their strong feet. They also take berries occa- 

 sionally. They are exclusively monticolous, like our Saroglossa (J. 

 A. S. XIII, 367), another Meliphague in the guise of a Stare, and 

 therefore probably related to the Etourneau verddtre.* 



" Ixulus, H. Bill short, as in Brachypus \_Pycnonotus ?~\, but less 

 stout, and the nares larger and more membranous. Tongue sim- 

 ple. Head crested. Wings rather short, more or less acuminated, the 

 first three quills gradated, and the three next subequal, the fifth being 

 usually longest. Tail moderate, subfurcate. Legs and feet suited for 

 clinging. Tarse elevate, stout, considerably plus the mid- toe and nail. 

 — Anteal toes short, unequal, depressed, and considerably connected 

 at their bases. Hind large, broad, equal to inner fore without the 

 nails, and to the outer with them. Nails Parian. 



"Type L flavicollis" olim Yuhina flavicollis, As. Res. XIX, 167. 

 The near general approximation of my Siva occipitalis to this species 

 has already been noted (p. 552), although the beaks of the two birds 

 are very different. 



The Indian Zosterops, (XII, 985,) it now appears, has been de- 

 signated maderaspatanus by mistake. " There is properly," writes 

 Mr. Strickland, " no such specific name as maderaspatanus for a 



* 1 differ from Mr. Hodgson respecting the affinities of the Saroglossa, which 1 

 consider to be decidedly a Sturnidous bird, with meliphagous adaptations.— Cur. As. 

 Soc. 



