1845.] or little known Species of Birds. 585 



and five eighths ; bill half an inch ; tail under two inches ; wing two 

 and one-sixteenth ; tarse above fifteen-sixteenths ; central toe and nail 

 eleven-sixteenths ; hind nine-sixteenths. Hab. the Cachar." Hodgson's 



MSS . The following description was taken by myself from the 



specimen before alluded to. Length about four inches and a quarter, 

 of wing two inches, and tail an inch and a half, its outermost feather 

 half an inch shorter : bill to gape five-eighths of an inch ; and tarse 

 three-quarters of an inch. Colour uniform dark olive-brown 'above, 

 below pale ochraceous-brown, approaching to albescent ; flanks and 

 lower tail-coverts dark brown, the latter margined paler ; bill dusky 

 above, below paler ; legs also pale. 



Horeites, Hodgson. " Bill shorter than head, quite straight, usually 

 distinctly notching ; nares covered with a scale. Wing as in Prinia. 

 Tarse high, as in Prinia, but the toes less repent, ambulant in fact, 

 with the laterals equal and freer, and the central longer ; nails slen- 

 der and Sylvian, not Parian as in Orthotomus. Tail short [or 

 rather, I should say, of moderate length], narrow QI should rather 

 term it somewhat broad], rounded as in Orthotomus, but without 

 the Merops- like elongation of the centrals." Hodgson's MSS. — Ac- 

 cording to my ideas, these birds approach a good deal to the genus 

 Tesia, particularly to T. flaviventris ; but have a more slender bill, 

 a well developed, cuneiform, broad and soft, tail the feathers of which 

 are much graduated, and the general character tends distinctly to- 

 wards Pseudoluscinia and its allies. Mr. Hodgson describes two 

 alleged species, " exclusively confined to the northern region of the 

 hills, near the snows." 



H. brunnifrons, Hodgson. " Above olive-brown, [slightly] redder 

 on wings and tail; cap red-brown. Below sordid white [[pale ashy], 

 pure centrally. [Bill dusky above, pale beneath ; and the legs pale.] 

 Length four inches ; bill half an inch ; tail an inch and five-eighths ; 

 wing the same [varying from this to nearly two inches] ; tarse three- 

 quarters ; central toe and nail five-eighths ; hind seven-sixteenths." 



H. pollicaris, Hodgson. " Above dark olive, below and the eye- 

 brow yellowish. Legs and bill fleshy-grey. Length three inches and 

 a half; bill seven- sixteenths ; tail an inch and five-eighths; wing the 

 same ; tarse thirteen-sixteenths ; central toe and nail five-eighths ; 

 hind half an inch. Has a slender, Begultts-Wke, bill, and very short, 

 extremely rounded, wings. Its tarse is remarkably elevate, and scutellate 



