1855.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 475 



was from Arakan. Its distinctness as a species was obvious ; and we now 

 describe a fine adult from Pegu. From the other black-naped Orioles, 

 it is at once distinguished by its much more slender and more distinctly- 

 curved bill, of a reddish colour j and by its narrower black nape-band, 



bright ferruginous, shading off more or less to grey on the back and haunches : 

 tail grizzled, sometimes a little tinged with ferruginous, and more distinctly annu- 

 lated towards its black tip. Common in the Tenasserim valley. 



(Qu. Does this animal vary in colour according to season, or become more 

 deeply tinged with ferruginous as it advances in age ? Our specimen least so 

 tinged is from Mergui ; and exhibits merely a faint wash of ferruginous, and this 

 chiefly on the sides of the neck and body.) 



The next three species are very closely affined, and not always easy to descri- 

 minate. They are much smaller than the preceding. 



10. Sc. pygerythrus, Is. Geoff. Grizzled above as in non-rufous specimens 

 of Sc. chrysonotus ; below weak ferruginous, more or less deep, in some toler- 

 ably bright, in others faint and passing to whitish on the throat and sides of face : 

 tail coloured like the back, and more or less distinctly annulated above, with a 

 black extreme tip ; below, the rufous of the lower-parts extends more or less up 

 its base, but seldom conspicuously. Length about 7 in. ; and tail with hair some- 

 what more : hind-foot If in. ; fringed internally and all the toes tufted with rufous 

 hairs. From the valley of the Irawadi (Rangoon, Pegu, &c.) 



11. Sc. assamensis, McClelland, Gray: 8c. Blythii, Tytler (Ann. Mag. 

 N. H„ Sept. 1854, p. 72). Differs from the last in being more fulvescent above, 

 and much less so underneath : tail-tip generally blackish ; and commonly a greater 

 development of pale ferruginous underneath the tail than in Sc. pygerythrus : 

 above, the tail is very indistinctly annulated, if at all so : hue of the upper-parts 

 more or less fulvescent ; of the lower dingy whitish, with commonly a slight 

 fulvescent tinge. A very abundant species, inhabiting the valley of Asam, and 

 found about Dacca ; also in Tippera, Chittagong, and Arakan. 



12. Sc. lokroides, Hodgson : Sc. lokriah apud Gray, Brit. Mus. Catal. 

 Upper-parts darker than in the preceding, with never a black tail-tip ; and the 

 thighs externally often deeply tinged with rufo- ferruginous, though not a trace of 

 this exists in many specimens. From Nepal and Sikim (tarai ?). 



13. Sc. lokriah, Hodgson (nee apud Gray, Brit. Mus. Catal.) : Sc. sub- 

 flaviventris, McClelland. Size about that of the three preceding races, or a trifle 

 larger ; and the general hue darker and more ruddy above than in Sc. lokro- 

 ides, grizzled as usual, and with the under-parts moderately deep ferruginous, 

 sometimes rather weak : tail coloured nearly as the back, but with whitish tips 

 abuve, more or less developed; beneath, tinged with ferruginous, and exhibiting 

 distinctly a double border on each side, from every hair having a white tip and 

 black subterminal portion. A mountain species, inhabiting Nepal, Sikim, Asam 



3 Q 



