72 
BIEDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
74. POMATOUHINUS SCHISTICEPS. 
THE SLATY-HEADED SCIMITAR BABBLER. 
Pomatorhinus schisticeps, Hodgs, As. Res. xix. p. 181 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 29 ; 
Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 260 ; Bl. B. Bnrm. p. 113 ; Wardlaw Bamsay, Ibis, 
1878, p. 132, pi. iii. ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 96 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 288 ; Gammie, 
8. F. viii. p. 455; Hume, S. F. ix. p. 251, x. p. 208 w. Pomatorhinus leu- 
cogaster, Gould, P. Z. S. 1837, p. 137 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 30 ; Hume^ S. F. 
viii. p. 96. 
Description. — Male and female. Like P. nuchalis, but the rufous on the 
sides of the neck and body is streaked with white^ and the rufous collar on 
the hind neck is wanting. 
Bill horny yellow ; the base of the upper mandible dusky ; irides reddish 
cream-colour ; feet plumbeous^ the soles yellowish ; claws livid horny. 
[Scully.) 
Length 10 inches^ tail 4*5^ wing 4_, tarsus 1*3, bill from gape 1*25. 
I insert this bird in my list on the authority of Mr. Hume, who assures 
us that he has a specimen from Thayetmyo which is identical with Hima- 
layan examples_, with the sides of the breast and body streaked with white. 
There is nothing remarkable in the fact of such a Himalayan bird occurring 
in Thayetmyo any more than there is in the Eastern and Southern form, 
P. nuchalis, extending to the same place. 
I have looked in vain among the late Mr. Gould^s birds, now in the 
British Museum, for the type of P. leucog aster. His labels do not, how- 
ever, always bear his name ; but all the specimens of this type of Pomato- 
rhinus (and some of them are undoubtedly from the Gould collection) 
have the white streaks developed, and probably his type is amongst them. 
Capt. AVardlaw Ramsay, who has most carefully worked up this genus, 
unites P. leucogaster and P. schisticeps, and I follow him. Mr. Hume is 
also inclined to unite the two, but in doing so would also add to them 
P. nuchalis, a species which I am well satisfied is quite distinct. 
The Slaty-headed Scimitar Babbler, according to Mr. Hume, occurs at 
Thayetmyo. It has been recorded from Arrakan by Dr. Jerdon and 
Mr. Blyth. 
It inhabits the Himalayas from the N.W. to Assam, and has also been 
found in the hill-ranges of Eastern Bengal. 
Mr. Blyth gives this species from Tenasserim, but the birds he received 
were probably P. nuchalis. 
