HODGSON'S SHRIKE-TIT. 
139 
134. PTERERYTHRIUS MELANOTIS. 
HODGSON^S SHRIKE-TIT. 
» 
Pteruthius melanotis, Hodgs. J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 448. AUotrius aenobarbus 
{Temm.), ctpudJerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 247. AUotrius melanotis, Bl. B. Burin. 
p. 109; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 390; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. y\. p. 369; Hu?ne, 
S. F. vii. p. 456, viii. p. 104. 
Description. — Male. Whole summit of head^ back^ scapulars, rump and 
upper tail-coverts greenish yellow ; a ring of feathers round the eye white ; 
a very narrow line from the nostrils over the eye and another broader one 
from the anterior corner of the eye^ passing under the eye and over the ear- 
coverts and terminating in a patch at the rear of the ear-coverts, black ; 
lores and a broad band from eye to eye, round the nape^ clear ashy ; ear- 
coverts yellow j chin and throat dusky chestnut ; lower plumage bright 
yellow, suffused with chestnut on the breast ; central tail-feathers green 
tipped with black ; the next four pairs black tipped with white, the tips 
becoming broader from the centre to the outside of the tail ; outermost 
tail-feathers wholly white ; wings black, edged exteriorly with grey, and 
each quill, except the first few primaries, tipped with white ; lesser wing- 
coverts black edged with grey ; median and greater coverts black broadly 
tipped with white. 
The female has the tips to the median and greater wing-coverts salmon- 
coloured instead of white^ and the chestnut on the throat is less intense 
and does not extend down to the breast. 
The young have the upper plumage olive-brown ; the grey band round 
the head and the black lines are wanting ; the wing is the same colour as 
in the female, and the whole lower plumage is a pale yellowish white. 
Bill plumbeous ; legs fleshy white ; irides light brown. {Jerdon.) 
Length 4*7 inches, tail 1*8, wing 2*5^ tarsus '8, bill from gape '55. 
Mr. Blyth states that he received this species from Tonghoo. Although 
the locality is termed Tonghoo, it is very probable that the specimen came 
from the higher hills to the east of that town. This species and the next 
were not likely to be confounded by a practised ornithologist like Mr. Blyth, 
as suggested by Mr. Hume. It is highly probable that P. melanotis 
does occur in the vicinity of Tonghoo, for, in another similar case of allied 
species, Capt.'Wardlaw Ramsay procured Digenea moniliger in Karennee, 
and Mr. Davison the allied D. submoniliger in Tenasserim. 
This Shrike-Tit has been found in the Himalayas from Bhootan to 
Nipal, and it also occurs in the Khasia hills. 
Dr. Jerdon states that it associates in small flocks, is lively and hunts 
the extreme branches of trees. It appears to eat both fruit and insects. 
* The colours of the soft parts may, however, be those of P. xanthochloris, with which 
Jerdon confounded P, melanoti>^. 
