THE SILVER-EARED HILL-TIT. 
143 
secondaries are nearly entirely greenish slaty on the outer web^ the tips 
merely being black ; tertiaries greenish slaty, minutely tipped with black ; 
tail black, each feather partially slaty green ; under tail-coverts olive-green 
tipped with white. 
The female has the orange gorget paler, and the flaming red on the 
wings is replaced by orange-yellow. 
The young have the throat pale yellow, and they appear to assume the 
adult plumage almost as soon as they are fully fledged. 
Bill coral-red; legs fleshy brown; irides brown. [Jerdon.) 
Length 6 inches, tail 2*5, wing 2*9, tarsus 1*05^ bill from gape '65. 
The Red-billed Hill-Tit is said by Mr. Blyth to occur in Arrakan. 
It was procured by Dr. Anderson near Bhamo, and by Col. Godwin- 
Austen in the hill-tracts of Eastern Bengal. It extends into Southern 
China on one side, and on the other along the Himalayas up to the Sutlej 
river. 
Dr. Jerdon says : — It usually associates in small parties of five or six, 
frequenting the dense thickets and underwood that springs up wherever 
the forest is partially cleared. It is a shy bird, and avoids observation in 
general. Its food consists of berries, fruits, seeds and insects Its 
usual note is a chattering call; but in the spring the male has a very 
pleasing song.^'' 
This Shrike-Tit makes a cup-shaped nest of dry leaves and moss bound 
together with grass and roots. It is generally placed in a leafy bush, at 
no great height from the ground. The number of eggs is usually three, 
and they are pale green, spotted and otherwise marked with red, purple 
and brown. 
Genus MESIA, Hodgs. 
139. MESIA ARGENTAURIS. 
THE SILVER-EARED HILL-TIT. 
Mesia argentauris, Hodgs. Intl. Rev. 1838, p. 88 j Hume, Kests and Eggs, p. 392 ; 
Hume, S. F. viii. p. 104 ; Scully, S. F. Vm.. p. 318, Leiothrix argentauris, 
Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 251 ; Anders. Ytmncm Fxped. p. G30f Hume c^- Dav. S. F. vi. 
p. 370. Liothrix argentauris, Bl. B. Bunn. p. 109 ; Wanllaw Ramsay, Ibis, 
1877, p. 4G4. 
Description. — Male and female. Forehead golden yellow ; summit of 
head, lores, cheeks and a short stripe under the ear-coverts black ; ear- 
coverts silvery white ; chin and throat deep orange- yellow ; sides of the 
neck and upper back fulvous-yellow ; lower back, scapulars, tertiaries and 
wing-coverts slaty, some o£ the outermost of tlie latter edged with 
