148 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
Genus PEOPARUS, Hodgs. 
143. PROPARUS DUBIUS. 
HUME^S HILL-TIT. 
Proparus dubius, Hume, Proc. A. S. B. 1874, p. 107 ; Hume, S. F. ii: p. 447 ; 
Wald. in Bl. B. Burm. p. 110 ; Davison, S. F. v. p. 459 ; Hume ^ Dav, S. F. 
\i. pp. 372, 519 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 104. 
Description. — I transcribe Mr. Hume^s description of the male and 
female : — The forehead is a clear pale rufous ; the crown, occiput and 
nape a rich rufons olive-brown_, each feather narrowly, so narrowly as to be 
barely perceptible, fringed with dark brown so as to impart a slightly scaly 
appearance ; anterior portion of lores pale rufescent, paler and duller than 
the forehead ; posterior portion of lores, ear-coverts and an indistinct ring 
round the eye brown ; eyelid-feathers white ; over the eye beginning half- 
way between the anterior angle and the upper margin a pure white streak 
runs backwards over the ear-coverts and a little further back ; above this, 
but only commencing opposite the posterior angle of the eye, a velvet- 
black stripe runs backwards right to the base of the nape, where, although 
a little broken, it meets the corresponding stripe from the other side ; the 
entire mantle, tertiaries, coverts and outer webs of secondaries and primaries 
(the inner webs are dark hair-brown) and tail a rich rufescent olive-brown, 
most rufescent on the wings and tail ; the chin, throat, sides of the neck 
behind ear-coverts, breast, middle of abdomen and wing-lining uniform 
pale rufescent ; tibial plumes darker ; sides, flanks and lower tail-coverts 
somewhat rufescent olive-brown/^ 
The legs, feet and claws are always fleshy, sometimes fleshy white, some- 
times dark fleshy ; the bill is dull black or dark brown, generally pale at 
the base of the lower mandible ; the irides varied extremely, sometimes 
pale yellowish red, sometimes pale yellowish or sienna-brown; in one 
specimen dull slaty pink. (Davison.) 
Length 5*6 inches, tail 2*4, wing 2*2, tarsus '85, bill from gape '6. The 
female appears to be rather smaller than the male. 
I have not been able to examine a specimen of this bird, and it is difficult 
to judge from the description only what its nearest ally is. 
Mr. Davison discovered this bird in the pine-forests of the Salween 
river north of Pahpoon, and he subsequently procured it again on Mooleyit 
mountain, where it was extremely common. He says : — I found the bird 
common, generally in small parties, occasionally in pairs or singly, but 
these latter were probably breeding birds. They feed much on the ground 
and among the low brushwood, and entirely on insects. They are not by 
any means shy, and when alarmed utter a note that sounds like chir chitj 
chitj chit — chir chit, chitj chit, repeated continuously.'^ 
The nest of this bird, according to Mr. Davison, is a large globular 
