DAVISON'S FLOWERPECKER. 
149 
structure made of dry reed-leaves and lined with fibres. One nest that he 
found was placed on the ground ; another was placed in a mass of creepers 
on a rock. In both instances the nests contained three eggs, which were 
white marked with dark brown or black and also with a little dull purple. 
The two nests were found in February on Mooleyit mountain. 
Allied species are P. chrysaus with deep yellow edges to the wings, 
P. mandellii and P. vinipectus. 
Genus IXUUJ8, Hodgs. 
144. IXULUS HUMILIS. 
DAVISON'S FLOWERPECKER. 
Ixulus humilis, Hume, S. F. v. p. 106 ; Hume 8f Dav. 8. F. vi. p. 374. Staphidea 
humilis, Hume, S. F. yiii. p. 104. 
Description. — I append Mr. Hume^s description of the male : — The fore- 
head, crown, occiput and full broad occipital crest, back, entire visible 
portions of closed wings and tail, cheeks, ear-coverts, a nearly uniform brown; 
the upper tail-coverts similar, but with a slightly more olivaceous tinge. 
" Lores and an obscure stripe on either side from the gape under the 
cheeks and ear-coverts a richer and darker brown. 
Chin, throat and sides of neck and entire lower surface of body silky 
white, everywhere (except on the middle of the abdomen) with longitudinal 
brown streaks, very narrow (as in I. flavicollis) on chin and throat and 
breast, broader on sides, flanks and lower abdomen, and occupying nearly 
the whole feather on lower tail-coverts. 
Tibial plumes brown. 
Wing-lining and inner margins of quills silky white.^^ 
Upper mandible black ; lower mandible pale brown ; legs and feet 
fleshy brown ; irides red-brown. {Davison.) 
Length 5*2 inches, tail 1*8, wing 2*5, tarsus '8, bill from gape '6. 
[Davison.) 
I have not been able to examine a specimen of this species. The female 
probably resembles the male in coloration. 
Other species from India are /. occipitalis, with a rufous head and white 
nuchal spot, and /. flavicollis, with a brown head and a broad rusty-yellow 
collar round the neck. 
Mr. Davison procured this species on the highest parts of Mooleyit 
mountain, where he states that he met with it only once. He adds : — ^'^It 
was hunting about the foliage near the top of a good-sized tree. I heard 
it utter no note. It had eaten only insects.'^ 
This bird, the tail of which Mr. Hume states is not graduated, cannot 
be placed in the genus Staphida, the chief character of which is the strong 
graduation of the tail. 
