240 
BIEDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
It has been shot in Malacca^ Johore and Singapore, and also in the islands 
of Borneo^ Sumatra and Palawan. 
These birds are found in China. Pere David remarks that a great 
number pass the summer in the wooded mountains of Western China and 
Moupin, and they breed and stay there till the beginning of the winter. 
230. PERICEOCOTUS BEEVIEOSTRIS. 
THE SHORT-BILLED MINIVET. 
Muscipeta brevirostris, Vig. P. Z. S. 1831, p. 43. Pericrocotus brevirostris, 
Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 421 ; Stoliczha, J. A. S. B. xxxvii. pt. ii. p. 27 ; Beavan, Ibis, 
1870, p. 314 ; Hmiie, Nests and Eggs, p. 183 ; Bl. B. Biirm. p. 123 ; Sharpe, S. F. 
iv. p. 209 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 104, pi. 78 ; Hume, S. F. v. p. 187 ; Hume 
8f Dav. S. F, vi. p. 211 ; Anders. Yunnan Exyed. p, 648 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 91 ; 
Scully, S. F. viii. p. 268 ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. Mus. iv. p. 79 ; Scully, Ibis, 1881, 
p. 435. 
Description. — Male. The whole head, back, scapulars, lesser wing- 
coverts, sides of the head and throat glossy black ; entire lower surface, 
rump and upper tail-coverts crimson ; greater coverts black, tipped with 
crimson ; primaries black, all except the fi^st four with a crimson patch upon 
them ; secondaries crimson on the basal half and black on the terminal 
half; tertiaries wholly black ; central tail-feathers black ; the next pair 
black, with the greater portion of the outer web red ; the others all red, 
except at the bases, where they are black. 
Female. Forehead, rump, upper tail- coverts and all the lower plumage 
yellow ; ear-coverts greyish yellow ; crown of the head, back and scapulars 
ashy green ; lesser wing-coverts brown, edged with green ; median and 
greater coverts brown, tipped with yellow ; wing brown, marked with 
yellow in the same manner as the male is marked with red ; tail also as in 
the male, the red being replaced by yellow. 
Bill and legs black ; irides dark brown. (Jerdon.) 
Length 7*5 inches, tail 4, wing 3'5, tarsus '6, bill from gape "75. The 
female is a trifle smaller. 
The intensity of the colouring of this species varies much according to 
locality. Those from Sikhim and Assam and the tract of country reaching 
down to Tenasserim are a deep crimson, whereas specimens from the west 
of these countries are a dull scarlet. 
Mr. Hume has recently separated, under the name of P. neglectus, some 
birds which Mr. Davison procured in the hills of Central Tenasserim. I 
have not been able to examine Mr. Hume^s specimens ; but, judging from 
what that gentleman says of them, they appear lo me to constitute a very 
doubtful species. Three birds shot by Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay in Karen nee 
