SWINHOE^S MINIVET. 
243 
232. PERICROCOTUS CANTONENSIS. 
SWINHOE^S MINIVET. 
Pericrocotus cantonensis, Sivinh. Ibis^ 1861, p. 42 ; Sharpe, S. F. iv. p. 211 ; 
David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 107 ; Hume, S. F. v. p. 177 ; Shaiye, Cat, Birds B. 
Mus. iv. p. 84 ; Oates, 8. F. x. p. 200. Pericrocotus sordidus, Swinh. P. Z. S. 
1863, p. 284. Pericrocotus immodestus, Hume, S. F. v. p. 177, viii. p. 91 ; 
Bingham, S. F. ix. p. 173. 
Description. — Female. Forehead and front of crown, feathers round tlie 
eye, the cheeks, sides of the neck, chin and throat whitish ; head, neck, 
scapulars and back earthy brown ; rump and upper tail-coverts light brown, 
very much paler than the back ; wings and wing-coverts blackish brown, 
paler on the edges ; the primaries with an oblique mark of yellowish white 
on both webs, the secondaries with a yellow patch at their bases forming a 
conspicuous spot on the closed wing ; under wing-coverts and axillaries 
pale yellow ; breast, belly, vent and under tail-coverts pale buffy 
brown; tail-feathers dark brown^ the four outer pairs very broadly 
tipped with whitish yellow, and the shafts of all hair-brown ; lores dark 
brown. 
Male. Very similar to the female, but the white of the head and throat 
pure ; the head and back dark ashy brown ; the bar across the primaries 
white ; and the bases of the secondaries white tinged with brown, and 
occasionally with very pale yellow ; lores very dark brown. 
The young resemble the female, but have the dull wing-marks of the 
male. 
Bill and legs black ; inside of the mouth flesh-colour ; eyes hazel. 
{Swinhoe.) 
Length 8 inches, tail 3*7, wing 3*5, tarsus '55, bill from gape '75. The 
female is of the same size. 
I have no hesitation in joining Mr. Hume^s P. immodestus to this 
species. I have not been able to examine any of his specimens ; but his 
description of the upper plumage of the bird, in which he notes that the 
rump and upper tail-coverts are a pale fawn-colour in contrast with the 
back, coupled with the fact that my men obtained in Southern Tenasserim 
(where P. immodestus was procured) a specimen in which this feature is 
strikingly conspicuous, and which is identical with Swinhoe^s types in 
Mr. Seebohm^s collection, leave no doubt in my mind on the point. 
Swinhoe' s Minivet occurs during the cold season in the Pegu Division^ 
where I procured it near Kyeikpadeiu. Mr. Davison met with it in the 
extreme southern portion of Tenasserim and at Mergui, and Capt. Bingham 
in the Thoungyeen valley. It has not yet been found in any other part 
of British Burmah. 
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