246 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
Length 6 inches^ tail 3, wing 2*65^ tarsus '6, bill from gape -6. The 
female is of the same size. 
My description is taken from a Burmese bird. The variations in colour 
in this species are very great according to locality. Birds from the dry 
portions of India, the North-west and Sindh are very pale-coloured, whilst 
birds from Southern India are extremely dark and vivid in coloration. 
Burmese birds seem to occupy an intermediate position. 
Mr. Hume appears to think these differences almost sufficient for the 
establishment of two species — P. peregrinus standing for the northern one 
and P. malabaricus for the southern one. The Burmese race would 
belong to the latter. I do not, however, propose to keep the two races 
separate. 
The Small Minivet is of general occurrence throughout Pegu and Arra- 
kan^ and is a constant resident in these Divisions. Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay 
procured it in Karennee. Mr. Davison found it in Tenasserim as far 
south as Sadyin on the Bopyin river, and he remarks that in that Divi- 
sion it keeps to the sea-coast, and is not found in the interior of the 
country. 
I cannot find any notice of its occurrence in the Malay peninsula, but it 
is found in Borneo and Java. Lord Tweeddale gives it with doubt from 
S.E. Sumatra. In the British Museum there is a specimen from Saigon, 
and Dr. Tiraud mentions also that it is met with in Cochin China. It pro- 
bably occurs all over the In do-Burmese countries. It is found over the 
whole continent of India (except in the Himalayas), in Ceylon and in the 
Andaman Islands. Its western limit in India appears to be Scinde and the 
Jhilum river. 
The Small Minivet is perhaps the most abundant and generally dis- 
tributed of all. Its breeding-season commences about April, and nests 
may be found up to the end of June. The structure is a beautiful little 
cup made of very fine twigs, and coated thickly with cobwebs, to which are 
attached small pieces of bark and dead leaves. The whole bears a close 
resemblance to some of the excrescences so common on trees. 
The nest is placed in a fork at the end of a bough high up and some- 
times on a rather thick branch at a fork. The eggs, three in number, are 
pale green marked with reddish brown. 
