258 
BIEDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
Bill dark brownish black ; mouth flesh-colour ; iris reddish brown ; eye- 
lids plumbeous ; legs plumbeous ; claws pale horn-colour. 
Length 6*6 inches^ tail 2*6^ wing 3*3, tarsus '84, bill from gape '8. 
These are the dimensions of a female ; the male^ from Mr. Davison^s 
measurements^ appears to be rather larger. 
The Grey Wood-Shrike has a curious history. Soon after it was 
described by Blyth as Tephrodornis grisola the specimen was lost, and sub- 
sequently getting hold of another bird of the same species, he redescribed it 
as Muscitrea cinerea. Dr. Sclater was the firsts I believe, to suggest the 
identity of Blyth^s bird with Hyloterpe philomela, an obscure species of very 
wide distribution. Mr. Hume also, in an exhaustive article, has shown that 
Blyth^s two species were in reality one, and the matter may now be con- 
sidered finally settled. It is no easy matter to settle the position of this 
species. I should feel inclined to place it among the Flycatchers ; but I 
am unwilling to disturb the extent of the family as defined by Mr. Sharpe, 
and consequently I place it here near Tephrodornis. 
The Grey Wood-Shrike was sent to Mr. Blyth from the island of 
Ramree on the Arrakan coast. I myself have only shot it once in Pegu, 
in the rains, near Pegu town. Mr. Davison says that it is very rare in 
Tenasserim, but less rare, perhaps, in the Mergui archipelago than else- 
where. 
Out of Burma.h it has been procured, according to Jerdon, very rarely 
near Calcutta. Mr. Hume procured it in the Andamans. It extends 
down the Malay peninsula and has been recorded from Sumatra, Borneo, 
Java and Lombock. 
Very little is known of the habits of this species. The only bird I observed 
was perched on a stalk of elephant-grass on the banks of the Pegu Canal. 
Mr. Davison remarks that it apparently prefers the forests, but one 
specimen he obtained was found in very low mangrove -bushes on the edge 
of a creek. 
Genus HEMIPUS, Hodgs, 
245. HEMIPUS PICATUS. 
SYKES^S PIED SHRIKE. 
Muscicapa picata, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 85. Hemipus picatus, Jerd. B. Ind. 
i. p. 412 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 178 ; id. 8. F. i. p. 435, iii. p. 93 ; Wald. 
in Bl. B. Burm. p. 122 ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. Mus. iii. p. 307 ; Hume ^ Dav. 
S. F. vi. p. 207 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 91. 
Description. — Male. The upper plumage with the lores and ear-coverts 
glossy black ; the rump-feathers broadly tipped with white ; chin, vent and 
