338 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
Genus PIPEISOMA, Blyth 
320. PIPEISOMA AGILE. 
THE THICK-BILLED FLOWERPECKER. 
Fringilla agilis, Tick. J. A. S. B. ii. p. 578. Piprisoma agile, Jerd. B. Ind. i. 
p. 376 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 158 ; Beavan, Ibis, 1867, p. 430, pi. x. ; Hume, 
S. F. i. p. 434, viii. p. 90 ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 579 ; Scully, 8. F. viii. p. 260 ; 
Oates, S. F. x. p. 198. 
Description. — Male and female. The whole upper plumage and lesser 
coverts dull olive-green_, the centres of the feathers rather darker and the 
green brightest on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; tail blackish^ edged 
with green on the outer webs_, and all the feathers tipped with white^ very 
narrowly on the centre ones and more broadly on the outer ones; quills^ 
median and greater coverts brown edged with the colour of the back ; sides 
of the head ashy green ; chin and throat yellowish white ; an obscure 
greenish brown stripe runs down either side the throat from the base of 
the lower mandible to the breast ; lower plumage yellowish or buffy white 
streaked with greenish brown_, the streaks nearly obsolete on the centre of 
the abdomen ; under tail-coverts brighter^ with no streaks, the centres o£ 
the feathers only being dusky. 
Bill plumbeous, blackish at tip ; iris orange-yellow ; legs dark plum- 
beous; claws blackish. 
Length 4 inches, tail I •3, wing 2'3_, tarsus '5, bill from gape '4. The 
female is of much the same size. 
The Thick-billed Flowerpecker occurs both in the Pegu and Tenasserim 
Divisions. In the former I procured a few specimens near Kyeikpadein ; 
and in the latter my men obtained one bird at Malewoon. 
It occurs in the hill-tracts of Eastern Bengal, and is found over nearly 
the whole of the peninsula of India with Ceylon. 
This bird has much of the habits of D. cruentatum. The nest, however, 
is somewhat different. It is more or less globular, with an entrance near 
the top, and is composed of vegetable down and cobwebs woven together 
into a sort of pliable felt. It is suspended from a twig. The eggs are 
usually two or three in number, and are white marked with reddish brown. 
