49 
1872.] W. T. Blanford — Zoology of Siklcim. 
1-17, bill from forebead 063. Jerdon’s measurement of the bill, |, must be 
from the gape. 
It is quite possible that this may be a distinct local race, inhabiting 
Eastern Tibet, but I scarcely like to separate it without better means of 
comparison. 
Triton) 
350 Zootheea monticola, Vigors. — I obtained one specimen at about 
10.000 feet in the Lachen valley, but I did not shoot it myself. 
362 Meettia albocencta, (Eoyle). — This black bird is common in 
rhododendron scrub, and on the skirts of forest on the Chola range at 11,000 
to 13,000 feet. I saw it also at Lachiing in Upper Sikkim at about 8,000 feet. 
It appears to haunt hanks of streams. 
352 Oeeocietes e it YTiDioti aster, ( Vigors) .—Obtained by Captain 
Elwes near Laeliung. 
478 Geandala ccelicoxob, Ilodgs. — The systematic position of this 
bird is very puzzling. I cannot see much affinity for Myiomela, and even less 
for Calliope, next to which Mr. G. E. Gray classes it in his * Hand list.’ I was 
wrong in placing the African Pkolidauges leucogaster , in the same genus 
(Ohs. Geol. and Zool, Abyssinia, p. 367), but I still believe that there is some 
affinity between the two. The bill of Otrandala is certainly Saxicoline, but I 
am strongly disposed to doubt whether, as a nde, far too great importance 
is not attached to characters of the bill by ornithologists. 
Were I to judge Grandala by its flight, habits, and form of wing, I 
should unhesitatingly place it amongst the Starlings. The tarsi are, it is 
true, less strongly scutcllated than in the Sturnidce, but still the scutellation 
towards the base is well marked, and the tarsus has no more resemblance to 
that of a Saxicola than to that of Sturnm. On the whole perhaps the most 
natural position is in the thrushes, some of which, as the fieldfare, assemble 
into flocks in the winter. 
Captain Speke was quite correct as to the gregarious habits of this bird, 
Mr. Hodgson’s information, however, may have been derived from its being 
found solitary or in pairs in the summer. We first met with it at Momay 
Samdong (15,000 feet). A flock entirely composed of young birds or females 
used to visit a small grassy flat, close to our encampment, lor several evenings 
after our arrival, and hunt about for insects which were atracted by the 
yak’s dung, exactly as stai-lings do. All which I shot proved to be young 
males. I saw none at a lower elevation, but near Donkia pass, at above 
17.000 feet, I met with a flock in which were some males in adult plumage, 
one of which I shot. 
483 Pbatevcola ikdica, Blyth. — Common in the Lachiing and Lachen 
valleys in September and the beginning of October, and apparently 
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