554 
PHTLLOSCOPUS MAGMEOSTEIS. 
the Horton Plains^ it was quite as frequent as the last-noticed bird. The first example recorded from Ceylon 
was shot by myself on the banks of the river in Lindula, in November 1870, and I have never detected it in 
any collections but my own. It is worthy of note that females are rare in Ceylon. 
Jerdon writes as follows : — “ It apjjears to be spread, but rare, over India. I obtained it at Nellore in 
the cold weather, and it has been procured near Calcutta and in Nepal.^’ Its head-quarters, in the summer, 
seem to bo the sub-Himalayan districts. Mr. Brooks found it in forest in Cashmere, and met with it in 
numbers in the valley of the Bhagarati river above Mussoori. In the winter it wanders down the eastern side 
of the Bay of Bengal, and is, according to Mr. Hume, a rare cold-weather visitant to the central portion of 
the provinee of Tenasserim. It likewise finds its way to the Andamans, where it was procured by Lieut. 
Wardlaw Ramsay, and also on Mount Harriet, above Port Blair, during Mr. Hume^s expedition to the island 
in 1873. 
Habits. This Tree- Warbler frequents the upper branches of trees in jungle and forest, and does not affect 
the vicinity of human habitations like the last, preferring the retirement of the woods to the shelter of umbra- 
geous trees in compounds, gardens, and other open places. It likewise does not seem to dwell so much among 
the leaves and boughs as P. nitidus. On hearing its sweet three-note whistle, which somewhat resembles the 
note of the Redbreast Ply catcher (C. ticMlia), if you look up you will see the little bird, Avhence it comes 
flitting from one bare branch to another, peering down for an instant on you, and at the next rapidly darting 
among the surrounding foliage at some passing insect, and then realighting at some little distance off. These 
actions are so much like that of a Flycatcher, audits note so unlike the chirrup of the last species, that the first 
time I procured it under these circumstances I was surprised to find I had killed a Willow- Warbler instead of a 
Flycatcher. It constantly repeats its note as it moves from tree to tree in search of insects, which form its 
entire food ; and it generally hunts singly, notwithstanding that one of its companions may usually be heard 
not far off. 
Blyth writes of its song, “ My shikaree, who shot it, informed me that it sung prettily j and on my imitating 
the well-known note of P. trochilus (the Willow-5Fren), he assured me that the song of this bird was quite 
different.” Mr. Brooks, who has paid so much attention to the members of this genus, says that its song is 
peculiarly shrill and sweet, but is the most melancholy one that could be imagined. He further writes, 
concerning his observations of the species in the Mussoori district, “1 frequently heard its song near 
Danguli, and again not far from Gangaotri. Also on the road from Sansoo to Kauriagalia, in a rocky wooded 
glen through which a small stream flowed. The eonditions this bird requires are wooded cliffs or very steep 
rocky banks impracticable for man, and plenty of flowing water below. Above a roaring torrent it is in its 
element, and sings most vigorously It is very shy and of a retiring disposition, and the female is 
rarely seen. But for its song the male also would escape observation.” 
