STACBXRIS B.WIOEPS, B ty th ;.
J.& m Jd/klEG ltichtcrjleid' /hih/ Wihtrjmp.
STACHYRIS RUFICEPS, W M
Red-headed Stachyris.
Stachyris ruficeps, Blvtii, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng., vol. xvi. p. 452—Id. Cat. of Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Cal-
cutta, p. 150.—Horsf. and Moore, Cat. of Birds in Mus. East-Ind. Comp., vol. i. p. 409.—Gray and
Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. hi., App. p. 10 (App. to p. 228)—Moore, Proc. of Zool. Soc. 1854, p. 141.—
Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., tom. i. p. 332, Stachyris, sp. 3.—Jerd. Birds of India, vol. ii. part i, p. 22.—Id.
Ibis, 1872, p. 299.
■------------pracognitus, Swinh. Ibis, 1866, p. 310.—Id. Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1871, p. 373.
Timalia (Stachyris') ruficeps, G. R. Gray, Hand-list of Birds, part i. p. 315.
pileata, McClell. Proc. of Zool. Soc., part vii. 1839, p. 161.
Syak-birang-pho, Lepchas (Jerdon).
H aving carefully compared Mr. Swinhoe’s Chinese specimens of his Stachyris prcecognitus with Nepaulese
examples of Mr. Blytli’s S. ruficeps, I am unable to perceive sufficient difference between them to warrant
their being regarded as distinct; I have no alternative therefore but that of placing the Consul’s name as a
synonym of the latter. The accompanying illustration of two birds and a nest, taken from Chinese examples
lent me by Mr. Swinhoe, will enable those who may possess Himalayan examples to judge for themselves
whether I am right in considering them identical. Size is evidently of but little value; for one o f my
Nepaulese examples is much smaller than any Chinese specimen I have ever seen. I f the above view of the
case be correct, then it is evident that this little bird has a wide range, extending over Nepaul, Sikhim, and
the Khasia hills, while Mr. Swinhoe also gives the island of Formosa and the Ichang gorge o f the Yangtsze
river as other places it inhabits.
The following notes, by Mr. Jerdon, Mr. Moore, and Mr. Swinhoe, comprise all the information I have
been able to find recorded respecting this bird. The meaning of M r. Swinhoe’s remarks in connexion with
it, given in his first account of the species in ‘The Ib is ’ for 1866, I am at a loss to understand; for he
therein compares the bird with various genera which seem to me in no way allied to Stachyris.
“ This bird,” says Dr. Jerdon, “ is found in Nepal, Sikhim, and the Khasia Hills. It is common at Darjeeling,
frequenting high trees in small parties, searching the foliage for minute insects. A nest and eggs,
said to be of this species, were brought to me a t Darjeeling. The nest was a loose structure o f grass and
fibres, and contained two eggs o f a greenish-white colour, with some rusty spots.”
Mr. Moore remarks that this species is “ allied in form and size to Stachyris pyrrhops, but having the
crown light ferruginous, and the chin and middle of the throat white, with slight black central streaks to the
feathers; rest of the upper parts plain olive, and o f the lower whitish, with a fulvous tinge on the sides of
the neck and b rea st; bill and legs pale horny.
“ Length 4 inches; wing 2$; tail 2 ; bill, to frontal plumes tV, to gape A ; tarsus $.
“ In some specimens the crown and nape are bright ferruginous, and the whole of the underparts pale
ferruginous.”
In his Revised Catalogue of the Birds o f China and its Islands, published in the ‘ Proceedings o f the
Zoological Society of London ’ for 1871, Mr. Swinhoe says Very like St. ruficeps, Blyth, o f Nepal, but
smaller, with much smaller bill, and with the red of the head confined to the crown.”
The figures and the nest are of the natural size.