The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma/Birds/Order Passeres/Family Paridæ/Genus Sylviparus
Genus SYLVIPARUS Burton, 1835.
This genus closely resembles Parus but differs in having a proportionately shorter, smaller bill and a square or very slightly forked tail; plumage greenish with no ventral band. There is only one species.
Sylviparus modestus.
Key to Subspecies.
| A. Above olive-green, below ochraceous yellow | S. m. modestus, p. 88. |
| B. Above darker and duller, below dull yellowish grey | S. m. saturatior, p. 88. |
| C. Above paler and brighter, below brighter and paler and more yellow | S. m. simlaensis, p. 89. |
(70) Sylviparus modestus modestus.
The Yellow-browed Tit.
- Sylviparus modestus Burton, P. Z. S., p. 154 (1835) (Nepal); Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 53.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Upper plumage, sides of the neck, the wings and tail olive-green, the feathers of the crown centred with brown; sides of the head yellowish green slightly mottled with brown; a ring of feathers round the eye and a short eye-brow yellow; lower plumage yellow tinged with ochraceous; edge of wing and under wing-coverts bright yellow.
Colours of soft parts. Bill dark plumbeous, palest along the commissure and at base of the lower mandible; legs and feet plumbeous; iris very dark brown (Davison).
Measurements. Total length about 100 mm.; tail about 35 mm.; wing 00 to 64 mm.; tarsus about 15 mm.; culmen about 5 mm.
Distribution. Garhwal, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and hills N. of the Brahmaputra at least as far East as the Abor Hills.
Nidification. Nothing known.
Habits. A bird of the hills above 6,000 feet. In winter it apparently comes mucb lower, possibly on rare occasions into the plains.
(71) Sylviparus modestus simlaensis.
The Simla Yellow-browed Tit.
- Sylviparus modestus simlaensis Stuart Baker, Bull. B. O. C, xxxviii, p. 8 (1917) (Simla).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Differs from the true modestus in being a much brighter yellower green above and in being paler and purer yellow below.
Colour of soft parts and measurements as in the Nepal bird.
Distribution. Sinda Hills, northwards. The division between the Garhwal and Simla birds is curious and unusual but is very marked.
(72) Sylviparus modestus saturatior.
The Chinese Yellow-browed Tit.
- Sylviparus saturatior Rippon, Bull. B.O.C, xvi, p. 87 (1900) (Mt. Victoria, Chin Hills).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Like the Nepal Yellow-browed Tit but much darker and duller both above and below. The under plumage is also more grey and less yellow.
Distribution. Hills South of the Brahmaputra, N. Burma, East into China.
Nidification unknown.
Habits. Very little recorded. A bird of high elevations like the other races.