338 TIMALIIDÆ. The position of this genus, of yE(jit?iina which is very closely allied to it, and of Chloroiisis is very doubtful. In all three the sexes are dissimilar and in the first two the summer and winter plumages of the males are different. They have frequently been placed in a family with the Bulbuls and one or two others but they appear to me to be even less closely connected with them than with the truly Timaliine birds. Probably they should be placed in a family by themselves leading from the Timaliidce to the Pycnonotidce but for the present I leave them as they are. Specimens in spirit are wanted for examination.
(361) Aethorhynchus lafresnayi.
The Great Iona.
- lora lafresnayi Hartl., Rev. Zool., 1844, p. 401 (Z^Ialacca).
- Aethorhynchus hifres?>ayi. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 228.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Breeding male. Upper plumage dull green, the feathers fringed with black : wings, tail and upper tail-coverts deep black, the primaries and outer secondaries very narrowly
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Fig. 63.—Head of Ac. lafresnayi.
edged with greenish on the outer and more broadly with white on the inner webs; lores, cheeks, a ring round the eye and the whole lower plumage bright yellow.
Non-breeding male and female. Upper plumage without the black fringes; the tail dull greenish yellow; primaries and secondaries brown instead of black.
Colours of soft parts. Ii-is brown or hazel-brown; bill plumbeous, leaden blue or bluish slate, the culmen darker; legs and feet clear slate or plumbeous blue, the claws horny-brown.
Measurements. Length about 165 ram.: wing 67 to 72 mm.; tail about 55 to 57 mm.; tarsus about 20 mm.; culmen about 17 mm.
Distribution. From South Arrakan down West Burma to Tenas.serim and the Malay Peninsula, Siam and ? Annam.
Nidification. Two nests taken by Mr. W. A. T. Kellow near Perak are small, rather deep cups of the softest grasses, lined with the same and well bound round and about with spiders' webs, often mixed with their egg-bags. Both were placed in high bushes in evergreen-jungle. They were taken on 4th January and
