Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 1).djvu/395

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CHLORUPSIS.
351

coverts green tinged with blue : lesser coverts glistening cobalt- blue; median and greater coverts green tinged with blue at the base; under plumage bright green tinged with bhie on the breast.

Colours of soft parts. Iris brown; bill black; legs plumbeous.

Measurements. Length about 180 mm.; wing So to 85 mm.; tail about ()7 to 70mm.; tarsus about 18 mm.; culmen 16 to 17 nnn. Female. The black on the head is replaced by bluish green, there is no yellow band round the black; the moustachial streak is pale and the general tint duller. Distribution, Hills South of the Brahmaputra to the extreme East of Assam, Manipur, Burma, the whole of Siain, East to Cochin China and Yunnan, and South to Tenasserim.

Nidification. Similar to that of the other species of this genus. I found it breeding in N. Cachar and the Khasia Hills in April and May and again, perhaps a second brood, in July and August. They kept for breeding purposes to dense, humid forests between 2,000 and 6.000 feet. Sixteen eggs average 22-3xl5'5 mm., the extremes being 23'2 X 15-4 mm.; 22-3 x 16-0 mm. and 21*0 X 14'4 mm.

Habits. In the non-breeding season the Burmese Cliloropsis is found from the plains up to at least 6,000 feet, but during the breeding time seems to leave the plains and keep to the higher hills. It has the usual habits of the genus and a very sweet song, though not as fine as that of the Orange-bellied Chloropsis.

(373) Chloropsis viridis zosterops.

The Malachite-shouldered Chloropsis.

Chloropsis zostetops Vigors, A pp. Mem. Life llaffh, p. 674 (1830) (Tenasserim); Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 238.

Vernacular names. None recorded.

Description. — Male. The whole upper plumage, wing-coverts, inner secondaries and tail bright green, the inner webs of all but the central tail-feathers edged with brown; a patch on the lesser wing-coverts malachite-green; other wing-quills dark brown, broadly edged with brigiit green; feathers above the nostrils, lores and a narrow line over the eye, cheeks, chin and throat black; ear-coverts and next the black throat a paler green than the back; a short blue moustachial streak; lower plumage bright green, a little paler than above.

Colours of soft parts. Iris light brown, dai'k brown to crimson; bill black; legs and feet pale to dark plumbeous.

Measurements. Length about 220 to 230 nun.; wing 87 to 90 mm. : tail about 75 mm.; tarsus about 19 mm.; culmen about 20 mm.