Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 1).djvu/507

Key to Species.

A.

Feathers of the throat and breast black with pale shafts ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

S. humei, p. 461.

B.

Feathers of breast ashy-brown with black margins and white submargins. ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

S. roberti, p. 461.

(473) Sphenocichla humei.

Hume's Wedge-billed Wren.

Heterorhynchus humei Mandelli, S. F., i, p. 415 (1873) (Native Sikkim).

Sphenocichla humii. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 336.

Vernacular names. None recorded.

Description. Whole upper plumage rich golden-browii, the feathers edged with black and all but those of the crown and nape narrowly barred with blackish; feathers of head, neck and inter- scapulars with white shafts, most conspicuous on the forehead; a

Fig. 91.—Head of S. humei.

broad white supercilium from the back of the eye breaking up into white spots on the sides of the neck; wings blackish-brown, the visible parts barred with dark golden-brown; chin, throat, breast and flanks dark brown with white shafts and the narrowest of white edges; belly ashy-grey; posterior flanks and under tail-coverts golden-brown.

Colours of soft parts. Irides dark brown; bill slate-colour, the culmen darker; legs dark brown.

Measurements. Wing 70 to 74 mm.; tail 04 to 71 mm.; tarsus 26 to 27 mm.; culmen 22 to 24 mm.

Distribution. Sikkim to the Abor Hills.

Nidification and Habits. Nothing recorded.

(474) Sphenocichla roberti.

Egbert's Wedge-billed Wren.

Sphenocichla roberti Godw.-Aust. & Wald., Ibis, 1875, p. 251 (Hemeo, N. Cachar); Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 336.

Vernacular names. Ting-linrwi gadiba (Kacha Naga).

Description. Above dark reddish golden-brown, the feathers of the head and mantle with darker margins and obsolete ashy