211. Actinodura egertoni.
The Rufous Bar-wing.
Actinodura egertoni, Gould, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 18; Blyth, Cat. p. 98; Horsf. & M. Cat. i, p. 212; Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 52; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. ii, p. 105; xlv, pt. ii, p. 76; xlvii, pt. ii, p. 24; Hume, N. & E. p. 266; id. S. F. vii, p. 153; id. Cat. no. 427 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. vii, p. 463; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 170; Oates in Hume's N. & E. 2nd ed. i, p. 136.
Ramnio-pho, Lepch.
Coloration. Crest rich ashy brown ; forehead, lores, round the eye, cheeks, and chin rufous ; ear-coverts, sides of neck, and mantle brown, paler than the crest; smaller wing-coverts, back, rump, and upper tail-coverts reddish brown; primary-coverts almost entirely black; greater coverts chestnut; inner webs of primaries and secondaries brown, the outer ones ashy, except on the basal portions, which are chestnut; the ashy portions of the outer webs barred with black ; tertiaries wholly silky brown, narrowly barred across with black ; outer tail-feathers brown, barred with black and tipped white, the others successively less barred and becoming more and more suffused with reddish brown; the middle pair entirely reddish brown, with a few faint brown bars near the tips ; throat and upper breast pinkish fulvous ; remainder of lower plumage fulvous, the centre of the abdomen whitish and the under tail-coverts tipped with white.
Bill light horny; legs pale brown ; iris brown (Jerdon).
Length about 9; tail 4.5; wing 3.3; tarsus 1.1; bill from gape .8.
Birds from Sikhim have the back and tail very rufous; those from the Khasi hills and Manipur have these parts ochraceous and the middle tail-feathers more distinctly barred. Distribution, Nepal to the Daphla hills in Assam; the Khasi and Naga hills ; Manipur. This bird is found from 3000 to 6000 feet of elevation.
Habits, &c. Hume remarks that these birds go about in small parties and are quite tree birds, clambering about and poking into every hole and cranny, and foraging about in the huge branches of orchids and other parasites much like Tits.
They build their nest in trees at all heights from the ground, a cup-shaped structure made of leaves held together by creeper-stems. The eggs are pale green marked in various ways with umber-brown, and measure about .92 by .68.
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