245. Aegithina nigrilutea

245. Aegithina nigrilutea.

Marshall's Iora.

Iora nigrolutea, G. F. L. Marshall, S. F. iv, p. 410 (1876); Hume, S. F. v, pp. 134, 441, vii, p. 454; id, Cat. no. 468 bis. Aegithina nigrolutea (Marsh.), Sharpe, Cat. B. M. vi, p. 12.

Coloration. Male. In summer plumage the forehead, crown, nape, and lores are black; upper back bright yellow, delicately fringed with black ; lower back the same, but with more black; upper tail-coverts black; tail black, broadly tipped with white; lesser coverts and scapulars black ; median coverts white; greater coverts black, tipped with white ; quills black, narrowly margined with greenish, the secondaries and tertiaries tipped white ; sides of the head and neck and the whole lower plumage bright yellow; under wing-coverts white.

In winter the male has the upper plumage entirely dull greenish yellow, with, as a rule, a few black marks on the crown ; the other parts of the plumage are the same as in summer.

Female. The whole upper plumage greenish yellow; the upper tail-coverts black, fringed with green; a bright yellow ring round the eye; sides of the head and the whole lower plumage yellow ; the wings and tail as in the male, but the black is not so intense; the white parts are tinged with yellow in places, and the terminal half of the middle pair of tail-feathers is nearly all white tinged with ashy.

Legs and feet light plumbeous; bill horny; iris dark (Hume).

Length nearly 5.5; tail 1.8 ; wing 2.5 ; tarsus .7; bill from gape .6.

Distribution. Cutch ; the eastern half of Rajputana ; the southern portion of the Punjab; the North-West Provinces; Malwa; Bundelkhand; the northern portion of the Central Provinces; Eastern Bengal as far east, at least, as Mudhupur in the Sonthal Pergunnahs.

Habits, &c. Nothing in particular is on record regarding the Habits of this species, which, however, are not likely to differ from those of AE. tiphia.