(487) Heteroxenicus hyperythrus.
The Rusty-BELLIED Short-wing.
Brachypteryx hyperythra Jerdon & Blyth, P. Z. S., 1861, p. 201 (Sikkim). Drymochares hyperythrus. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 187.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description.— Adult male. Lores and frontal line black; a short, rather broad supercilium white; whole upper plumage,, sides of head and neck and exposed parts of wings and tail deep blue; concealed parts of wings and tail brown; whole lower parts from chin to under tail-coverts bright chestnut.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown; bill black, more or less fleshy at the base and on the mandible during the non-breeding season; legs fleshy to light horny brown.
Measurements. Total length about 120 mm.; wing 63 to 64 mm.; tail about 45 mm.; tarsus 29 mm.; culmen 11 mm.
Female. "Whole upper plumage olive-brown, the ear-coverts with pale shafts; plumage below chestnut suffused with brown on the flanks and vent and albescent on the centre of the abdomen. The white eyebrow is absent or obsolete.
Colours of soft parts as in the mae.
Measurements. Wing about 62 mm.; tail 38 mm.; tarsus 28 mm.; culmen 11 mm.
Distribution. Sikkim. "N. Lakhimpur and Margherita in Assam " (Stevens).
Nidification. Unknown.
Habits. Another very rare bird of which little is known. Stevens saw it at Tonglo, Sikkim, at 9,700 feet, in January, and he also obtained specimens in the plains of North Lakhimpur in winter. The Sikkim specimens were seen in dense bamboo growth.
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