Genus SIVA, Hodgson, 1838.
The genus Siva contains four species, which are found in the Himalayas and the mountain-ranges of Burma ; two species extend down the Malay peninsula to Perak.
They are birds of handsome plumage. The bill is about half the Length of the head, gently curved and notched ; the rictal bristles are long, and the nostrils are covered by a membrane ; the head is crested.
The tail-feathers are very peculiar, the ends being obliquely truncated, and only the two outer pairs are graduated, the other four pairs being of equal Length.
In Habits all the species seem to be alike. They are quite arboreal, being found generally in small flocks in trees of considerable size, the leaves of which they search for insects.
Key to the Species.
a. Primaries edged with orange.
a1. Middle pair of tail-feathers chestnut-red on the basal half of the inner and the basal third of the outer webs.....................S. strigula, p. 208.
b1. Middle pair of tail-feathers chestnut-red on the basal five sixths of both webs.....................S. castaneicauda, p. 209.
b. Primaries edged with blue.
c1. Wings tipped with white.....................S. cyanuroptera, p. 209.
d1. Wings not tipped with white.....................S. sordida, p. 210.
