Brown above, pale yellow below. Chin and throat white. Back of neck rusty yellow. This colour is continued in a demi-collar round the sides of the neck. Common about Darjeeling.
27. Yuhina gularis. The striped-throated yuhina. Another tiny bird with all the habits of the tits. A flock of dull-brown birds, about the size of sparrows, having the chin and throat streaked with black, are likely to be striped-throated yuhinas.
28. Minla igneitincta. The red-tailed minla or hill-tit. This tit-like babbler is often seen in company with the true tits, which it resembles in habits and size. The head is black with a white eyebrow. The wings and tail are black and crimson. The rest of the upper plumage is yellowish olive. The throat is white, and the remainder of the lower plumage is bright yellow.
NOTE ON THE TITS AND SMALL BABBLERS
Tits are small birds, smaller than sparrows, which usually go about in flocks. They spend most of their lives in trees. In seeking for insects, on which they feed largely, they often hang upside down from a branch. All tits have these habits; but all birds of these habits are not tits. Thus the following of the babblers described above have all the habits of tits: the white-eye, the black-throated babbler, the red-headed babbler, the blue-winged siva, the yellow-naped ixulus, the striped-throated yuhina, and the red-tailed minla.
The above are all birds of distinctive colouring and may be easily distinguished.
Other small birds which are neither tits nor babblers go about in flocks, as, for example, nuthatches, but these other birds differ in shape and habits from babblers and tits, so that no one is likely to confound them with the smaller Corvidæ or Crateropodidæ.
29. Molpastes leucogenys. The white-cheeked bulbul. Common below elevations of 5000 feet.
30. Hypsipetes psaroides. The Himalayan black bulbul. Not very common.
31. Alcurus striatus. The striated green bulbul. Upper plumage olive-green with yellow streaks. Cheeks dark brown, streaked with pale yellow. Chin and throat yellow, with dark spots on throat. Patch under tail bright yellow.