# The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma/Birds/Order Passeres/Family Paradoxornithidæ/Genus Suthora

Genus SUTHORA Hodgson, 1838.
The genus Suthora is one which has been much split up by some Ornithologists. Harington accepted Heteromorpha, Chleuasicus, Suthora and Neosuthora as good genera. Whilst, however, the last named is sharply divided from the others by its very short tail, I can find no generic differences between the three first and retain them all under Suthora.
The characteristics of the genus are the short, thick bill, a trifle longer than deep, the culmen strongly curved but with the com- missure almost straight. The nostrils are very small, circular, and completely concealed by plumules. The sixth primary is a little longer than the fifth and seventh or subequal. The tail-feathers are long and narrow and greatly graduated, the outer being about half the length of the central. The plumage is soft and full and there is a short thick crest.
Key to Species and Subspecies.
| A. | A well-defined supercilium of black or brown. |
| c. | Crown and upper parts all orange-brown. |
| a'. | Ear-coverts slaty blue-grey. |
| B. | Supercilium obsolete or entirely absent. |
| d. | Crown and upper plumage orange-brown. |
| g. | Crown bright chestnut, back rufous-brown. |
(92) Suthora unicolor.
The Brown Suthora.
    Heteromorpha unicolor Hodgs., Ind. Rev., ii, p. 32 (1838) (Nepal).
    Suthora unicolor. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 64.
Vernacular names. Lho-ramnio-pho (Lepcha).
Description. Forehead and crest brown tinged with rufous: lores and supercilia reaching to the nape black; chin and sides of
Fig. 23.—Head of S. unicolor.
the head vinous brown; throat and sides of the neck greyish brown; upper plumage oUve-brown, strongly tinged with rufous on the tail and visible portions of wings; breast and lower plumage dull fulvous.
Colours of soft parts. Iris hoary grey to brown (? juv.); bill fleshy yellow to orange-yellow; legs and feet pale slaty tinged with grey or green.
Measurements. Total length about 200mm.; wing 80 to 85 mm.; tail about 102 to 107 mm.; culmen 10 mm.; tarsus about 30mm.
​Distribution. The higher regions of Nepal and Sikkim; Jerdon obtained it at 10,000 feet near Darjeeling and Blanford in the Lachung Valley between 7,000 and 8,000 feet elevation. It extends to the mountains which lie between China and Tibet.
Nidificatioin and Habits. Nothing recorded.
(93) Suthora nepalensis.
The Ashy-eared Suthora.
    Suthora nepalensis Hodgs., Ind. Rev., ii, p. 32 (1838) (Nepal); Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 65.
Vernacular names. Suthora (Nepal).
Description. Forehead, crown and nape smoky grey; a very broad black supercilium from forehead to nape; lores, round the eye, and a short broad eyebrow white; remainder of the side of the head slaty blue; upper plumage and wing-coverts orange- brown; primary-coverts black; primaries with hoary outer webs, tinged with chestnut at base; the outer quills chiefly chestnut on the outer webs and tipped with white on both webs; tail chestnut broadly tipped with blackish; point of the chin black; throat rusty, with black bars showing through; lower plumage orange-fulvous.
Colours of soft parts. Not recorded.
Measurements. Total length about 110 mm.; wing 47 to 49 mm.; tail about 55 to 58 mm.; tarsus about 16 to 16·5 mm.; culmen about 5 mm.
Distribution. Nepal only.
Nidification and Habits. Nothing known.
(94) Suthora poliotis poliotis.
Blyth's Suthora.
    Suthora poliotis Blyth, J. A. S. B., xx, p. 522 (1851) (Cherrapanji, Khasia Hills); Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 65.
Vernacular names. Dao mougasha kashiba (Cachari).
Description. Upper plumage bright orange-brown; a broad black supercilium extending to the nape and a narrow white line below it; lores, cheeks and under the eye white; ear-coverts and sides of the neck slaty-blue; a streak of fulvous behind the eye and over the front part of the ear-coverts; chin and throat black; lower plumage bluish grey, becoming whitish on the abdomen and under tail-coverts; primary-coverts black; primaries with hoary outer webs, tinged with chestnut at the base; the outer quills chiefly chestnut on the outer webs and tipped with white; tail chestnut broadly tipped with blackish.
​Colours of soft parts. Iris brown; legs slate-grey or bluish slaty; bill fleshy yellow.
Measurements. Length about 100 mm.; wing 44 to 46 mm.; tail about 52 mm.; culmen about 5 mm.
Distribution. Hills south of the Brahmaputra from the Khasia Hills to the Eastern Naga Hills.
Nidification. This little bird breeds in the Khasia and N. Cachar Hills in May and June, making a very neat little, cup-shaped nest of tine grasses and shreds of bamboo-leaves well fastened together with cobwebs and lined with the finest grass-stems. It is placed low down in thick bushes or tangles of creepers, both in scrub jungle and evergreen forest. The eggs are generally three in number and are of a rather deep hedge-sparrow's egg-blue, unspotted. In shape they are rather broad ovals with the smaller end broad and blunt. Twenty eggs average 15·7 × 11·9 mm.
Habits. Blyth's Suthora seems to be found at elevations between 2,000 and 4,000 feet, wandering about in small flocks in the denser undergrowth in evergreen forest or, less often, in scrub and secondary growth. They are great skulkers and very hard to get a shot at as they climb and scramble through the lower parts of the bushes, only showing themselves for a second or two as they feebly flit from one bush to another. Their call-note is a very plaintive little bleat, constantly uttered by each member of the flock, and they also have a variety of low cheeps and "chirrs." They feed both on insects and grass-seeds, etc.
Hellmayr ('Genera Avium,' p. 73) considers daflaensis separable from true poliotis in that it has the feathers of the chin and throat with longer white fringes than has the latter bird. I cannot separate the two races with the material available.
(95) Suthora poliotis humii.
The Black-fronted Suthora.
    Suthora humii Sharpe, Cat. B. M., vii, p. 487 (1883) (Darjeeling); Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 64.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Similar to S. p. poliotis, but has the ear-coverts orange-chestnnt and the flanks and vent orange-fulvous.
Colours of soft parts as in poliotis.
Measurements. Wing from 46 to 48 mm.
Distribution. Native Sikkim extending to the hills about Darjeeling.
Nidification unknown.
Habits similar to those of poliotis.
(96) Suthora poliotis feæ.
Saltadori's Suthora.
    Sufhora feæ Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civic. Genova, vii, p. 364 (1889) (Karenni); Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 66 (footnote).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Similar to S. p. poliotis, but with flanks and vent bright pale fulvous and no black supercilium.
Colours of soft parts and Measurements as in Blyth's Suthora.
Distribution. So far only obtained in Karenni and Fort Stedman.
Nidification. A nest sent to me from near Fort Stedman, with both parents, was made entirely of shreds of fine grass, coated with cobwebs and lined with fine grass-stems. It was cup-shaped and had been placed low down in matted reeds and grass. The two blue eggs measure 15·3 × 12·5 and 16·0 × 12·5 mm.
Habits. Nothing recorded, and the only known specimens are Salvadori's type and those sent me from Port Stedman by Col. H. H. Harington.
(97) Suthora poliotis ripponi.
Rippon's Suthora.
    Suthora ripponi Sharpe, Bull. B.O.C, xv, p. 96 (1905) (Mt. Victoria, Chin Hills).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Similar to S. p. poliotis, but has the breast and abdomen orange-grey and the ear-coverts a distinctly paler grey.
Colours of soft parts as in poliotis.
Measurements. Total length about 110 mm.; wing about 48 mm.; tail about 56 mm.; tarsus about 18 mm.
Distribution. Mt. Victoria, Chin Hills.
Nidification and Habits. Nothing recorded.
(98) Suthora gularis craddocki.
Bingham's Suthora.
    Suthora craddocki Bingham, Bull. B.O.C., xiii, p. 64 (1903) (Loi-Pang-Nan, Shan States).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. "Forehead, crown, nape, back, rump, and upper tail-coverts orange-brown, shaded on the back and nape with ​olive-brown; the primaries edged externally with white, the secondaries and tertiaries broadly edged with bright orange-brown; the priniary-coverts brown, forming a conspicuous patch on the upper portion of the wing; tail brown, the outer edges of the feathers bright rufous-brown for three-fourths of their length from the base; lores, cheeks and a long supercilium white; the white of the cheeks extending on to the sides of the neck; ear-coverts brown; chin and throat black, shading into grey on the upper breast; abdomen and under tail-coverts bright orange-brown.
"Upper mandible horny, lower fleshy-yellow; legs and feet fleshy-brown. Length about 4" (100 mm.), wing 1·8" (45 mm.), tail 1·9" (48 mm.), bill 0·3" (7 mm.), tarsus 0·9" (22·8 mm.)." (Bingham.)
Bingham's Suthora is only a race of gularis (verreauxi Sharpe, Cat. B.M.), differing from that bird in having the abdomen and under tail-coverts orange-brown instead of white.
Distribution. Mekong water-shed, Kentung State, Shan Hills.
Nidification unknown.
Habits. This little Suthora is evidently a bird of very high elevations, only having been found by Bingham at 8,500 feet.
(99) Suthora webbiana brunnea.
Anderson's Suthora.
    Suthora brunnea Anderson, P. Z. S., 1871, p. 211 (Yunnan); Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 68, footnote.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. The whole head and neck all round with the breast chestnut-brown, suffused with vinaceous below: the upper plumage, wing-coverts, tail and exposed parts of closed wing olive-brown; lower plumage yellowish brown.
Colours of soft parts. Iris deep red; bill yellow horny, pale except on the culmen; legs greenish plumbeous or slaty brown.
Measurements. Total length about 125 to 130 mm.; wing 51 to 54 mm.; tail about 60 to 65 mm.; tarsus about 20 mm.; culmen about 7 mm.
Distribution. Yunnan and the Kachin Hills from Bhamo eastwards.
Nidification. This bird has been found breeding commonly in Sinlum-Kaba, Bhamo District, at an elevation of some 6,000 feet. Harington describes the nest as "a rather deep cup-shaped structure composed of bamboo-leaves and coarse blades of grass, ​lined with finer grass and a few horse-hairs; measuring about 4" × 3½" outside and 2" × 2" inside." The nests were all extremely well concealed and were only discovered by carefully watching the birds. They were placed in clumps of reeds or grass, or in thick bushes and tangles of creepers, in each case quite low down, less than three feet from the ground.
The eggs number 2 to 4, the former number having been taken much incubated, but 3 is the usual full clutch. In colour they are a rather deep, unspotted hedge-sparrows' egg-blue and in shape broad ovals, very little compressed at the smaller end. Twenty-four eggs average 16·3 × 12·8 mm.
The breeding season is from the end of April to early June.
Habits. Anderson's Suthora keeps principally to reed and grass cover, where they creep about but seldom fly. As they hunt for insects they keep up a continuous twittering, and they are more often heard than seen.
(100) Suthora fulvifrons fulvifrons.
The Fulvous-fronted Suthora.
    Temnoris fulvifrons Hodgs., P.Z.S., xiii, p. 31 (1845) (Nepal).
    Suthora fulvifrons. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 66.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Forehead, middle portion of the crown, a very short supercilium), cheeks, chin, throat, breast, sides of the neck and the under tail-coverts bright fulvous; a broad band from the lores over the eye to the nape, the back, rump and lesser wing-coverts olive-yellow; upper tail-coverts fulvous; greater wing-coverts edged with chestnut; quills with the outer webs chestnut, hoary on the basal halves of the primaries; tail blackish, the outer webs more or less bright chestnut except at the tips; abdomen deep grey.
Colours of soft parts. Irides brown; bill pale fleshy yellow, horny above; legs fleshy brown.
Measurements. Total length about 150 mm.; wing about 54 to 56 mm.; tail about 66 mm.; culmen about 5 mm.; tarsus about 20 to 22 mm.
Distribution. Nepal and Sikkim.
Nidification and Habits. Practically nothing known. Masson found it breeding on the Singlo Ridge about 8,500 feet, but failed to find the nest. This was in May. It probably keeps to high elevations and dense forest in which it is not easily observed.
(101) Suthora ruficeps ruficeps.
The Red-headed Suthora.
    Chleuasicus ruficeps Blyth, J. A. S. B., xiv, p. 578 (1845) (Sikkim).
    Suthora ruficeps. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 67.
Vernacular names. Chongto-phep-pho (Lepcha).
Description. Forehead and crest to hind neck bright chestnut; sides of the head and neck paler; lower plumage white, tinged with pink on the breast; upper plumage rufous-brown, deeper on the tail and exposed parts of the wings; shafts of chin-feathers distinctly black.
Colours of soft parts. Bill creamy or fleshy white or pale horny; legs greenish plumbeous; iris bright red-brown.
Measurements. Total length about 150 mm.; wing 75 to 78 mm.; tail about 80 mm.; tarsus about 23·5 mm.; culmen about 7·5 mm.
Distribution. Sikkim only.
Nidification unknown.
Habits. A very rare bird found in Sikkim at 7,000 feet upwards. The habits are probably much the same as those of the next bird.
(102) Suthora ruficeps atrosuperciliaris.
The Black-browed Suthora.
    Chleuasicus ruficeps var. atrosuperciliaris Godw.-Aust., P. A. S. Beng., 1877, p. 147 (Sadiya, Assam).
    Suthora atrispeculiaris. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 67.
Vernacular names. Dao-mougasha (Cachari).
Description. Differs from the last bird in being darker and more richly coloured everywhere and in having a well-defined black eyebrow.
Colours of soft parts. Maxilla fleshy, the culmen and base a little darker and becoming bluish next the forehead, lower mandible pale fleshy, the gonys almost white; irides light bright brown; legs pale, clear bluish plumbeous, claws paler still.
Measurements. Total length 145 to 150 mm.; wing 57 to 59 mm.; tail about 99 mm.; culmen about 10 mm. and from gape about 12 mm.
Distribution. From Cachar to Lakhimpur in Assam, south of the Brahmaputra and east of the Dibong in the Abor and Miri Hills, north of the same river and thence eastwards to Yunnan through the Shan States. Godwin-Austen's birds from Baladhan were undoubtedly of this and not the last race.
SUTHORA R. ATROSUPERCILIARIS. The Black-browed Suthora. $^2$⁄$_3$ life size.
​the finest grasses but, under these, were a few scraps of bamboo leaves. It was bound together with cobwebs and placed in a bamboo clump growing on a grass-covered hillside.
The single egg contained in the nest was a pale hedge-sparrow blue and measured 19·0 × 15·2 mm. A nest with three eggs taken by a Naga were similar but the latter measured only about 18·4 × 13·6 mm.
Habits. An inveterate little skulker in long grass and scrub-jungle, never taking to flight unless actually forced, but creeping in and out low down and out of sight, though its constant twittering may be heard the whole time. They go about in large parties numbering a dozen or more and, when they think they are not being watched, every now and then one climbs to a tall grass, chirps loudly and immediately descends again. They consort frequently with both Psittiparus ruficeps and Paradoxornis and it is very curious to watch these three Red-heads in company.
The Black-browed Suthora is found in winter practically in the plains and in summer breeds between 2,000 and 4,500 feet. I found in the stomachs of those examined by me small grass-hoppers, Coleoptera, and a few hard seeds.