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British Museum,
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THE
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA
AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.
A SYSTEMATIC ACCOUNT,
WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF ALL THE KNOWN
SPECIES OF BIRDS INHABITING BRITISH INDIA,
OBSERVATIONS ON THEIR HABITS, NIDIFICATION, &c.,
TABLES OF THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL
DISTRIBUTION IN PERSIA, BELOOCHISTAN,
AFGHANISTAN, SIND, PUNJAB, N. W. PROVINCES,
AND THE PENINSULA OF INDIA GENERALLY,
WITH
WOODCUTS, LITHOGRAPHS, AMD COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS,
BY
JAMES A. MURRAY,
1 1
MEM. NAT. HIST. SOC. AND OF THE ANTHROP. SOC., BOMBAY ;
MANAGER, VICT. NAT. HIST. INSTITUTE J LATE CURATOR KURRACHEE MUNICIPAL
LIBRARY AND MUSEUM ; AUTHOR OF " A HAND-BOOK TO THE GEOLOGY,
BOTANY, AND ZOOLOGY OF SIND ;" " THE PLANTS AND DRUGS OF SIND ;"
" KURRACHEE TO KANDAHAR ;" " THE VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY OF SIND ;"
" THE REPTILES OF SIND," &C.
VOLUME I.
LONDON : TRUBNER & Co., LUDGATE HILL.
BOMBAY : EDUCATION SOCIETY'S PRESS, BYCULLA.
1888.
010LCWY
RA
6
BOMBAY:
PRINTED AT THE EDUCATION SOCIETY'S PRESS, BVCULLA
ERRATA.
(*SV//>.v for pasting in Vol. I.)
At end of page 25
Sub'-family. CORVINE.
Bill stout, long and straight ; culmen arched ; tarsi stout, scutellate.
At top of page 169
FAMILY. CAMPOPHAGIM:.
Bill short, a few bristles at the base ; nostrils rounded ; wings moderate,
3rd to 5th quills longest ; tarsi transversely scutellate.
Correct the top heading of alternate pages from 170 to 180 to read
Campophagidae instead of Prionopidae.
CAMPOPHAGIDJE.
CAMPOPHAGID.E.
CAMPOPHAGIDiE.
CAMPOPHAGIDAE.
CAMPOPHAGI
CAMPOP^AGID^E.
PREFACE.
LED on by friends, correspondents and working field and
cabinet Ornithologists, as well as by the successes of all my
previously published books, I began this work, which, it is
hoped, will be found a useful Manual to the student and to
those interested enquirers to whom hitherto a descriptive
monograph of all the Birds known to inhabit British India
and its dependencies was a desideratum. It is purely in-
tended as a means to the acquirement of a better knowledge
of the Avian inhabitants of British India and its depen-
dencies, by furnishing under a generally accepted classifica-
tion, and within a moderate compass, the ordinal, generic
and specific descriptions of all the known species, including
all the discoveries made subsequent to the publication of the
late Dr. Jerdon's work, and thus rendering greater facilities to
the student of the Ornis of the British Indian Empire.
In every instance where a sufficiently large series of
specimens was not available to me for description, and where
the species had been already so fully described as to leave
nothing to be desired, I have by preference given the original
descriptions. These are chiefly from Sharpe, Seebohm and
Gadow's valuable monographs.
To facilitate the study and identification of species, I have
given diagrams illustrating the different parts of Birds, with
the corresponding terms used in their description. These, it
is hoped, will be found useful to the student, the collector
and the would-be enquirer ; while numerous woodcuts and
coloured illustrations of structural, specific, generic and other
characters have been added to simplify identification. The
scientific and trivial English names are given of every
species described, as well as the different synonyms by which
a species has been known. Habits, resorts and distribution
have also been given as far as the materials within my reach
would permit.
J. A, M.
INTRODUCTION.
Birds form one of the most marked and grand divisions of verte-
brated animals, as well as the most lovely group in creation. They
are oviparous, red and warm-blooded, feathered bipeds breathing
by lungs which are bound by cellular tissue to the inside of the ribs
and the sides of the dorsal vertebrae, there is therefore no distinct
thoracic cavity, nor free muscular diaphragm. The cells open directly
from the bronchial trunks and, though minute, are large compared
with the cells of the lungs of quadrupeds. The interior of the bones,
by communicating with the cells of the lungs, are respiratory organs,
which communicate circuitously with the trachea. The cells which
are continued from the lungs into the cavity of the abdomen, extend
to the interior of the trunk, appear in the axillae, in the neck, and in
the region of the pelvis. In fact, every part is impregnated with the
air in which they are destined to move. The young of birds, how-
ever, have the interior of their bones filled with a thin serous fluid or
marrow, but this is soon displaced by air from the air-cells of the
lungs which gains access at the proximal extremities, to the extent
necessary for the various species according to their habits and modes
of life. Being intended for flight, their external anatomy or those parts
generally visible are specially organized for the purpose. The body is
covered with feathers, instead of hair or wool, and the two forefeet of
mammals are transformed into wings. As in other classes the form of
structure of the body and all its various members as well as the modi-
fications which these parts assume are discriminating characters which
enable the Ornithologist to form conceptions of their respective pecu-
liarities. The primary parts of birds, as of all vertebrates, are the head,
body and limbs, under which subordinate members may be classed.
The head is composed of the bill and the skull. The latter is
joined to the body by a neck. The skull is formed of a thin, nearly
diaphanous and continuous plate of bone above, with all the cranial bones
anchylosed. The occipital is not separated from the parietal bones
by a lambdoidal suture, nor is there a sagittal suture to separate the
ji INTRODUCTION.
parietals from the frontal. All these have anchylosed at a very early
period. The first cranial vertebrae at the base of the occipital bone is
short. The sphenoid bone and the parts in front which form the face are
lengthened, while the pterygoid portions of the former are detached.
The basilar part of the occipital bone ends in a single condyle, and its
position at the lower margin of the foramen as well as its rotundity
afford mobility to the connection of the occipital (A) bone with the
slender circular atlas and the vertebral column generally. The neck
being composed of numerous bones (K) is rendered flexible, and this
enables a bird to preen its feathers both on the upper and lower
surface of the body and to sleep with its head turned round and placed
under the wing. The face of a bird is moveable upon the rest of the
skull, whether articulated as in parrots or not, the thin nasal (F)
bones being elastic to a certain extent. The orbits and organs of vision
are large, the former being separated only by a thin translucent plate
or membrane, while the latter are largely developed in lieu, to a great
extent, to the want of the sense of touch. The lower jaw (P) moves
freely and widens the gape very sensibly. The palatine bones are
much developed in length and breadth, and these have between
them a large fissure. The nostrils are very various in position,
shape, and size, and the upper and lower jaws are also very variable
and suited to their habits. In some the mandibles are compressed
and lengthened, and terminate in a hook ; in others they termi-
nate in a point as in woodpeckers; others again are broad, sharp-
pointed, hooked, rounded and hard, or as in ducks long, flat, spoon-
shaped, and toothed ; while birds of prey have a dense horny bill
with the edges sharp, strong, and cutting, and the tip hooked. The
bill is composed of two pieces corresponding to the jaws of
quadrupeds ; the upper portion (a) is called the upper mandible,
which is either continued far back on the forehead and there
dilated as to form a casque or helmet, or there is a soft naked skin
at the base as in rapacious birds, which is the cere (8) ; the
lower portion (6) is the lower mandible. At the base of the upper
mandible, concealed or not, and of various shapes, are the nostrils
(c), while the high medial keel of the bill is the culmen (d) and the
corresponding keel of the lower mandible is the gonys (<?). The
margins of both mandibles (/), commonly called the commissure, is
INTRODUCTION. Hi
either arched, straight, curved, or festooned, or the upper overlaps the
lower; the forehead (g) is the region lying close to the nostrils. The
body commences with or joins the breast (o) and extends the whole
length of the sternum or breast-bone. It is succeeded by the abdomen
(q) and terminated by the vent (r) and the under-tail coverts (s).
On the upper part of the body are the wings, the interscapularies
or back (/), lower back (v), the rump (w), where the upper tail coverts
(u>2) are situated, and last the tail (x). The leg, as in quadrupeds, is
composed of the thigh (gg), tarsus (hh) 9 the toes (ti), and the claws.
It is scarcely necessary to give a detailed sketch of the internal
anatomy of birds, since a knowledge of what is visible to the eye is
almost sufficient to determine or classify them generally, or even closely
allied groups though it would no doubt be of much service to the
ornithologist to know the various parts or rather the osteology of birds,
in order that comparisons may be made of the bones of different
groups and species. Professor C. J. Sundevall, in an article '' On the
Wings of Birds/' translated for the "Ibis" of 1886, by W. S. Dallas,
F.L.S., considers the feather covering of the wings of birds to be
of the greatest significance in their systematic arrangement. He
says, " It is a truth that every external part of an animal can furnish
equally certain indications of affinity or distinction between species
as an internal part of the body, and that in this respect no order of
precedence can be established a priori * * * *." From a physio-
logical point of view, indeed, the internal parts may be regarded as
more important than the external, but zoographically we must regard
the external parts as possessing an equal, if not greater value, because
the characters derived from them can be easily recognized and
examined.
Birds have much in common with mammals, and it cannot be
denied that there are striking resemblances between individuals of
both classes, especially in their habits. The Eagle and the Owl may
be said to represent the feline tribe; the Vulture, the Hyaena; the
Hawk, the Fox ; the Parrots, the Monkeys feeding on fruit; the Ostrich,
the Camel ; the Cassowary, the Llama; and so on, so far as habits and
character are concerned. With a few exceptions, they are essentially
i v INTRODUCTION.
creatures of the air, and their organization has been fitted for the
purpose ; the larger birds, as the Pelican and others, are specially
organized for carrying their weight by air sacs under their breasts,
besides the bones in their body being rilled with air, which makes
them more buoyant, and facilitate respiration under various pressures
of the atmosphere.
Just as is the hair or fur of a mammal or the scales of a snake the
feather is a horny production of the epidermis. According to Professor
Huxley, it is devolved within sacs from the surface of a conical papilla
of the dermis. The external surface of the dermal papilla, whence a
feather is to be developed, is provided upon its dorsal surface with a
median groove which becomes shallower towards the apex of the
papilla. From this median groove lateral furrows proceed at an open
angle, and passing round upon the under surface of the papilla,
become shallower until, in the middle line opposite the dorsal
median groove, they become obsolete. Minor grooves run at
right angles to the lateral furrows. Hence the surface of the papilla
has the character of a kind of mould, and if it were repeatedly
dipped in such a substance as a solution of gelatine and withdrawn
to cool until its whole surface was covered with an even coat of
that substance, it is clear that the gelatine would be thickest at
the basal or anterior end of the median groove, at the median
ends of the lateral furrows, and those ends of the minor grooves
which open into them ; whilst it would be very thin at the apices
of the median and lateral grooves and between the ends of the
minor grooves. If, therefore, the hollow cone of gelatine, removed
from its mould, were stretched from within, or if its thinnest part
became weak by drying, it would tend to give way along the inferior
median line opposite the rod-like casts of the median groove and
between the ends of the casts of the lateral furrows as well as
between each of the minor grooves, and the hollow cone would
expand into a flat feather-like structure with a median shaft as
a "vane" formed of barbs and barbules. In point of fact, in the
development of a feather, such a cast of the dermal papilla is formed,
though not in gelatine, but in the horny epidermic layer developed
upon the mould, and as this is thrust outwards it opens out in the
manner just described. After a certain period of growth, the papilla
INTRODUCTION. y
of the feather ceases to be grooved and a continuous horny cylinder
is formed which constitutes the quill. Shortly, a feather may be said
to consist of a tube or quill (calamus), a shaft, and two webs. The
tube or quill is horny and transparent, varies in length according to
the species, and is fixed in the skin. The shaft or rhachis is that part
above the quill which is filled with an elastic, corky, white buoyant
pith-like substance which bears the vane or web. It is coated on the
outer or generally convex side with a horny lamella not unlike the
tube, and on the inner or pithy side (also coated, though slightly) is
a well-defined groove along its length up to the umbilicus or the
small opening into the interior of the tube, which is closed inside by
dry membrane. On the side of the shaft, from above the quill or
tube, are vane rays or webs. These latter are, in general, fine, filiform,
and nearly cylindrical in the smaller feathers, and flattened in
the larger ones, as the quills. These, again, are furnished with
barbs, barbules and barbicels, which help to give coherency to the
entire web.
Then there are the plumules or accessory plumes which, constructed
like the larger feathers issue from the margin of the quill tube below
the opening into the interior of the tube, which is regarded as an
appendage checked in its growth. This is inconspicuous in galli-
naceous birds, as pheasants. The plumules, unlike other feathers, have
the vane rays very delicate and fibre-like; two series of barbs issue
from them and from the barbs barbicels, extremely fine, entirely dis-
united, and loose. In the Cassowary and the Emu this plumula
accessoria is as large as the outer shaft and vane ; in others as Grouse
and Falcons, about three-fourths the length, downy and incoherent. In
the most well-developed feathers, as the quill feathers, the plumule is
not present, and in other altogether wanting throughout the whole of
their plumage, as in Strix, Columba, and Anas, while in song-birds
it is very minute and downy.
Feathers may be divided into those which protect the bird from
extreme cold, and those specially intended for flight. Those
which are next the body, and commonly known as down, are
analagous to the under fur of quadrupeds. These keep the body in an
equal temperature, and may be said to resist cold or wet.
yi INTRODUCTION.
Birds which lead an aquatic life have these feathers generally more
developed than in others, for the manifest intention of affording
additional warmth.
The feathers intended for flight are, first, the wing quills, which may
be divided into primaries (4), secondaries (5), and tertiaries (6). The
primaries may be distinguished from all the others by their greater
size and stiffness. These arise from the bones of the hand. In
number they are usually 10; the first of which is on the second finger
joint, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th upon the first finger joint, and the other 6
upon the metacarpus. In some songbirds, however, the number is only
9, and the first feather is either rudimentary or wanting, but never
the longest. Secondaries are those which arise from the forearm
and are inserted in the skin on the posterior side of the ulna. They
are not so stiff and strong as the primaries, usually shorter than them?
more curved and more mobile. The tertiaries are those attached to
the proximal end of the forearm, while the scapulars lie over the
humerus and scapula.
The feathers on the upper surface of the wing are mostly deve-
loped on the cubitus and commonly designated wing coverts. The
greater series (3) cover the base or root of the quills, and in general
resemble the quill feathers or primaries, and, like them, are destitute
of plumules. The second series, or median coverts (2), are also seated
in the fold of the skin behind the arm. The smaller feathers behind
this series are the lesser coverts (i).
Next is the tail, the feathers of which in the majority of birds are
12 in number, but there are others with as many as 14 to 18 ;
these act in unison with the wing, during flight, and when expanded
act as a rudder. The tail is longest in the Rasorial types and
shortest in the natatorial and grallatorials. The tail feathers are
covered at the base by the upper and under tail coverts. The
tail, as the wing, in its structure shows a peculiar organization
specially adapted for various purposes. An even tail is very
uncommon ; rounded tails are the most prevalent, while the racket
tail is exhibited in 2 or 3 groups only as Edolius, or Dissemurus and
Dtssemuroides, and the lyre-shaped tail exclusively in the Rasorial
order.
INTRODUCTION. yii
Of the osteology of birds much -will not be said. In the com-
position of the frame of the body, birds may be said to have false
ribs anterior and posterior to the true ribs. These cover nearly
the whole short body or trunk, terminate anteriorly in a single articu-
lation with the sternal ribs, and pass forwards to be fixed on the
sternal appendices on the middle of the trunk. The false ribs
do not at all touch the sternum (TT) or breast bone. In the act of
respiration the sternum in birds plays a very important part. It is one
of the most remarkable and characteristic bones of the skeleton first,
for its great development ; next, for the extent to which it covers the
trunk, enveloping, as it does, all the internal organs, and by the
median carina in front, giving it solidity, as well as strength and
power to the pectoral muscles, the limits of attachment of which latter
are marked on the external surface. The surface presented by the
sternum or breast-bone bears the permanent and powerful muscles of
the humerus; the trunk is solid, and the scapula, situated as it is
along the side of the vertebral column, gives attachment to the
powerful muscles of flight, while the chief support and means of
resistance is the coracoid-bone (c). The sternum is not of one shape
or form throughout the class, but is variable in consonance with the
habits of the different orders, and these different shapes, forms,
and varieties of appearance lend considerable aid to the anatomist
and systematist in working out perplexed affinities. In ducks and
geese the posterior margin is replaced by membrane. In gallinaceous
birds it terminates in narrow, separate bones ; this is on account of
their habit of running and feeding on the ground ; while the high-
flying rapacious birds have it solidly anchylosed and ossified. There
are no parts of animals which vary so much in form and struc-
ture as the atlantal and sacral (f) extremities; the parts remotest
from the centre of the skeleton are the most mutable in form ; and
the organs of progressive motion conform most to the medium in
which animals reside. These parts vary so much in the same class
of animals, that we might almost be induced to imagine that in
organs so different as the human hand, and the fin of the porpoise
or the wing of the bat, or the forefoot of the mole, all unity of compo-
sition was lost; and in passing to different classes we should scarcely
expect to iind the bume element of structure which compose the fin
viii INTRODUCTION.
of a fish or the foot of a turtle metamorphosed into the wing of the bird.
But these very diversities of form of the same organ, when carefully
examined, present the best proofs of the unity and simplicity of the
plan upon which all organic forms are constructed.
Anterior to the sternum are the clavicles which unite below and
form the furcula or merry-thought bone. These are joined to the
sternum by ligament or cartilage and the width of these serve to
keep apart the shoulders, in opposition to the strong exertions of the
muscles of the wing in flight.
In most birds arboreal birds especially the legs are slender and
as light as the wings. These have the long tendons of the flexors and
extensors continued to the foot. By the long flexor of the toes passing
over the knee and behind the heel, the bending of these joints forces
them to grasp mechanically the branches on which they are perched.
The leg bones consist of a short femur, long tibia with an imper-
fect fibula anchylosed to it ; a patella ; an anchylosed tarso-metatarsal
bone (the tarsus) and the toes. The pelvis is much extended longi-
tudinally, and being anchylosed with the vertebral column, affords a
large surface for the attachment of the muscles which support the
trunk upon the thighs. The long iliac bones are excavated below
and receive the kidneys. The ischia and pubic bones are wide and
develope in their cavity the eggs, from which they are also expelled.
The muscular system of this class is also adapted for their aerial
life and to carry them through the atmosphere. According to Pro-
fessor Grant, of the Edinburgh College, their irritability or power of
contraction is the greatest in the living state, and is the most quickly
lost after death, its tenacity after death being generally in the
inverse ratio of the degree of activity of that power during life. The
muscles are generally more firm and vascular, tougher, stronger, and
of a darker colour than in the cold-blooded vertebrates. These
properties are most exhibited in the high-flying rapacious birds, and
less so in granivorous birds. This muscular force becomes necessary
in birds in order that they may fly, either for safety or to pursue
their prey through the air, as well as to follow the seasons from
latitude to latitude and to perform their migrations over mountain
INTRODUCTION. ix
chains, continents, or the trackless ocoan. Though tho muscles of
the extremities of birds are generally short and thick, the tendons are
longer and slender, dense, and often ossified. The form and move-
ments of birds being nearly the same, there is a great uniformity in
the disposition of their muscles. Their arms and hands being appro-
priated for flight, their progressive motion through the air depends
chiefly on the action of ^h* pectoral is major or the humerus, a muscle
surpassing in magnitude all the rest in the body and covering nearly
the whole of the forepart of the trunk. The muscles of the arm, the
forearm, and the hand are inserted high up, and their fleshy portions
confined to near their orifice, so that only the long tendons are sent
down to the points which are to be moved. There is very little motion
in the phalanges of the fingers.
It is not within the scope of this introduction to give an exhaus-
tive or detailed classification of the organs of birds. The osseous
system or the organs of support has been touched upon, also the
tegumentary organs and those of motion. To detail the organs
of connexion, sensibility and sensation as well as of nutrition and
generation would go far beyond the intended limits of this in-
troduction, while the proper treatment of these would need a more
competent writer. En passant, however, a few remarks may not be
out of place, especially in reference to those organs which the
ornithologist and the student must neeessarily examine for
instance, the testes. These, it is generally known, lie in front of, and
in close proximity to, the kidneys, and although there are certain
external characters which would enable the determination of the sex
of a bird, yet nothing would be more satisfactory than an exa-
mination of this organ of generation testes or ovaries decide
the question beyond doubt. During the breeding or pairing season
the testes of all male birds are much developed, while the female
sex exhibit in the same situation well-developed ovaries which
at other times though present, are small and granular. External
sexual differences are more marked in birds than in mammals
and other vertebrates; but these are not always reliable, especially
in the case of birds, the young and the males of which assume
the plumage of the female, or vice versa, at different seasons of
x INTRODUCTION.
the year. The males, with some exceptions, are as a rule larger
and more highly coloured.
The voice organs are placed in a glottis, at the bifurcation at
the end of the wind-pipe, which is formed of entire rings of cartilage,
and the call of each bird is produced by peculiar sets of muscles
called the larynx. It is here, that that peculiar gift ot Nature, the
voice of birds, is formed, and this one of all other attributes dis-
tinguishes the class from all others in the animal kingdom. The air
contained in the cells of the lungs is the force used, while the wind-
pipe and the larynx with their contractions, or expansion or move-
ments in the gullet, contribute to the modulations and modifications
of the voice. By their song one knows of their happy and cheerful
life, and by it the male woos its mate. It is a language which is
not even known whether belonging to one family only, or generally
intelligible among the class.
The nervous system in birds and the organs of the senses run rapidly
to high development.
The sense of sight is also very highly developed in birds, and each
class and each family and sub-family will be found to be fitted with
organs developed to the extent of their wants and to suifc their
living condition. The eagle and the raptores generally soar out of
human sight, and yet they can see their prey notwithstanding the
immense distance. The owl is consigned as a night watchman r and
its organs of sight are so adapted that it can only distinguish objects
with greater facility in the dusk and when all nature is desirous of
repose. It is, however, compensated by a larger or more highly deve-
loped sense of hearing. The sense of sight is certainly extremely
keen and piercing, and this fact no doubt is an important
factor in the solution of the question of the manner in which thou-
sands of miles are traversed by birds in their annual migrations-
This must assist them.
It is doubtful whether there is any special development of the
sense of taste in birds ; while that of smell, in the absence of any
reliable data, may be said to be, if at all, very little developed, except
in carrion feeders.
INTRODUCTION. XI
Like quadrupeds, birds may be classified asgranivorous, carnivorous,
and mixed feeders, or those that partake of both. Granivorous birds
are furnished with larger and proportionally longer intestines than
carnivorous species. Their food first enters a craw where it reaches
entire, but soon undergoes partial dilution by a peculiar liquor
secreted from the glands thence enters another stomach, and even-
tually the gizzard or true stomach, where, with the aid of powerful
muscles, thick and powerful membrane and stones it is triturated
and becomes fit for the action of the gastric juices.
In their habits birds are either monogamous or polygamous, the
latter exists generally among the Rasores or Gallinacea. Some again
live a solitary life till the breeding season, when they begin their
courtship and live in pairs, whilst their united efforts are necessary
in forming their temporary habitation and in rearing their offsprings.
There are also some, as the cuckoo, which leave their eggs to the
care of a foster parent. Birds generally evince great affection for
their young, and do not leave them till they can feed themselves. A
great number or the majority of those known to inhabit India and its
dependencies quit the country for the purpose of breeding.
Each species associate in flocks and aided by their keen sight, to-
gether with the advantage they possess of flying at considerable
heights in the air, they are enabled with their instinctive knowledge to
discover the route they are to take to migrate 'taking, probably, as a
guide, the appearance of the atmosphere,, direction of winds, &c.;
so that without recourse to improbable modes it is not difficult to
form an idea of the speed at which they go in transporting themselves
to far countries by crossing vast ocean tracts. Without the means of
conveying themselves from one place to another they could scarcely
subsist for the reason that climatic influences affect their food-supply.
This may also be said to be one of the reasons for migrating. Besides
the want of food, other causes of migration are, the want of a proper
temperature of air and a convenient situation for the great work of
breeding and rearing their offspring. They either remove from one^
country or climate to another or from the inland districts to hills,
forest regions or to sequestered rocks or islands in the sea, or to
vast sandy plains far removed from, or in the vicinity of, the sea .or
x ii INTRODUCTION.
river. And all this is conducted with the greatest punctuality, and
the same may be said of their reappearance a few months later,
It is also a noteworthy fact, proved by experiments, that birds which
affect a certain station or district usually return to it year after year.
The question as to how they subsist during their migrations is readily
M>lvcd, when we consider the velocity of their flight together with the
considerable length of time the majority continue on the wing. If
we estimate the speed of a bird's flight at a mile in two minutes it
would need but 24 hours to carry it as many as seven hundred miles
without taking into consideration favourable wind currents which
would probably nearly double the distance. Red-starts and other short-
winged birds pass by gradual and slow movements as is evidenced by
their appearance in different countries at different times of the year
but these seldom go further than the inaccessible heights of moun-
tain ranges. Many journey during the night to avoid the dangers of
daylight or for the purpose of taking advantage of favourable air
currents. What the true reason for migrating is, has yet to be learnt.
We see their punctuality of departure and return, we note the dates
very carefully, the time of theix nidification, the composition of the
various structures they build for the rearing of their young, also the
number of eggs they lay, their colour, size and shape as well as the
changes of their plumage during the breeding season, but beyond this,
and conjecture, we have not gone. The nidificatibn of birds is indeed
very various, but in consonance with their habits. The high-flying
rapacious birds have their eyries on the ledges of high mountains in
the most inaccessible parts or on the tops of high trees ; the larger
ones, including the Vulturinae, lay but one, and seldom two eggs. The
lesser ones, as the Accipitrinae, build generally on trees, or on steeple
tops, and lay 2 4 eggs, and seldom do more than repair their nests
annually. All true vultures lay but a single egg, and their nests, as
are those of eagles, are built entirely of stout sticks and twigs with a
hollow receptacle lined with coarse grass or fine twigs and any soft
material. Bones also form a part of the structure. Many birds build
in society occupying trees, mountain ledges, plains, and the eaves of
roof as sparrows, crows, herons, gulls, terns; and some when robbed
of their eggs lay others very shortly after. The situation of the nests,
too, are quite in consonance with their habife of life. Owls build in
INTRODUCTION. xili
holes in wells, caverns, and in old decayed trees ; Woodpeckers in
holes in trees; Kingfishers in the banks of streams; the Swallow tribe
build nests composed of mud plaster and feathers against the face of a
wall, or under a roof or bridge, while others again, as the Byah or
Weaver-bird, Honeysuckers, &c., build pensile nests, and all song-
sters nearly, of the Timeliinae, group make small nests in bushes or
shrubs; and with an instinctive knowledge endeavour to hide their
nests by various artifices, as covering them with cobwebs, lichen, or
plaster to give them the appearance of the surroundings of the nest.
Of the Avian inhabitants of India nearly one-half are known to
breed in the country. A great number go no further than the
Himalayan range, while the rest may be said to be resident members,
and to breed on the plains.
It is not necessary to refer to the geographical distribution of
species, nor to divide the country into geographical regions, as the
table at the end of the volume will sufficiently show the first, and the
text the latter, while it is patent to all that humid countries comprise
birds of bright plumage, and those of the plains of duller plumage,
and in consonance with the nature of the surroundings. The geogra-
phical distribution of species has been worked out from all the
materials available.
It is above half a century since Major Franklin, who was the
first writer on Indian Ornithology, published a paper on the Ornitho-
logy of India. This paper appeared in the Proceedings of the
Zoological Society of London. Colonel Tickell soon followed by pub-
lishing in the Asiatic Society's Journal a list of the Birds of Bhorabum
and Dholbum. Another equally energetic naturalist was Col. Sykes,
who in 1832 began his Catalogue of the Birds of the Deccan, and
continued his studies and publications for some years, not only of
birds but of the mammals and fish of the Mahratta Country so desig-
nated, while Mr. Brian Hodgson, who was attached as Resident
at the Court of Nepaul, added largely to the store of knowledge
of the avian inhabitants of the Himalayas. His contributions are
spread both in the Indian and Home scientific periodicals, and his
valuable MSS. and drawings, so largely referred to in every Orni-
x j v INTRODUCTION.
thological work, are zealousy watched over and consulted at the
British Museum. Assam was next worked out by MacClelland ,
and his papers, also published in the Zoological Society's Proceed-
ings in 1839, are full of interest, and particularly as showing the
geographical distribution of the Himalayan birds.
Dr. Adam collected in Cashmere, as well as in the North-West
Provinces of India; Colonel Tytler in Barrackpore and Dacca; while
the names of Button and numerous other observers and collec-
tors are prominent in the earlier journals as contributors of interest-
ing notes on habits, nidification, &c., of species in various parts
of kidia.
Mr. Blyth, who is rightly called the Father of Indian .Ornitho-
logy, " was by far the most important contributor to our knowledge
of the Birds of India." Seated, as the head of the Asiatic Society's
Museum, he, by intercourse and through correspondents, not only
formed a large collection for the Society, but also enriched the
pages of the Society's Journal with the results of his study, and
thus did more for the extension of the study of the Avifauna
of India than all previous writers. There can be no work on
Indian Ornithology without reference to his voluminous contributions.
The most recent authority, however, is Mr. Allen O. Hume,
C.B., who, like Blyth and Jerdon, got around him numerous
workers, and did so much for Ornithology, that without his
Journal " Stray Feathers," no accurate knowledge could be gained
of the distribution of Indian birds. His large museum, so liberally
made over to the nation, is ample evidence of his zeal and the purpose
to which he worked. Ever saddled with his official work, he yet found
time for carrying out a most noble object. His " Nests and Eggs,"
" Scrap Book/' and numerous articles on birds of various parts
of India, the Andamans and the Malay Peninsula, are standing
monuments of his fame .throughout the length and breadth of the
civilized world. His writings and the field notes of his curator,
contributors and collectors are the pith of every book on Indian
Birds, and his vast collection is the ground upon which all Indian
Naturalists must work. Though differing from him on some points,
yet the palm is his as an authority above the rest in regard to the
INTRODUCTION. XV
Ornis of India. Amongst the hundred and one contributors to
the Science in the pages of " Stray Feathers," there are some
who may be ranked as specialists in this department, and their
labors need a record. These are Mr. W. T. Blanford, late of
the Geological Survey, an ever watchful and zealous Naturalist
of some eminence. Mr. Theobald, also of the Geological Survey,
Mr. Ball of the same Department, and Mr. W. E. Brooks. All these
worked in Northern India, while for work in the Western portion
must stand the names of Major Butler, of the 66th Regiment,
Mr. W. F. Sinclair, Collector of Colaba, Mr. G. Vidal, the Collector of
Bombay, Mr. J. Davidson, Collector of Khandeish, and Mr. Fairbank,
each one having respectively worked the Avifauna of Sind, the
Concan, the Deccan and Khandeish.
The country referred to in the following volumes embraces the
whole of India, including those recently acquired possessions in
(now British) Burmah. Of this latter and most interesting portion
of the Indian Empire, Mr. Eugene Oates, of the Public Works
Department, has written a connected and detailed account,
and it is from the pages of his valuable work I have been
able to add much to the knowledge of the Avifauna of the
Indian Empire as it now stands. In his Introduction he gives a
resume oi the Ornithological explorations in that country. Colonel
Tickell, whose contributions in the early numbers (1833) of the
Asiatic Society's Journal are of much interest, is said to be the first
Ornithologist who attempted to work Burmah. His field of work
was in Tenasserim, chiefly among the higher hills and mountains to
the east of Moulmein, culminating in the peak of Mooleyit, which
rises about 6,000 feet above sea level. The late Mr. Blyth, after
assuming charge of the Asiatic Society's Museum, found willing
contributors in Captain (now Sir Arthur) Phayre, also the late Major
Berdmore, Dr. Mason and others. Mr. Blyth's contributions of the
birds of this country also swell the pages of the Asiatic Society's
Journal, as well as those of the " Ibis," His valuable Catalogue
of Burmese Birds was his last contribution, and this was published
in 1875 by the late Lord Tweeddale as a posthumous work. The
latter, recently known as Lord Walden, also interested himself in the
xv i INTRODUCTION.
Ornithology of Rurmah, and his valuable papers have also been
published as a posthumous work, edited by Captain R. G. Wardlaw-
Kamsay, who explored a considerable portion of Pegu.
The following are other particulars given by Mr. Gates of the
work done in Pegu. He says: " Turning now (1883) to those who
are engaged in active work in connection with Burmese Ornithology,
1 come to a small band of hardworking fie-ld naturalists. Mr. A.
O. Hume in his study and Mr. W. Davison in the field have for
many years past actively worked Tennaserim*" The notes of these
Naturalists enrich the pages of Oates' work, as well as of this, culled
from both sources.
Other workers in the field of Burmese Ornithology are Mr. W.
T. Blanford, Captain Fielden, Dr. Armstrong, Captain Bingham,
the late Colonel Lloyd, the late Captain Beavan, Mr. Oliver and
Mr. DeWet; also Mr. Hough and Mr. Shopland. The contributions
of all these gentlemen are to be found in the pages of ft Stray
Feathers."
British Burmah, according to Oates, is an irregular, narrow,
maritime country, hardly any portion being more than 200 miles
from the sea. It lies entirely within the tropics, the most northern
portion of Arrakan being at a short distance from the Northern
tropic, and the most Southern point of Tennasserim lying on the
loth degree of North Latitude. The general character of the coun-
try may be said to be mountainous, the only flat portions being
strips of land along the banks of the larger rivers, and considerable
areas at the mouths of these rivers.
The whole of British Burmah where not cultivated is covered
with dense growth of vegetation. On the elevated portions, the
vegetation is composed of large forest trees and bamboos, and on
the low alluvial plains, elephant grass of great height. The climate,
owing to a heavy rain-fall, is said to be humid, and its effects, to
cause the plumage of birds to be of great brilliancy. The same
may be said of that portion of the Zoological region which comprises
the Himalayas, also Eastern Bengal, and Malabar.
INTRODUCTION. xvii
Southern India lias been practically worked out by the late
Dr. Jerdon. His admirable manual shows the energy he spent
in bringing to perfection a system of classification to this day
admitted as practically good though not very natural; but, yet
the foundation for the past quarter of a century of every work on
the Avifauna of India, and if there are any who differ from him
in certain views, it is because they live in later times, and follow,
though not quite, those who base their classifications on internal as
well as external structure.
Classification according to Jerdon may be said to be the
grouping of objects according to their affinities, and their arrange-
ment into divisions of various degrees of magnitude. Its object
is to bring together those beings that most resemble each other,
and to separate those that differ. By some it has been regarded
simply as a convenient method of arrangement for shortening the
labour of the naturalist, who, by its means, instead of studying all
the characters which each specimen presents, is enabled, by knowing
its general position, to confine his attention to a few of the minor
details of structure. His labour is thus simplified by the union into
one group of all the animals which agree in the most important and
essential characters. The Philosophic naturalist has, however, a
higher aim, and his object is to discover the natural system, or in
other words, to endeavour to develop the general plan on which
the Creator has formed and arranged the numberless species of
natural objects.
On comparing certain species with others, we find various degrees
of resemblance of structure and general appearance. Those, which
are nearest and most close, are called affinities, and the more distant
resemblances, analogies ; and these are of every degree of nearness
or remoteness. The affinities of species may be said to point out
their order of succession in nature, and are easily understood and
appreciable. Not so, however, the analogies exhibited by many
species and groups to others, perhaps very distantly related. These
nay be resemblances of structure, or of colour, or of habits. Some
mturalists explain them by expressing their belief that in every
xviii INTRODUCTION.
group, great or small, there are certain types of structure, offering
fixed characteristic marks, and that analogies are, simply, the repre-
sentation in one group of a certain type in another or, to put it in
other words, that analogous groups or species simply occupy a cor-
responding place in their respective classes, orders, or families.
This theory of representation has, perhaps, been carried out, to
too great an extent, by certain writers, but, nevertheless, it appears
to be founded on nature ; and the existence of these, often unex-
pected analogies between distant groups and species, clearly
manifests the unity of the plan of the animal creation. According
to Mr. Darwin's views, such analogies might be explained on the
supposition that the resemblances were due to some remote ancestral
origin. The colours and markings of some birds appear to be repeated
in other groups ; and, in most natural divisions, great variety
of form of bills, and also of other parts is exhibited, representing
several distinct types ; and, in some, more distantly related groups,
analogy is shown by habits, by the colour of the eggs, by seasonal
change of plumage, &c., &c. Many examples of analogy will be
pointed out in the present work.
On beginning at any point in any series of beings, and tracing step
by step, the scale of affinities, we soon find that the supposed chain
is interrupted, and that branches strike off in various directions.
That a linear arrangement is quite impossible has long been conceded
universally ; but what directions the divergencies take, is not agreed
on ; nor, indeed, have Zoologists of the present day decided, that
there is a fixed plan for any one class, still less that the same system
extends through all. Strickland, and quite recently, Wallace, have
attempted to show the affinites of some families and orders of birds
by means of diagrams.
Certain English Naturalists, and simultaneously, one or more German
Botanists, have maintained that, in arranging any series of animated
beings, according to their affinities, the tendency is to revert to the
point whence they set out, not indeed in an unbroken line, but in a
series of circles. Thus, the circular system, as it has been termed,
has been strained, perhaps, too far by its exponents, but there is no
doubt that in many instances this tendency to a quasi-circular
INTRODUCTION. xix
arrangement appears to exist in nature, and even Wallace's diagrams
show this. It appearsj however, according to some, that the affinities
of the species of any group are various, and cannot be expressed by
figures, every natural group and species being connected not with
two only, but with several ; and it is possible that any natural group,
if we possessed all the forms which it comprised, would present links
of transition towards all the other groups of the same family or order.
Many examples might be given to show the tendency to a circular
arrangement, but I shall content myself by pointing out to the student
this supposed feature, to verify, or otherwise, in any group he may
be studying. Many gaps of course occur in following the chain of
affinities, some very great, others easily bridged over. These of
course are stumbling blocks in the way of such as believe in a com-
plete chain or circle ; and the fossil remains of birds, hitherto dis-
covered, have not been sufficiently numerous to make these intervals
much less.
That a special design is exhibited in Creation there can, I think, be
but little doubt. It is admitted by almost all, and most fully and
unequivocally, in the best known and most highly organized group,
the Vertebrata; in all the classes- of which a certain archetype of
form is preserved, marked and recognizable, however disguised for
special ends. It is surely more consonant to our ideas of a Creator
to believe that He formed His numberless creatures with certain rela-
tions to each other, than to conceive that each was brought to life
independently. Indeed, a follower of Darwin might fairly argue
that the evidence of design is as clearly shown by the theory of the
transmutation of species, as by that of separate individual creation ;
but Darwin* himself, perhaps, lays too much stress on external and
fortuitous circumstances as producing varieties, and not enough on
the inherent power of change, which, as he clearly shows, is now and
then exhibited by various organic bodies.
That species were created at hap-hazard, without any reference to
others, either of the same group or more distant ones, is a doctrine
so opposed to all the affinities and analogies observed throughout the
animated world, that the mind refuses to accept It, and intuitively
acknowledges the eviduiu ->! !.' .-ij;n.
xx INTRODUCTION.
That a certain system has been followed, if we allow design at all,
must be admitted, but the exponent of the natural system Sharpe,
Gadow, Seebohm and others too numerous to mention notwith-
standinghas yet to appear. " The tendency of the present age is to
accumulate facts, and not to generalize, but we have now a sufficiency
of facts, and want our Lyell to explain them."
By the consent of most naturalists, all objects of nature are divided
jiito kingdoms, sub-kingdoms, classes, orders, families, and genera,
and, in some cases, where the families are numerous, tribes, sub-
families, and sub-genera are added. Birds are a class of the sub-
kingdom Vertebrata, of the Animal kingdom. The Orders of birds
are founded chiefly on the form of the bill, and more especially of
the feet. Families are characterized by more minute distinctions of
the bill and feet, together with characters drawn from the wings, tail,
and certain habits, more or less common to all. A genus comprises
one or many species closely resembling one another in the structure
of bill, feet, wings and tail, and in habits, yet differing, it may be, in
colour, size, or some minute differences of structure. To give a
familiar example, the European Kite and the common Kite of India
are species of the same genus, Milvus ; and the English Kingfisher
and the little Indian Kingfisher, are separate species of the same
genus Alcedo, each of these genera containing several species.
Of late years genera have been greatly divided and multiplied, some
of them being classed as sub-genera ; but, in practice, and till the whole
realm of Ornithology is presided over by a master hand, no distinc-
tion can be satisfactorily pointed out, or acted on. When the
families of any order are very numerous, they are classed in tribes ;
and when the genera of any family are numerous, or comprise
several distinct forms, they are grouped into sub-families.
In every natural assemblage of forms, whether it be genus, family
or order, there is some one form which presents the characters that
are common to all, in a more remarkable and complete manner than
the rest ; and this is called the type of the group. Thus each
genus has its typical species ; each family its typical genus, and so
>n ; the type being, in each instance, that form to which our minds
naturally revert as best exhibiting the characters that belong to the
INTRODUCTION. xxi
entire group. Some are very close to the type, others differ from it
to such a degree that we might have failed to recognise the connec-
tion, were it not for the presence of intermediate links. These are
called aberrant forms.
It may be asked, are the divisions, which are here indicated,
natural, i.e., marked out by nature, or, in other words, designed ?
That some of them are so, we may, I think, safely infer from the
example already quoted of the Vertebrata. Here we have at least
four, some say five, great divisions marked out by nature so broadly
that the distinctions are in most cases recognizable and patent to all
and, in each of these classes so clearly marked, that there are certain
divisions apparent even to the uninstructed ; such, for example,
among birds, are the Birds of Prey, Owls, Finches, Game birds.
Ducks, &c., &c. Many genera, too, are undoubtedly exceedingly
natural and clearly defined; and on the whole, I think, we may con-
clude that Nature herself (could we but correctly read her lessons)
has pointed out most of the divisions; or, in other words, has varied
each group, small as well as great, in a certain and definite method.
Many natural divisions however appear to grade into each other, and
have no definite limits ; yet, for purpose of study, we must assign
limits and characters; and the affinities, by which they are grouped,
must be judged of by as many and as constant characters as possible,
derived from all parts; but certain typical characters must be
assigned.
There are at present above 8,000 species of birds known and
described, though much of the civilized world has yet to be explored.
XVhen this has been done, what the number may be it is difficult to
conjecture, but this large number has been arranged by Naturalists
into six large orders, founded entirely on the organs of manducation
and prehension. These are :
I. Raptores, or birds of prey.
II. Insessores, or perching birds.
III. Gemitores, or pigeons.
IV. Rassores, or game birds.
V. Grallatores, or waders.
VI. Natatores, or swimming birds.
\xii INTRODUCTION.
Though this is the basis of classification, there is a tendency in
the present day to split and divide these, and to upset the order of
arrangement, owing to structural and external characters combined,
being made the basis, hence we see the Raptores placed after the
Parrots, and the Passeres holding the first place, as in the following
rather mixed arrangement :
I. Passeres ; II. Macrochires ; III. Pici ; IV. Coccyges ; V. Psittaci ;
VI. Striges ; VII. Accipitres ; VIII. Steganopodes ; IX. Herodiones ; X
Anseres ; XI. Columbae ; XII. Gallinae ; XIII. Geranomorphse ; XIV.
Limicolae ; XV. Gaviae ; XVI. Tubinares ; XVII. Pygopodes. It is
needless to defend this system ; it cannot be done ; the oldest
system must survive,
Raptores, or birds of prey, are distinguished by their crooked bill
and claws, by means of which they are enabled to overcome, and in
the order of nature to prey upon other birds and small quadrupeds,
to keep that necessary balance so needful. They hold the same
rank among birds as the Carnivora among the quadrupeds. They are
divided into two families, the diurnal and nocturnal, the latter being
the owls, which issue at dusk. The diurnal species are the eagles,
vultures, kites, falcons, hawks, &c. They are readily distinguished
by having their nostrils placed in a naked skin or cere, and their
feet bearing three toes before and one behind and their eyes placed
laterally ; while the Striges, or nocturnal species, have their nostrils
covered with stiff hairs, the outer toe reversible ; eyes large, and
directed forwards. The Passerine birds form the largest class.
They are all very nearly alike in structure, and are divided according
to the position of their exterior toe, those having the midtoe united
to the middle by one or two joints only ; and those with the exterior
toe united to the middle one as far as the last joint but one. The
next order is that of the Climbers or Scansores, with both the outer
and great toe directed backwards. Following this are the Galli-
naceous birds, or Rasores of some : birds of heavy gait, short,
rounded wings, heavy flight, such as peafowls, game jungle
cock, &c. The Waders or Grallatores, comprising the 5th order, are
distinguished by the naked tarsus and a portion of their thighs also,
their long legs, which they lay back under the tail feathers in
INTRO! >l < I ION. XXlll
flight. The last are the web-footed birds, as the ducks, charac-
terized by their webbed feet, and generally broad, spathulate bills.
A more detailed account of the orders, sub-orders, families and
sub-families into which these have been divided will be found
under the respective headings in the body of the work, which cannot
from its nature have much pretensions to originality.
It is only as a descriptive handbook of the birds of British India,
that this work should be regarded. The idea of writing it did not
originate wholly with myself, but besides the trouble and incon-
venience experienced by me in my official capacity when Curator of
the Kurrachee Museum in looking up literature for determining
species, there was a general conviction among all my correspondents
and numerous working cabinet and field naturalists that a work of
this kind in a moderate compass would be welcomed as supplying
a desideratum, especially if all the knowledge extant of the birds of
British India were put together under one consecutive serial number,
so as to remedy the present existing confusion, and simplify identi-
fication. Numerous valuable \vorks have been laid under contribution
in preparing the work, especially Sharpe, Seebohm and Gadow's Cata-
logues ; Jerdon's valuable Manual ; Gates' Birds of British Burmah ;
Stray Feathers ; Ibis ; Hume's Nests and Eggs, &c., &c., all of which
have been referred to under the synonyms of species, and thus avoiding
the use of inverted commas wherever they may have been required. In
doing this latter I would crave the indulgence of all authors for the
privilege I have taken, of in this way, so largely addingfrom their valu-
able works, to the existing knowledge of the Avifauna of British India.
I only trust that this small effort will find public favour. It will be made
as complete as possible. As the work progresses, everything new to
the Ornithology of India will be added, so that future labourers will
no longer have to search far and wide, and consult large libraries
of books, often too vainly, for what has been already recorded ; but
in using this work will find it an unpretending manual to guide them
in adding to the present accumulation of facts, much which is at
present hidden and unknown to science.
In concluding this Introduction, it only remains for me to
acknowledge the valuable assistance received in this attempt to collate
xxiv INTRODUCTION.
the scattered information regarding the Avifauna of British India, into
a systematic account, and, as stated in the Prospectus, arranged
according to the most modern and generally accepted classification.
Though seemingly simple, even this little of the ist volume has
involved considerable labour and research. The whole of it cannot
well be successfully accomplished without aid. Up to the present
very little of this has been received, though the calls have been
unceasing, and it has been left for me to work single-handed, assist-
ed by only a few to the best of their abilities, when freed from the
weighty cares of their office. Among those to whom I am under
special obligation I would mention Mr. W. F. Sinclair, the Collector
of Colaba, and Mr. J. Davidson, the Collector of Khandeish, both of
whom very kindly furnished me with such specimens as they could
obtain from their respective districts. To Lieutenant Henry E.
Barnes, D.A.C., I am also indebted for many valuable notes in
regard to nidification, &c., while the kindness of Mr. A. O.
Hume, C.B., in sending me, some little time ago, a large collection of
birds from British Burmah and the Himalayas generally, has helped
me considerably in more accurately describing and comparing birds,
which till very recently were almost unknown. I have also to acknow-
ledge the assistance received from Mr. Charles Taylor, Superintendent
of the Education Society's Press, in generally gettingthis work through
the press with that care and neatness which is evident on every
page, and in continuing the publication of the work in anticipation of
better results, the total amount of subscription to date being,
including the coloured plates far less than the cost of production.
Lastly, I have to tender my acknowledgements to Dr. Gerson da
Cunha, F.R.A.L., &c., and to Mr. Thomas Lidbetter for assistance given
in precisely the most important direction, viz., introduction to the
library of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, where
I have the opportunity of consulting several important works which
would have been otherwise inaccessible to me.
a Upper mandible.
b Lower mandible.
c Nostrils.
d Culmen or keel.
e Gonys.
/ Margins of mandibles
or commissure.
/2 Ophthalmic region, or
orbit,
g Forehead.
h Crown.
i Sinciput or hind head.
k Nape.
/ Ear-coverts.
m Chin or mentum.
n Throat.
o Breast.
p The body.
q Belly or abdomen.
r Vent.
s Under-tail coverts.
/ Insterscapularies
or back.
v Lower back.
TO Rump.
W2 Upper-tail coverts.
x Tail feathers.
s Central or median tail
feathers.
aa Lateral tail feathers.
bb Shoulder of wing.
cc Shoulder joint (lesser
wing coverts).
dd Axilla, or edge of wing.
ee Spurious wing or
primary coverts.
ff Scapulars.
gg Thigh or tibia.
hh Tarsus.
ii Toes.
1 Lesser coverts.
2 Median coverts.
3 Greater coverts.
4 Primaries.
5 Secondaries.
6 Tertiaries.
7 Festoon.
S Cere.
f.
tal.
Parietal.
.FroutaL
Tympanum or on qoadrata.
Nasai.
i ruum.
Ooraooid.
Dorsal Vertebw.
RUB.
OoooytioAi Vertebra.
Scapula,
b. MOtatftTBUH.
Tibia.
Pelvis.
munorus.
Clavicles.
Oervioal Vertebwe
Radius
Ulna.
Bakarica pavonvna (L.)
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
ORDER ACCIPITRES.
SUB-ORDER FALCONES.
Family-VULTURIOE.
Sub-family VULTURIN^.
PAGE
1. Vultur, Briss 2
1. monachus, Linn 3
2. Gyps, Savigny 4
2. fulvescens, Hume 4
3. himalayensis, Hume 5
4. indicus, Blyth 6
5. pallescens, Hume 7
3. Pseudogyps, Sharpe 8
6. bengalensis, Gm 8
4- OtOgypS, Gray 8
7. calvus, G. R. Gray 9
5 Neophron, Savigny 9
8. ginginianus, Lath 9
Family FALCON IDE.
Sub-family ACCIPITRIN/E.
6. Circus, Lacep 10
9. cyaneus, Linn 1O
10. melanoleucos, Forst 12
11. pygargus, Linn 13
12. macrurus, S. G, Gm 14
13. seruginosus, Linn 16
7- Astur, Gm 16
14. palumbarius, Linn 16
15. trivirgatus, Tern 17
16. badius, Kaup 18
17. poliopsis, Hume 19
18. soloensis, Horsf, 20
8. Accipiter, Briss 21
19. nisus, Linn 2i
20. virgatus, Tern 22
Sub-family BUTEONIN^:.
9. Buteo, Cuv 23
21. ferox, S. G. Gmel 23
22. desertorum, Daud 25
23. plumipes, Hodgs 25
10. Archibuteo, Brehm 26
24. strophiatus 26
Sub-family-AQUILINJE. PAGE
11. GypSetUS. Storr 27
25. barbatus, Storr 28
12. Aquila, Briss 29
26. chrysaetos, Linn 29
27. heliaca, Savigny 30
28. mogilnik, Gm 3 2
29. vindhiana, Frankl 33
30. hastata, Less 34
3 1 . clanga, Pall 35
13. Nissetus, Hodgs 3 6
32. fasciatus, Vieill 3 6
33. pennatus, Gm 37
14. LophotriorcMS) Sharpe 38
34. kieneri, Geoff. 38
i5-f Neopus, Hodgs 3 8
35. malayensis, Tern 38
16. Spizaetus, Vieill 29
36. nipalensis, Hodgs 39
37. cirrhatus, Gmel 4
38. alboniger, Blyth 41
39. limnaetus, Horsf. 42
17. Circaetus, Vieill 43
40. gallicus, Gmel 43
18. Spilornis, Gray 44
41. cheela, Lath 44
42. melanotis, Jerd 46
43. pallidus, Wald. 46
19. Butastur, Hodgs 47
44. teesa, Hodgs 47
45. liventer, Tern 48
46. indicus, Gmel 5
20. HalisetllS, Samgny 5 1
47. albicillus, Linn 5 1
48. leucogaster, Gm. ..."' 53
49. leucoryphus, Pall 54
21. Haliastur, Sdby 56
50. Indus, Bodd 56
22. Milvus, CUTJ 56
51. govinda, Sykes 57
52. melanotis, Tern. et. Schleg. ... 57
53. affinis, Gould 58
54. korschun, Gm 58
CONTENTS.
PAGE
23. ElanUS, Savigny 59
55. cseruleus, Desf. 59
24. MachserampllUS, Westermann.. 6)
56. alcinus, Westermann 61
25. Pernis, Cuv 6l
57. ptilonorhynchus, S^M 61
Sub-family FALCONING.
a6. Baz*, Hodgs 62
58. lophotes, Tern 62
59. sumatrensis, Lafr 63
60. ceylonensis, Legge 65
27. Microhierax, Skarpe 6 5
61. caerulescens, Lzw 05
62. fringillarius, Drap 66
28. Poliohierax, Kaup 66
63. insignis, Wald 66
29. FalCO, Linn 68
64. communis, Gm 68
65. percgrinator, Sundev 69
66. barbarus, Linn 7
67. babylonicus, Gurney 7
68. juggur, % E. Gray 7 2
69. subbuteo, Linn 73
70. severus. Horsf. 74
71. chiquera, Daud 74
72 regulus, Pall 75
30. Hierofalco, Cuv 7
73. saker, Briss ..-.. 7^
31. Cerchneis, Boie 77
74. tinnuncula, Boie 77
75. naumanni, Fleisch 78
76. pekinensis, Swift k 79
77. amurensis, Homey 79
SUB-ORDER -PANDIONES.
32. Pandion, Savigny 80
78. halisetus, Linn 80
33. Poliosetus, Kaup 81
79. ichthyaetus, Hbrsf. 8l
80 humilis, Mull , 82
STJB-ORDER-STRIGES.
Family BUB ONI DM.
Sub-family BUBONIN^E.
34- Kotupa, Lesson 83
81. ceylonensis, Gntel 83
82. javanensis, Less 84
PAGE
35. J$ubo 9 Auct 84
83. bengalensis, Frankl. 84
84. coromandus, Lath 85
85. nipalensis, Hodgs 86
86. orientalis, Horsf. 87
36. Scops, Savigny 88
87. pennatus, Hodgs. 88
88. rufipennis, Sharpe 89
89. brucii, Hume 91
90. spilocephalus, Blyth 92
91. sunia, Hodgs 93
92. plumipes, Hume 95
93. lettia, Hodgs 95
94. lempiji, Horsf. 96
95. malabaricus, Jerd 98
96. sagitatus, Sharpe IOO
97. balli, Hume IOO
98. modestus, Wald IO2
37. Carine, Kavp 103
99. brama, Tern 104
100. pulchra, Hume 105
38. Heteroglaux, Hume 105
101. blewitti, Hume 105
39. Ninox, Hodgs 1 06
102. lugubris, Tickell 106
103. affinis, Beavan 107
104. scutulata, Raffl 108
105. obscura, Hume , 109
40. Glaucidium, Boie no
106. brodiei, Burton no
107. radiatum, Tick in
108. malabaricum, Blyth 112
109. cuculoides, Gould 113
Sub-family SYRNIIN^E.
41- Asio, Briss 114
no. otus, Linn 114
III. accipitrinus, Pall ijf
42. Syrnium Savigny n6
112 butleri, Hume n6
113. nivicolum, Hodgs nj
114. sinense, Lath 117
115. ocellatum, Less. .., ug
116. newarense, Hcdgs 120
117. indranee, Sykes 121
Family STRIGID^.
43. Strix, Linn 122
118. flammea, Linn 122
119. Candida, Tick 123
44. Phodilus, Isid. Geoff. St. Hilaire . 123
120 badius, Horsf. , 124
CONTENTS.
ORDER II. PASSERIFORMES.
STJB-ORDER-PASSERES.
DIVISION-ACROMYODI.
GROTJP-COLIOMORPl-LE.
Pamily-CORVID^E.
Sub-family CORVINE.
PAGE
45- Trypanocorax, Bp 126
121. frugilegus, Linn 126
46. CorVUS, Linn 127
122. corax, Linn 127
123. umbrinus, Hedenb 127
124. lawrencei, Hume 128
47- ColOBUS, Linn 128
125. monedula, Linn 129
4S. Corone, Kaup 129
126. comix, Linn 129
127. splendens, Vieill 130
128. corone, Linn 130
129. macrorhynchus, Wagl 131
49. Nucifraga, Briss 132
130. hemispila, Vigors 132
50. Pica, Briss 132
131. rustica, Scop 132
51. Urocissa, Cab 133
132. occipitalis, Blyth 133
133. flavirostris, Blyth 134
52. Dendrocitta, Gould 135
134. rufa, Scop 135
135. frontalis, McClell 136
136. leucogastra, Gould 136
137. himalayensis, Blyth 136
138. bayleyi, Tytler 137
53. Crypsirhioa, Vieill 138
139. varians, Lath 138
140. cucullata, Jerd 139
54- Cissa, Boie 139
141. chinensis, Bodd 139
55. Platysmurus, Reich 140
142. leucopterus, Tern 140
56. Garrulus, Brits 141
143. atricapillus, Gecffr. St Hilaire. . 141
144. leucotis, Hume 142
145. bispecularis, Vigors 142
146. lanceolatus, Vigors 143
Sub-family FREGILIN^E.
57- Graculus, Koch 143
147. eremita, Koch 144
58- Pyrrhocorax, Vieill 144
148. alpinus, Vieill. ...... 144
Family ORIO LI D/E.
59- Oriolus, Linn
149. galbula, Linn
150. kundoo, Sykes
151. diffusus, Sharpe
152. tenuirostris, Blyth
153- andamanensis, Tytler. .,
154. xanthonotus, Horsf.
155. melanocephalus, Linn.
156. trailli, Vigors
145
I4 ^
146
147
147
148
149
149
150
Family DICRURID/E.
60. Dicrurus, Vieill
157. annectens, Hodgs
61. ChibiaHodgs
158. hottentottus, Linn
62. Chaptia, Hodgs
159. aenea, Vieill
160. malayensis, Blyth
63. Buchanga, Hodgs
161. atra, Herm
162. longicaudata, A. Hay
163. cineracea, Sharpe
164. leucogenys, Wald
165. cserulescens, Linn
64. Dissemuroides, Hume.
1 66. andamanensis, Tytler & Beavan.
65. Bhringa, Hodgs
167. remifer, Tern
66. Dissemurus, Gloger
i6S. paradiseus, Linn
67. Irena, Horsf.
169. puella, Lath
Family PRIONO PI D/.
. Sub-family PRIONOPIN^E.
68. Tephrcdornis, Swainson 162
170. pondiceriana, Gmel 162
171. pelvicus, Hodgs 163
172. sylvicola, Jerd 163
173. grisola, Blyth 164
69. Hemipus, Hodgs , 164
174. picatus, Sykes 164
175. obscurus, Horsf. 165
176. capitalis, McClell 165
70. Hypocolius, Bp 166
177. ampelinus, Bonap 166
71. PlatylophUS, Stoainson 167
178. ardesiacus, Cat 107
151
151
152
151
153
153
154
154
154
155
156
156
157
158
158
158
159
159
159
161
161
CONTENTS.
72. Cochoa, Hodgs 167
179. viridis, Hodgs 167
1 80. purpurea, Hodgs 168
GROTJP-CICHLOMORPH^.
Family CAM POPHAGID^E.
73. Artamides, Hartt 169
181. dobsoni, Ball 169
74. Graucalus, Cuv 17
182. macii, Less 17
75. Campophaga, Vieill 17*
183. lugubris, Sund 171
184. intermedia, Hume 171
185. melanoptera, Riifip. I7 2
186. neglecta, Hume I7 2
76. Pericrocotus, Bole 173
187. speciosus, Lath. . 173
1 88. elegans, McClell 174
189. andamanensis, Tytler 174
190. flammifer, Hume 174
191. flammeus, Forst 175
192. igneus, Blyth 17$
193. cinereus, Lafres 176
194. peregrinus, Linn 176
195. brevirostris, Vigors 177
196. neglectus, Hume 178
197. roseus, Vieill 178
198. Solaris, Blyth 179
199. erythropygius, Jerd 179
200. albifrons, Jerd 18o
201. immodestus, Hume. ... 180
77. Lalage, Bole 181
202. sykesi, Strickl 181
203. melanothorax, Sharpe 182
204. terat, Bodd 182
Family MUSCICAPIM:.
78. Hemichelidon, Hodgs 183
205. sibirica, Gm
206. ferruginea, Hodgs l8/
79- Alseonax, Caba;iis 18
207. latirostris. Raffles 185
80. Muscicapa, Linn 186
208. grisola, Linn 186
209. sordida, Godw.-Ausfen 187
210. parva, Bechst 187
211. albicilla, Pall 188
212. hyperythra, Cab , 188
PAGE
81. Pratincola, Koch 189
213. macrorhyncha, Stolickza 189
214. insignis, Blyth 190
215. maura, Pall 191
216. leucura, Blyth 192
217. caprata, Linn 193
82. Poliomylas, Sharpe. 194
218. hodgsoni, Verr 194
83. Muscicapula, Blyth 195
219. superciliaris, Jerd 195
22o- astigma, Hodgs 196
221. maculata, Tickell 196
222. sapphira, Tickell 197
84. Tarsiger, Hodgs 198
223. rufilatus, Hodgs 198
224. hyperythrus, Blyth 199
225. hodgsoni, Moore 199
226. indicus, Vieill 20O
227. chrysoeus, Hodgs 201
85. Hypothymis, Boie 201
228. azurea, Bodd 201
229. occipitalis, Vig 2O2
86. Xanthopygia, Sharpe 203
230. fuliginosa, Vig 204
87. Oreicola, Bonap 205
231. jerdoni, Blyth 205
232. ferrea, Hodgs 205
88. Ciielidorynx, Hodgs 206
233. hypoxantha, Blyth 206
89. Rhipictura, Vig. and Horsf. 207
234. albicollis, Vieill 207
2 35- javanica, Sparrm 208
236. pectoralis, Jerd 209
237. albifrontata, Sharpe 210
90. Terpsiphone, Gloger 210
233. paradisi, Linn 210
239. affinis, A- Hay 212
91. Philentoma, Eyton 213
240. velatum, Tern 213
241. pyrrhopterum, Tern 214
92. Culicicapa, Swinhoe 214
242. ce) lonensis, Swainson 214
93- Cryptolopha, Swainson 215
243. burkii, Sharpe ... 215
244 cantatrix, Sharpe 216
245. affinis, Hodgs 217
246. xanthoschista, Hodgs 217
247. schisticeps, Hodgs 218
248. superciliaris, Tickell 219
249. poliogenys, Blyth 220
CONTENTS.
PAGE
250. castaneoceps, Bp 220
251. albigularis, Hodgs 221
252. hodgsoni, Moore 221
253. flavigularis, Godw.-Austen. ... 222
94. Stoparola, Blyth 222
254. albicaudata 222
255. melanops, Vig 223
95. Siphia, Hodgs 223
256. pallidipes, Sharpe 223
257. unicolor, Blyth 224
258. rubeculoides, Vig, 225
259. tickelliae, Blyth 225
260. magnirostris, Blyth 226
261. nigrorufa, Jerd 227
262. strophiata, Hodgs 227
263. ruficauda, Swainson 228
264- mandelli, Hume 228
265. olivacea, Hume 229
96. Digenea, Hodgs 229
266. leucomelanura, Blyth 229
267. cerviniventris, Sharpe 230
268. moniliger, Hodgs 230
269. submoniliger, Hume 231
97- Niltava, Hodgs 231
270. sundara, Hodgs 231
271. vivida, Swinh 232
272. grandis, Blyth 233
273. leucoprocta, Tweed 233
274. macgrigoriae, Burton 234
Family TURDID.E.
Sub-family-SYLVIIN^:.
98. Sylvia, Scop 235
275. cinerea, Bechst 235
276. jerdoni, Blyth 236
277. affinis, Blyth 236
278. althea, Hume 237
279. minuscula, Hume 237
280. nana, Hempr. et Ehr. ... 237
281. familiaris, Menetries 238
99. Phylloscopus, Boie 239
282. borealis, Bias 239
283. nitidus, Blyth 240
284. viridanus, Blyth 241
285. plumbeitarsus, Swinh- 241
286. tenellipes, S-winh 242
287. magnirostris, Blyth 242
288. lugubris, Blyth 243
289. occipitalis, Blyth 244
290. coronatus, Tern 244
PAGE
291. reguloides, Blyth. 245
292. viridipennis, Blyth 246
293. tristis, Blyth 246
294. affinis, Tickell 247
295. tytleri, Brooks 248
296. humii, Brooks 248
297. superciliosus, Gmel 249
298. maculipennis, Blyth 250
299. proregulus, Pall 250
300. pulcher, Hodgs 251
301. subviridis, Brooks 252
302. sindianus, Brooks 252
100. Hypolais, Brehm 252
303. pallida, Hempr. et Ehr 253
304. rama, Sykes .. 254
305. caligata, Licht 255
306. obsoleta, Severtz 255
101. Acrocephalus, Naum 256
307. bistrigiceps, Swinh 256
308. orientalis, Tern et Schleg 257
309. stentoreus, Hempr. et Ehr. ... 257
310. dumetorum, Blyth 258
311. agricola, Jerd 258
102. Locustella, Kaup 258
312. certhiola, Pall 259
313. straminea, Severtz 260
314. lanceolata, Tern 260
103. Lusciniola, Gray 261
315. aedon, Pall 261
316. thoracica, Blyth 261
317. luteiventris, Hodgs 262
318. indica, Jerd 262
319. fuscata, Blyth 263
320. schwarzi, Radde 263
321. fuliginiventris, Hodgs 264
322. neglecta, Hume 264
323. melanopogon, Tern 265
104. Cettia, Bonap 266
324. cetti, Marm 266
325. fortipes, Hodgs 267
326. flavolivacea, Hodgs 268
327. pallidipes, Blanf. 268
328. brunneifrons, Hodgs 269
329. major, Moore 269
Group. BRADYPTERI.
105. Schcenicola, Blyth 270
330. platyura, Jerd 270
106. Laticilla, Blyth 271
331. burnesi, Blyth 271
332. cinerascens, Wald 271
VI
CONTENTS.
PAGE
107. Megalurus, Horsf. 272
333. palustris, Horsf. 2 7 2
108. Chsetornis, Gray 273
334. locustelloides, Blyth 274
Group.-CISTlCOL^:.
109. Suya, Hodgs 274
335. crinigera, Hodgs 2 74
336. atrigularis, Hodgs 2 17
337. khasiana, God-w .-Austen 277
338. albigularis, Hume 278
339. superciliaris, Anderson 279
no. Prinia, Horsf. 279
340. inornata, Sykes 279
341. sylvatica, Jerd 280
in. Burnesia, Jerd 281
342. flaviventris, Deless 282
343. social! s, Sykes. 282
344. lepida, Blyth. 283
112. SCOtOCerca Sundev 284
345. inquieta, Sund 284
113. Sutoria, Nicholson 285
346. sutoria, Forst 285
347. atrigularis, Tern 286
348. ruficeps 287
114. Phyllergates, Sharpe 28?
349. coronatus, Jerd. and Blyth. ... 287
115. Graminicola, Jerd 288
350. bengalensis, Jerd 288
116. Cisticola, Kaup 289
351. buchanani, Blyth 289
352. gracilis, Franklin 290
353. beavani, Wald 291
354. cinereicapilla, Moore 291
355- poliocephala, Anderson 292
356. cisticola, Tern 292
357. exilis, Vig. and Horsf. 293
Sub -Family.-TU RDI NM.
117. Geocichla, Kuhl 293
358. dauma, Lath 294
359. nilgiriensis, Blyth 295
360. molhssima, Blyth 295
361. dixoni, Seebohm 296
Group. ZO OTHERS.
362. monticola, Vigors 296
363. marginata, Blyth 297
PAGE
364. cyanonotus, Jard and Selby. ... 297
365. citrina, Lath 298
366. wardi, Jerd 300
367. sibirica, Pall 300
118. Turdus, Linn 301
368. iliacus, Linn 302
369. viscivorus, Linn 302
370. pilaris, Linn 303
119. Merula, Leach 34
371. albocincta. Royle 34
372. boulboul, Lath 304
373. nigropileus, Lafresnaye 305
374. simillima, Jerd 305
375. bourdilloni, Seebohm 306
376. castanea, Gould 306
377. fuscata, Pall 306
378. protomomelsena, Seebohm. ... 307
379. atrigularis, Tern 308
380. ruficollis, Pall 38
381. unicolor, Tick 309
382. obscura, Gmel 309
383. pallida, Gmel 310
120. Monticola, Boie 311
384. saxatilis, Linn 311
385. cyanus, Linn 312
386. cinclorhynchus, Vig , 312
387. erythrogaster, Vig 313
121. Erithacus, Cuv 314
388. brunpeus, Hodgs 314
389. cyaneus, Pall 315
390. calliope, Pall 315
391. pectoralis, Gould 316
392. tschebaiewi, Prejv 317
393. cseruleculus, Pall 317
122. Sialia, Swainson 318
394. caelicolor, Hodgs 319
123. RTlticilla, C. L. Erehm 319
395. phoenicurus, Linn 319
396. mesoleuca, Hempr. et Ehr. ... 320
397. rufiventris, Jerdon 320
398. hodgsom, Muore , 321
399. aurorea, Gmel 322
400. erythrogastra, Gould 322
401. erythronota, Eversm 323
402. frontalis, Vigors 3 2 3
403. schisticeps, Hodgs 324
404. cceruleocephala, Vigors 325
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Plate ... Introductory Woodcut.
Woodcut. Vultur monachus 3
Gyps fulvescens 4
,, Gyps indicus... ... ... ... ... ... ... 6
,, Otogyps calvus 9
Circus cyaneus (Bill) 10
Circus pygargus ... 13
,, Circus macruius ... ... ... ... ... ... 14
Plate. Astur palumbarius ... ... ... ... ... ... 16
,, Astur soloensis 20
Woodcut. Accipiter nisus ... ... ... ... ... ... 21
Plate. Buteo plumipes 25
,, Archibuteo strophiatus 26
Woodcut. Gypaetus barbatus ... ... ... ... ... ... 27
Aquila chryssetos (Head) 29
Lophotriorchis kieneri (Head) 38
Circaetus gallicus (Head) 43
Plate. Haliaetus albicilla 51
Woodcut. Haliaetus albicillus (Head) 51
,, Haliastur indus (Bill) 56
,, Machaeramphus alcinus (Bill) ... ... .. ... 60
Woodcut. Baza lophotes (Head) 62
Baza sumatrensis (Head) .. ... ... ... ... 63
Plate, Asio accipitrinus 106
Ninox affinis... ... ... ... ... ... ... 107
,, Ninox obscura 109
Woodcut. Strix flammea... ... ... ... ... ... ... 122
Asio otus ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 124
Plate. Trypanocorax frugilegus 126
Colceus monedula ... ... ... ... ... ... 128
,, Corone cornix ... ... ... ... ... ... 129
,, Corone corone 130
Pica rustica 132
Dendrocitta occipitalis 135
Dendrocitta bayleyi 137
Garrulus leucotis ... ... ... ... ... ... 143
Fregilus graculus 144
VI 11
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Woodcut. Oriolus galbula 145
Chibia hottentottus (Head} 152
,, Chaptia aenea (Head} 153
Bhringa remifer (Head and leg) ... ... ... ... 158
,, Dissemurus paradiseus (Head and leg) 159
Irena puella (Head and leg) 161
,, Hemichelidon ferruginea (Head) ... ... ... ... 183
Tarsiger rufilatus (Head) ... ... ... ... ... 198
Plate. Digenea leucomelanura, Fig. I 229
Digenea moniliger, Fig. 2 ... ... ... ... ... 230
,, Sylvia minuscula ... ... ... ... ... ... 237
Phylloscopus subviridis ... ... ... ... ... 252
Woodcut. Megalurus palustris (Head, leg and bill) ... ... ... 272
Chaetornis locustelloides (Head and leg) ... ... ... 273
Plate. Scotocerca inquieta 284
Woodcut. Turdus iliacus 302
Sialia caelicolor (Head and leg) ... ... ... ... 318
THE
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA
AND
ITS DEPENDENCIES.
ORDER ACCIPITRES.
Bill short, strong, stout, covered at the base with a cere or naked skin and
strongly curved ; the tip perpendicular ; nostrils open. Legs and feet muscular
and strong, the latter armed with powerful curved, sharp, elongated talons
capable of being bent under the feet. Toes four, three in front and one
behind.
The Accipitres or Raptores vary greatly in size. The Vultures and Eagles
comprise some of the largest of the feathered tribes, while the Falcons are small.
The order comprising these is analogous to the feline quadrupeds, and forms
a distinct and primary one in the class of birds. They are readily recognized
by their strong hooked bill, the upper mandible of which is longer than the
lower. The edges in some are festooned or toothed to assist in the operation of
tearing their prey. They are notoriously the most muscular and powerful.
The muscles of their legs and feet are of great strength to enable them to
strike down or hold their prey. The greater number are suited for rapid
flight and live on prey got by their own courage and exertions. The
Vultures however are slothful, large bodied, and, not unlike the Hyaena, feed
upon carrion and act the part of scavengers.
The males are always smaller than the females, and owing to this
difference in size of the sexes, and the almost totally different plumage of
the various stages of growth of the members, from the young to the adult, they
are difficult to determine, even with large series of specimens. In number
and species they are not many taking them world wide compared with the
Insessores or perching birds. For special reasons in the economy of nature
they are not prolific, but propagate slowly. Many lay but one egg, others
two, and none of the order are known to lay more than four, nor to breed more
than once a year.
1
VULTURID/E.
.
Falrones, Pandiones, and Striges; four families, viz. :-
SSL and Strigid*, and these again into nine sub-famiUes . The
of 7 (seven) only occur in India, the exceptions being the Polybormae and
Sarcoramphinse.
The following is the division of the Accipitres : *
SUB-ORDER Falcones.
Family Vulturidae.
Sub-Family Vulturinae.
Family Falconidae.
Sub-Family Accipitrinae,
Buteoninae.
Aquilinse.
Falconinae.
SUB-ORDER Pandiones.
SUB-ORDER. Striges.
Family Bubonidae.
Sub-Family Buboninae.
Syrniinae.
Family Strigidae.
These comprise the Vultures, the Falcons, and the Owls, the two former are
diurnal, and the latter nocturnal birds of prey.
SUB-ORDER FALCONES.
Toes without feathers ; outer toe not reversible ; eyes lateral ; cere soft and
fleshy, generally not hidden by bristles. Facial disk none. Plumage compact.
Family VULTURED^E VULTURES.
Upper mandible not toothed, sometimes sinuate. Head and neck more or
less bare or clothed only with short down. No true feathers on crown of head.
Sub- Family VULTURINvE, VULTURES PROPER.
Nostrils not perforated. 1st quill short, $rd and 4th subequal, 4th longest ;
tarsi reticulate.
These are the scavengers of nature wherever they occur, especially in hot
countries where putrefaction is rapid. Their food imparts to them a foetid
odour, which, according to some writers, is a means of defence, for, if seized
during the torpid inactivity which succeeds their meals, they disgorge the nau-
seous contents of their craw over the luckless captor in order that he may
quickly and loathingly relinquish his hold.
VULTUR.
3
Gen. Vultur. Linn.
Bill higher than broad. Cere large. Nostrils rounded, naked. A neck ruff
present.
1. VultTir monachUS, Linn. S. N. i., p. 122 ; Jerd. B. of Ind. vol. i.
p. 6; Hume, Sir. F., vol. vii., p. 321; Murray, Hdbk. Zool., fyc., Sind ;
id. Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 61 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br. Mus. p. 3. The CRESTED
or GREAT BROWN VULTURE.
Adult. Colour rich dark chocolate brown throughout, including the crop
patch, darker on the wings, tail, and under parts. Feathers of the nape length-
ened, lanceolate, and forming a ruff. Lores, cheeks, and throat downy, also a
patch on the occiput ; rest of head and neck both behind and laterally bare,
and of a livid flesh colour in life. Bill black ; feet yellowish ; iris dark brown,
4
VULTURID/E.
Length. 42 to 45 inches ; expanse 96 to 1 18 ; wing 29-5 to 32 ; culmen 3*3 ;
tarsus 4-25.
Hab. A native of Europe. Found on the lofty mountains of Italy, the
Tyrol, and also in Africa. In India it affects the hilly ranges of Central India,
Guzerat, Sind, Beloochistan, Persia, Afghanistan, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces,
Oudh, Bengal, Rajpootana, Central India, Kutch, Tennaserim, and the Nepal
Valley. In the Himalayas it is fairly abundant ; also in Assam and Bhootan.
There is no positive information as to the breeding of this Vulture in India,
but from facts collected by Mr. A. O. Hume and recorded in his " Rough Notes
on Indian Ornithology and Oology," it is probable that it breeds in the Hima-
layas from January to March. The Rev. H. B. Tristram, "Ibis," 1865, and Mr.
C. Farman give interesting particulars of its nidification in Central Bulgaria
and Palestine. In the Pyrenees it is said to lay two eggs, varying from a
more or less pure white with scarcely any trace of markings, to a reddish or
fulvous white, richly marked with reddish brown ; in shape a very blunt
slightly pyriform oval ; texture coarse and rough ; size 3-48 x 275 inches.
Gen. GypS- Savigny.
Tarsus shorter than middle toe ; 14 tail feathers ; nostrils perpendicular,
rather oval.
2. GypS fulvescens, Hume, Rough Notes, p. 19; Str. F., vol. vii.
p. 322 ; i., p. 149; Ibis 1869; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br. Mus. (Sub-Sp. B.), p. 7;
GYPS. 5
Murray, EJbk. Zool, fyc., Sind, p. 102 ; id. Vert. Zoo?. Sind, p. 63. The
BAY VULTURE.
Adult. Top of head, cheeks, chin, and throat covered with dingy, yellowish-
white hair-like feathers. Nape and whole of neck (except the back and basal
one-fifth or less) also covered, but with dense, fur-like yellowish-white down.
Crop patch pale wood brown, or dark brown ; rest of under surface rufous or
fulvous brown, with conspicuous whitish central stripes, the under wing coverts
darker. Upper back, whole of upper wing coverts, and all but the longest
scapulars, rufous ashy, or brownish rufous fawn. Secondaries, tertials, and
longer scapulars umber brown. Lower back and rump brown, with distinct
central streaks of fulvous white, the upper tail coverts more rufescent. Quills,
brownish black, the primaries shaded with ashy grey, the secondaries externally
washed and tipped with rufous ashy. Tail black, the feathers somewhat shaded
with brown on their margins. Feathers of the ruff lanceolate, brown or rufous
fawn, mesially streaked with whitish.
Length. 41 to 47 inches ; expanse 94 to 106 ; wing 27 to 30; tail 12-5 to
13-5 ; culmen 3-7 ; tarsus 3*88 to 4.
Hab. Sind, Beloochistan, Persia, Afghanistan, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces,
Oudh, Rajpootana, Central India, Kutch, and Guzerat. Breeds during January
and February on lofty trees, laying a single white egg usually soiled and
discoloured by the droppings of the parent bird. Size 3-5 x 2-8 inches.
3- Gyps himalayensis, Hume, Rough Notes, i. p. 14 (1869);
Jerdon, Ibis, 1871, p. 235 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br. Mus. p. 8. Otogyps fulvus,
Tytler, Ibis, 1 868, p. 194. The HIMALAYAN GRIFFON.
Adult. Head, cheeks, chin, and throat closely covered with yellowish white
filamentous feathers ; nape, upper two-thirds of back, and sides of the neck
covered with a similar coloured down ; basal third of back and sides of neck
bare, the front sparsely studded with star-like tufts of down. Crop patch
whitish fawn. Ruff round the neck whitish, the feathers linear, lanceolate,
about 3 inches long with filamentous webs. Upper back, shorter scapulars, and
wing coverts (except the larger row) a nearly unichromous pale brown, or
whitey brown, many of the feathers inconspicuously paler centred. Lower back
pure white, shading into pale creamy fawn colour on the rump and upper tail
coverts. Longer scapulars and largest wing coverts deep umber brown, tipped
broadly on the scapulars with fulvous fawn, and externally washed with ashy.
Quills black, the secondaries brownish, the innermost inclining to fulvous
towards the tip. Tail black, or a deep chocolate brown. Under surface, includ-
ing wing lining and lower tail coverts white, or fulvous white, some of the
feathers on the flanks with ill-defined paler centres. Bill very pale horny
green, dusky at tip ; cere pale brown ; legs and feet dingy greenish grey or
greyish white ; claws pale brown.
Length. 46 to 49 inches (Hume), 42 inches (Sharpe) ; expanse 106 to I lo ;
wing 28 to 31 ; tail 15 to 17, tarsus 4-25 to 4-8.
G
VULTURID/E.
Young. Entire plumage dark chocolate brown, with central streaks of
paler brown, those on the ruff and under surface being lighter and more
fulvescent, and consequently more distinct.
Hab. Himalayas, Bhootan, Afghanistan, Nepal.
Breeds in January, February, and March. Mr. Hume says, the nest is a
huge platform of sticks placed on a rocky ledge of some bold precipice in
the Himalayas at least 3,000 feet above the sea. It lays a single egg, larger
than that of any of the other Indian Vultures, oval, or a broad oval, the
ground colour being of the usual greenish or greyish white of all the true-
Vultures, unspotted or richly blotched and mottled chiefly towards the small
end with brownish red. Size 378 x 2'8 inches to 3-98 x 2 ' 8 5 inches.
4. Gyps indicUS, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. Seng. p. 33 1^49;
Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 9, No. 4; Gray, Cat. Mam. and B. Hodgson, p. 16 ; Sharpe,
Cat. Ace. Br. M. p. IO; Hume, Stray F. vii. 165. Gyps tenuirostris, Hodgs.;
Scully, Stray F. viii. 219. The LONG-BILLED VULTURE.
Adult. Head bare, also the nape, neck, cheeks, and throat, but very thinly
sprinkled with brownish white hair-like feathers ; ruff and upper surface of
body dark brown, the feathers mesially streaked with fulvous ; the wing
coverts slightly paler with the streaks more distinct. Lower back and
GYPS. 7
rump creamy white, the feathers washed with brown on their edges. Quills
and tail black or deep chocolate brown. Crop patch brown. Under surface
of body light brown, the feathers broadly streaked with creamy white ; abdomen
and under tail coverts slightly paler. Under wing coverts whitish, the marginal
ones dark brown with pale shaft stripes. Bill dark horn brown, yellowish
on culmen and towards tip. Irides brown.
Length. 36 to 40 inches ; wing 24 ; tail 1 1 ; tarsus 4*5 ; bill from gape 2-85.
Hab. The Indian Peninsula, Burmah, Nepal, Siam and the Malayan
Peninsula. Ajmere and Mount Aboo are places where this species has been
known to breed from December to March on inaccessible and precipitous
-cliffs. Eggs vary in length from 3-48 to 3*9 inches in length and from 2-62
to 2-85 in breadth, larger than those of G. Bengalensis ; texture finer, as a rule
unspotted pale greyish or greenish white, thinly spotted or blotched with pale
reddish brown and purplish brown.
5. Gyps pallescens, Hume, Stray F. i. p. 150; id. vol. iii. p. 442 ; id.
vol. ii. p. 325, vol. ix. p, 369 ; Swinhoe and Barnes -, B. of Central India, Ibis,
vol. 1885, p. 54 ; Barnes, Birds of Bombay* p. 5. Gyps indicus, Hume, Rough
Notes, i. p. 21. The LONG-BILLED PALE BROWN VULTURE.
Adult. Head, nape, cheeks, and throat bare, but sprinkled with brownish white
hair-like feathers ; lower half of the back and sides of the neck bare. Crop
patch covered with silky dark brown feathers ; ruff composed of soft, white,
much disintegrated feathers. Mantle pale earthy brown, the centres of the
lesser and all but the tips and margins of the larger scapulars dark hair brown.
The whole of the lower surface of the body pale whitey brown, vent and
lower tail coverts nearly pure white. Lower back, rump, and upper tail coverts
Avhite, tinged with pale earthy brown. Some of the longer tail coverts brown
at the base. Primaries and tail feathers deep chocolate brown ; secondaries
and tertiaries hair brown, more or less suffused on their outer webs with pale
dingy earthy or fulvous brown.
A quite young bird, has the top and back of the head and upper part
of the back of the neck thickly covered with white down, rest of the head
and neck as in the adult ; crop patch covered with pale dove-coloured brown
feathers, lower surface pale brown, albescent towards the vent, each feather
broadly centred with dingy white, sides and breast the same ; ruff feathers long,
lanceolate, pale fulvous white, faintly margined with brown ; mantle pale hair
brown, the feathers with fulvous white centres mesially. Primaries chocolate
brown ; tail feathers the same ; rump and upper tail coverts white, in some
specimens very slightly tinged with brown. Rectrices of 14 feathers.
Adult. Length 36 to 39 inches ; expanse 85 to 90 ; wing 23 to 25*5 ;
tail from vent 10 to 1 1 ; tarsus 3-5 to 4 ; bill from gape 2-65 to 2*95. Bill and
cere pale greenish yellow, horny on culmen ; irides brown ; legs and feet dusky
plumbeous. (Hume, Rough Notes.}
Hab. Sind, Kutch, Jodhpur, Kattiawar, Northern Guzerat, I^^
the Concan, Deccan, the Southern Mahratla country, and Central Pndia. "
s
VULTURID^E.
Gen. PseudogypS. Sharpe.
Tarsus shorter than middle toe. Tail of 12 feathers.
6. PseudOgypS bengalensiS, Sharpe, Ann. Nat. Hist. (4) xi,, p.
! 33 5 C a i* A CC > B r * Mus. p. ii. Gyps bengalensis, G. R. Gray, Gen. of B.
i- P- 6; Jerd. B. of Ind. vol. i. p. 90; Hume, Sir. F. vol. v. p. 245 ; Murray,
Hdbk.,Zool.fyc>, Sind, p. 104; Gidh.\ Hind and Sind. THE BENGAL OR
COMMON BROWN VULTURE.
Adult* Cinerous black above, beneath dark brown, the shafts narrowly
streaked with fulvous. Lower back and rump white. Ruff scanty, whitish.
Head and neck bare with a few dull brown bristles on the crown and nape.
Quills, tail, and crop patch black. Under wing coverts white. Cere horny
black ; legs dusky black ; iris red brown.
Length. 30 to 35 inches ; wing 23 to 23-5 ; tail 10 to 1 1 j tarsus 4-2 ;
culmen 3'i.
Hab. Throughout India. It is a permanent resident in Sind, and breeds
from November to February or later, laying ordinarily one or two glossless white
eggs, at times with rusty markings at the larger end.
Gen. OtOgypS. Gray.
Tarsus longer than middle toe ; head and neck bare, with ieshy folds and
a neck lappet or wattle of skin.
NEOPHRON. <i
7- OtOgypS calvUS, G. R. Grav, Gen. B. i. p. 4 ; Jcrd B. nf Ind. vol. i.
p. 7, No. 2 ; Hume, Sir. F. vol. viii. p. 370 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br. Mus. p. 14;
l\Inrray, Ildbk. Zool. $v. Sind ; Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 62. Vultur
calvus, Scorp. Del. Faun, el Flor. Insbur. vol. ii. p. 85. V. pondicerianus,
Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 7 ; Ran-Gidh, JBhaonra, Hind. ; Wudda Gidh, Sind.
The BLACK VULTURE.
Adult. Glossy black, inclining to brown on lower back and rump, some
of the scapulars also washed with brown. Quills black, the shafts white,
becoming brownish towards the tips. Secondaries whitey brown, blackish
towards their tips. Tail black, shaded with brown, the shafts brownish. Crop
patch black. A circlet of white down across the breast, and a patch of white
above the thigh joint. Under parts of body deep black. Inner face of
thighs bare. A small black ruff round the neck, the feathers impending and
partially concealing the bare patches on each side of the breast. Bill black .
legs dull red ; iris reddish brown.
Length. 31 to 33 inches; culmen 2-5; wing 24-5; tail 10 to ii;
tarsus 4-1.
Jlab. This is spread nearly all over the continent of India and not unlike
V. monachus affects the hilly districts in Sind. It is a permanent resident
wherever it occurs. Nest varies from 2\ to 4 feet in length and breadth, with
usually a lining of leaves. It lays a single egg, pale greenish white, spotted
or unspotted with purplish ; generally a round oval, varying in size from 3*2
inches to 3*5 in length, and from 2*45 to 2*8 inches in breadth. It is said
to breed on inaccessible cliffs from January to April.
Sub-Family NEOPHRONIN^E, SCAVENGERS.
Bill lengthened, slender ; nostrils longitudinal, nearly in the middle of the
bill, perforated, and without bony septum.
Gen. Neophron. Savigny.
Characters, same as those of the family.
8. Neophron ginginianus, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 7 ; Biyth, Ibis, 1866 ;
Jcrd. B. of Ind. i. p. 12, No. 6 . Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br. Mus. p. 18 ; Humf,
Sir. F. vol. i. p. 150 ; Rough Notes, i. p. 39; Murray, Hbdk. Zool, fyc. Sind,
p. 105 ; id. Vert. Zool., Sind, p. 64. The WHITE SCAVENGER VULTURE or
PHARAOH'S HEN OF BRUCE.
Adult. Yellowish or creamy white. Quills black, neck hackles long,
lanceolate, tinged somewhat rusty; secondaries dark brown and, like the
quills, internally ashy white at base. Mead bare, throat with a little scanty
down ; a lew white feathers in front of the eye. hides reddish brown ; < crc
10 FALCONID^E.
and face turmeric yellow ; bill pale horny brown ; feet and legs yellowish
white.
Length. li to 22 inches; wing 15-5 (not reaching the tip of the tail) ;
tail 9-5 ; tarsus 3^4 ; culmen 2'g.
Hab. Throughout India and a permanent resident. Breeds from February
to April on cliffs, old mosques, &c., seldom on trees, making a rude nest of
twigs, lined with rags, &c. Eggs variously coloured, the ground colour usually
a dirty white, blotched and smeared with reddish brown, or marked all over
with deep red, with blotches at the larger end.
Family FALCONID^E, FALCONS.
Bill usually short and compressed ; tip elongated, curved and ' sharp.
Commissure of upper mandible distinctly toothed or festooned. Head always
covered with true feathers.
Sub-Family BUTEONIN.E.
Bill small, moderate, tip hooked. Wings moderate ; tail generally short ;
tarsus with scutae in front and behind ; tibia longer than tarsus. Outer toe
connected to middle toe by interdigital membrane.
Gen. CircUS. Lacep.
Upper mandible slightly festooned ; lower emarginate. Nostrils round,
with no bony excrescence. Tarsi long and slender, naked ; wings long ; the
first quill not so long as the fifth, the third and fourth longest ; cere large,
surrounded with a ruff of setaceous curved plumes.
9. CircUS CyaneUS, Linn. Sys- Naf.i.p. 126; Yarrell, Br. B. i.
p. 94 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. p. 52 ; Boie, Isi's, 1822 ; Gould. B. Eur. i. pi. 33 ;
Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 95 ; Gould. B. Gt. Bt. 1867; Hume, Rough Notes, ii.
p. 93, No. 50 ; Sir. F. i. p. 160, 418 ; Reid, Cat. B. Prov. Mus. N. W. P. and
Oudh.The HEN HARRIER.
Adult Male. Upper parts, chin, throat, cheeks, ear-coverts, sides of the neck,
and breast bluish ashy, paler on the wing coverts and tail, the former also
slightly margined with whitish and the scapulars slightly tinged with fuscous.
Frontal plumes and lores whitish ; feathers of the nape pure white. Forehead
and supercilium whitish, ist 6 primaries blackish both above and below, the
outer webs, towards the tips, more or less suffused with silvery grey ; the inner
CIRCUS. 11
webs white at the bases. Secondaries silvery grey on the outer webs and
tips, with black shafts and an indistinct subterminal band. Tail ashy grey,
tipped with white, the middle tail feathers entirely uniform pale ashy grey,
white-shafted, the lateral ones becoming less grey and white on the inner webs,
with from 6 to 8 imperfect, and sometimes almost obsolete transverse ashy bars.
Upper tail coverts while. Under surface from below the breast, including the
thighs, the axillary plumes, and under wing coverts while, (in the adolescent
stage slightly suffused with very pale bluish grey). Cere yellow ; bill bluish
black ; irides yellow ; legs and feet bright yellow ; claws black.
Length. 17 to 19 inches; wing I2'2to 13*8; tail 8'i to 9-0; tarsus 2-5
to 2*9; bill from gape ri6,
Young Male, Above brown ; bright rufous on the head and neck. Upper
tail coverts white with rufous brown mesial lanceolate streaks. Tail tawny,
fulvous at tip, with four broad black cross bands. Young females with rufous
cross bars on the tail.
Adult Female, Crown of the head, hind neck, and nape reddish fawn or
pale tawny fulvous, the feathers broadly streaked mesially with dark brown.
Forehead, a narrow supercilium, lores, and cheeks, and a streak over the ear
coverts fulvous white; basal two-thirds of feathers of the nape white; ear
coverts and cheeks rufous, streaked with brown. Quills brown, tipped with
whitish, and with 3 5 dark brown transverse bars on the inner webs.
2nd, yd, 4///, and ^th primaries emarginated on the outer web. Scapulars,
interscapulary region, lower back and rump, also wing\ coverts brown, spotted
with large oval tawny buff marks. Upper tail coverts pure white with some-
times lanceolate rufous brown spots on the shafts. Tail white at the extreme
base, the central feathers grey brown, narrowly tipped with white or rufescent
white, and crossed with 4 5 broad transverse bars of darker brown ; lateral
tail feathers similar but with broader white tips, and the interspaces on the
outer webs creamy buff, the outermost tinged with rufous ; sides of neck and
under surface of body yellowish white, brown-shafted, and with more or less
conspicuous ovate rufous-brown spots. Irides reddish brown.
Length. 19*5 to 21*6 inches; wing 14*5 to iS'6; tail 10 to 10*9; tarsus
3'i toy 17.
Hab. Throughout Europe. Occurs also in all countries bordering the
Mediterranean and extending in winter to N. India (Sharpe), In India the Heu
Harrier is common about the outer ranges of the Himalayas; from Abbottabad
to Kumaon, in the Punjab ; Sind, N.-W. Provinces, and Oudh, also the Central
Provinces. It has been obtained in Meerut, Bareilly, Etawah, Saugor, Nagpoor,
Chanda, and Goona (Hume) ; also in Beloochistan, S. Afghanistan, Nepal,
Eastern Turkestan, and Gilgit,
This species is not known to breed in India. Dr. Scully in his contribution
to the Ornithology of Eastern Turkestan says it is a permanent resident in the
jo FALCON1D/F..
plains of Kashgaria and breeds there. The nest, he says, is placed in long
grass jungle ; and adds that he often observed the bird sailing low over rush-
grown marshes and bare fields with a wonderfully long sustained flight. It
never seems to tire and always appears keenly intent on looking for its prey,
every now and then suddenly dropping down among the reeds as if shot, but
soon rising again to resume its hunting. He does not however give any
particularsof its nidification, except as to the position of the nest. In Europe
it is said to be placed on the ground and the materials used are small sticks
and coarse grass. Eggs 4 5; in colour pale white or skimmed milk-blue;
r 67 X i'33 inches.
10. CircUS melanoleuCOS, Forst. Ind. Zool p. 12, pi. n ; Vieill, N.
Did. d' Hist. Nat. vi. p. 465-, Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 98, No. 53; Sharpe, Cat.
Ace. B. M. p. 61 ; Stray F. i. p. 98 ; id. iii. p. 33 vi. p. 1 1 ; id. vii. p. 250;
Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 307; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 414. The PIED
HARRIER.
Adult Male. The whole head, chin, throat, neck all round, upper breast,
nearly two-thirds of the back, scapulars (except the undermost one or two),
primaries, and a broad band across the wing black. Wing coverts silvery
grey, often broadly tipped with brown. Primary coverts and secondaries
silvery grey, except the innermost which are black. Lower portion of back,
rump, and upper tail coverts white, the latter with two or three broad cross bars
of black or ashy grey. Tail pale, silvery dove colour or silvery grey, narrowly
tipped with white ; below and the inner webs also broadly margined with white.
Under surface from lower breast, including wing lining and axillaries, pure
white. Bill and cere black. Irides and feet yellow.
- Length. 16 to 17-15 inches; wing 1370 to 14*4; tail 8'S to IO; tarsus
2^98 to 3*13; culmen I.
The young male as described by Mr. Hume has the whole head, neck, and
back of neck clove brown, each feather broadly margined with pale
rufous. Upper back and scapulars uniform clove brown ; lower back
and wings of a slightly lighter shade. Some of the longest feathers of the
back with two obscure, terminal, rufous spots, one on each web ; edge of
the wing rufous white and many of the lesser coverts faintly or boldly
margined with fulvous or rufescent. Upper tail coverts pure white, dark
shafted, and with a conspicuous oval, rufous brown subterminal spot. Tail
feathers a somewhat greyish pale-brown, narrowly tipped with fulvous white
and with broad, rather dark brown transverse bars. Lower parts buffy or
rufous white, with central rufous brown stripes, broad on the lower breast
and abdomen, almost obsolete on the chin and the thigh coverts. Inner
webs of primaries pale rufous white, barred with darker brown, the bars
wider and more conspicuous on the under surface. Wing lining rufous
buff; axillaries the same, with darker shafts and two or more broad, irre-
ClRi ]:',
gular transverse red brown bars. Winglet, greater primary coverts, and bases
of the outer webs of the later primaries grey, with broad transverse brown
bars.
The adult female is larger than the male and has a slatey grey wash on the
back. Wing 15*4 ; tail to; tarsus 3 - i3 inches.
Hab. Mr. Sharpe gives Eastern Asia, eastern side of the Indian Peninsula
and Burma, northwards to Mongolia, A moor land and Northern China. It
occurs in Ceylon, Nepal, Burma, Assam, and Eastern Bengal generally,
(extending westward to Mirzapoor), also almost throughout the Himalayas,
from the valley of the Burhampooter to Afghanistan. It has been noted from
Bengal, Rajputana, Central India, the Central Provinces, the Concan, Deccan,
South India, British Burma, and Nepal.
Nothing is known of the nidification of this species. Dr. Jerdon however
remarks in his appendix, that he has every reason to believe it breeds in
Northern India.
11. CirCUS pygargtlS, Linn. S- N. \. p 48 ; Sharpe^ Cat. Ace. B. M.
p. 64. Circus cineraceus, CUT. R?ne. An. i. p. 338; Jerdon, B. of India, i.
p. 97, No. 52; Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 303; Shelley, B. Egypt, p. 184;
Murray, Hdbk. Zool. tyc. Sind ; id. Vert. ZooL Sind, p, 88. MONTAGUE'S
HARRIER.
14 FALCONID^F.
Adult Male. Above blue grey j throat, breast, and wing coverts darker, the
latter slightly mottled, and with a terminal spot of a dark ash colour. Primary
coverts and secondaries silvery grey, tipped with white, and with two bands of
black, one of which is hidden by the greater wing coverts. Primaries black,
the inner ones greyish at the tips and on the inner web. Secondaries grey
with a black band. Tail grey or greyish white, the two outer feathers banded
on their inner webs with rufous, the others dusky, with fine ashy black bands.
Upper tail coverts white, shading into ashy grey. Lores whitish. Abdomen,
flanks, thighs^ and under wing coverts white, streaked with fawn ; the axillaries
with spots of the same colour. Cere greenish yellow. Feet and irides
yellow.
Length. 18 inches ; wing 14 to 15 ; tail 9-5 ; tarsus 2*3.
The adult female differs from the male in being nearly uniform brown with
scarcely any fulvous margins to the feathers. The hind head and neck are
streaked with fulvous, as also the sides of the neck and facial ruff. Feathers
under the eye whitish. Outer margin of ' $th primary entire ; notch in second
primary, an inch or more distant from tip of coverts. Upper tail coverts white ;
tail brown, tipped with paler brown and banded with five bars of darker brown.
Under surface of body buffy white, the feathers with rufous centres ; legs
yellow ; irides hazel
Length. 19 to 19*5 inches; wing 15-3; tail 87; tarsus 1*4 ; culmen ri to
1*2.
Hab. In India it has been found in Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh,
Bengal, Rajpootana, Central India, the Central Provinces, Kutch, Behar,
Guzerat, the Concans, Deccan, South India, and British Burmaru Occurs also
in Ceylon, Beloochistan, Afghanistan, and Nepaul. Sharpe gives its distribu-
tion as Europe generally, ranging in winter through Palestine and along the
Nile to Abyssinia and South Africa, India, and Ceylon.
It is, like the last, a winter visitant to India generally. Like the last, it flies
low, skimming along the surface of the ground in search of prey. It frequents
open jungle and cultivated fields, preying on birds, reptiles, insects, &c. It
has not been known to breed in India. In England it is said to make its nest
on the ground, generally among furze. The eggs are white, sometimes faintly
spotted 1*58 x 1-33 inches, and seldom above four in number.
12. CircilS macrurus, S. G. Gmel N. Comm. Petrop* xv. p. 439 5
Sharpe, Cat. Ace. B. M. p. 67 ; Murray, Hdbk. Zool. 8fc. Sind, p. 1 15. Circus
swainsonii, Smith, S. Afr. Q. Journ. i. p. 384 ; Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 32 ; Jerd-
Birds of Ind. p. 96, No. 5 1 ; Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 298. Circus pallidus,
fykes,P.Z. S. 1832, p. 80; Shelley. B. Egypt, p. 183; Hume, S. F.
i. p. 160 ; Murray, Vert. Zoo]. Sind. p. 88 ; Reid, Cat. B. Mus. N. W. P. and
Oudh. The PALE HARRIER.
CIRCUS. 15
Adult Male. Above pale bluish grey, scapulars slightly darker ; eyebrow
and sides of face white ; under surface of body greyish white. Quills blackish
brown ; the secondaries ashy grey, tipped with white, and the primaries washed
with ashy grey, white at base of inner web ; other quills white underneath.
Upper tail coverts white, banded with ashy grey. Tail feathers except the
two middle ones, which are uniform ashy grey banded grey and white ; the
tips and under surface of all the feathers white. Bill black ; feet and irides
yellow.
Length. 17-5 to 18*5 inches; oilmen 1-15 ; wing 13*5 to 14; tail 8-8 to
9-5 ; tarsus 275.
Adult Female. Above brown, the feathers of the head and hind neck
streaked, and of the upper surface and lesser wing coverts margined and tipped
with rufous. Forehead, supercilium, and a spot below the eye white. Cheeks
and ear coverts dark brown, slightly streaked with tawny. Quills dusky brown,
the primaries externally shaded with ashy grey, and like the secondaries
obsoletely barred darker and tipped with buffy white. Outer margin of ^th
primary entire ; notch in second primary nearly or quite hidden by coverts ; upper
tail coverts white, banded or spotted with dark brown. Tail with the two
centre feathers ashy brown and with six blackish brown bands, the rest with
four bands, those on the outer feathers being pale rufous. Under tail coverts
rufescent. Under wing coverts buffy white, spotted and streaked with brown.
Cere greenish yellow ; feet yellow ; irides brownish.
The young, in the livery of which Mr. Hume says he has numerous speci-
mens, is shortly described by Mr. Sharpe as being brown, like the old female,
but not so much variegated above, with tawny margins to the feathers ; under
surface entirely pale fawn colour (rufous buff Hume}, the facial ruff of this same
colour, and therefore contrasting in marked prominence with the dark brown
cheeks and ear coverts, the flank feathers and axillaries with indistinct brown
central streaks ; frontal feathers, superciliary streak and spot under the eye
whitish ; upper tail coverts white, spotted with pale rufous ; tail much as in the
female, but the dark bars only five in number.
Length. 20*5 to 21 inches; wing 14 to 14*5; tail lo to 10*5; tarsus
2-8 to 3.
Hab. Europe, Africa, and throughout India, Ceylon, China, and Burmah.
Has been noted from the N.-W. and Central Provinces, Punjab, Sind,
Beloochistan, Afghanistan, Persia, Mesopotamia, S. India, Kutch, the
Concans and Deccan, Kattiawar, Behar, Nepaul. In India it is a winter
visitant, arriving about the middle of September and leaving again in
March.
Nothing is known of its nidification anywhere in India, no birds having ever
been seen in India after March or the middle of April.
16 FALCONID/E.
13. CircUS seruginosllS, Linn. S. N. \. p. 130 ; Savigny, Syst. Ois.
Egypt, P- 9O; Hume, Rough Notes, p. 314; Shelley, Birds Egypt, p. 181 ;
Jerd. Birds of Ind. p. 99, No. 54; Sharps, Cat. Ace. B. M. p. 69; Murray,
Hdbk. Zool., fyc., Sind, p. 116; Hume, S. F. i. p. loo; Murray, Vert. ZooL,
Sind, p. 89 ; Reid, Cat. B. Mus, N. W. P. and Oudh The MARSH HARRIER.
Adult Male. Above dark brown, the feathers of the upper surface edged
with rufous ; the smaller wing coverts buffy and centred brown ; primary,
coverts, and secondaries bluish ashy, tipped very slightly with pale white.
Primaries blackish brown, paler at the tips, whitish at base of inner web.
Upper tail coverts greyish white and tinged with rufous. Tail bluish ash
or uniform grey, slightly fulvescent beneath. Head, neck, and breast pale
rufous or creamy buff, with dark brown streaks ; under parts reddish brown or
pale rufous, as also are the thigh coverts, the latter in some spotted or margined
with white ; under wing coverts buffy white, the axillaries with brown shaft
stripes. Cere greenish yellow ; legs and irides yellow ; claws black.
Length. 191022-5 inches ; wing 16 ; tail 9 to 10 ; tarsus 3*25; oilmen 1-55.
Adult Female. Larger ; length 23 inches ; wing 17 ; tail 10 to 1 1 ; tarsus 3-8.
The young bird is uniform reddish brown, the head, neck, and cheeks in
some stages being yellowish, rufous white, or white with brown stripes on the
crown ; upper tail coverts rufous brown.
Hob. Europe generally, China, Japan, N. E. and S. Africa, and through-
out India, Burmah, and Ceylon. In Sind and the Punjab it occurs in great
numbers, frequenting the maritime districts, rivers, marshes, lakes, and
inundated fields, feeding on rats, mice, frogs, fish, &c. It occurs also in the
N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Rajpootana, Kutch, Kattiawar, Jodhpore,
North Guzerat, Central and Southern India, the Deccan and Concans, and in
fact throughout India; also in Beloochistan, Persia, Mesopotamia, Afghanistan,
Eastern Turkestan, Gilgit, Nepaul, Malacca, and Upper Pegu.
Gen. Astur. Gm.
Bill broad at base, compressed to tip, festooned in the middle. Nostrils
oval, situated anteriorly in the cere. Wings long ; 3rd, 4th, and 5th quills
longest. Tarsi long, scutate.
14. Astur palumbarius, Linn. S. N. i.p. 130; Temm.Man.d'Orn.
i. p. 55 ; Yarr. B. Birds, i. p. 57 ; 'Cuv. Regne. An. i. p. 320 ; Gray, Gen.
B. i. p. 27 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 45, No. 21 ; Hume, Rough Notes, i. p. 112;
Jerd. Ibis. 1871, p. 243; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br. Mus. vol. i. p. 95. The
GOSHAWK.
PLATE.
Crown of the head, ear coverts and sides of neck dark brownish black ;
hind neck slightly mottled with white ; lores, checks, and supercilium white.
AVIFAUNA OK
ASTUR PAUUMBARIUS
Ltih>.
\ -run. 17
Spotted with blackish. Chin and throat white streaked with dusky; breast
greyish white, transversely waved with small bars of greyish black ; rest of the
under surface white covered with transverse bars of greyish or ashy brown ;
under tail coverts white ; upper tail coverts and back dark bluish grey tinged
with brown. Tail ashy brown, tipped with white and with four broad transverse
bands of dark brown. Primaries brown, barred with darker brown; shafts
reddish, the inner webs whitish towards the base ; lower surface of the wing
ashy grey ; secondaries, tertiaries, and the greater and lesser wing coverts
as the back ; under wing coverts barred transversely with dusky. Cere
yellow ; bill bluish horn ; irides bright yellow ; legs and feet yellow ; claws
black.
Length. 18 to 19*5 inches; culmen 1*5 ; wing 12*2 to I2'5; expanse 43
to 45 inches ; tail 9-0 ; tarsus 3-0.
Adult Female. Similar to the male, but a little larger, and the back is of a
browner tint, except in very old birds when there is scarcely any difference
between them.
Length. 22 to 23 inches; wing 14; tarsus 3*4.
Hab. Europe generally, wintering in E. Turkestan, Algeria, Palestine,
Egypt, the Himalayas, and Northern China. In India it has been found in the
Punjab and in the forests of Gurhwal in the N.-W. Provinces. Hodgson has
collected specimens in Nepal. Mr. Hume says that Dr. Jerdon mentioned to
him that it is occasionally taken in the plains of the Punjab during winter,
and adds that he saw a pair in July that evidently had their nest in a wood in
the Asrang Valley above Chini about 12,000 feet. Nothing certain is known
of its breeding in India. Mr. Hume {Rough Notes} says, it breeds so far as
he has been able to ascertain only in the higher regions of the Himalayas.
He says a pair of young birds were brought to him late in July from
near the Chor and the shikari asserted that he had taken them from a
nest. Mr. Thomson too tells him that they breed from March to June,
building on trees and laying 34 nearly pure white eggs, confining them-
selves to the interior of the deep precipitous valleys lying close to the snowy
peak.
15. Astur trivirgatUS, Tern. PL Col \. pi. 303; Cm. Regne An.
P- 33 2 J Jerd. D. Lid. i. p. 47, No. 22 ; Wallace, Ibis, 1868, p. 6 ; Sharpe, Cat-
Ace. B. M. p. 95. Astur palumbarius, Jcrd. Madras Journal, p. 85. Lophos-
pizia trivirgatus, Kaup. Contr. Oni. 1850, p. 65 ; Hume, Ruigh Notes, p. 116;
Stray F. v. p. 8, 502. The CRESTED GOSHAWK.
Adult Male. Above slatey grey, the upper tail coverts blackish and tipped
with white. Head and neck clearer slatey grey, including a conspicuous
occipital crest, the sides of the neck somewhat tinged with rufous ; quills browner
than the back ; primaries with rufescent shafts, barred above with dark brown,
a
I'g PALCONID^E.
-much plainer unflerneatT-i where the quills are white at the base of the inner
web. Tail ashy brown, paler at tip, crossed with four bands of dark brown ;
throat white with a distinct black moustachia'l streak >on each side and a broad
medial line ; chest clear tawny rufous :; Test of under surface white, broadly
banded with pale rufous, each bar of this colour having a conterminous
brown. bar ; the thighs thickly barred with ashy brown without any rufous tinge.
Under <tail coverts white.; under wing coverts white, spotted with brown or
rufous brown.; axillaries similarly barred. Bill black, plumbeous at base. Cere
orange yellow. Chee'ks and orbits orainge; feet yellow; irides orange
yellow.
Lengfh.n to 16 inches; wing 7-8 to 8-5; tail 63 to 7; tarsus 2'i
to 2-2.
Adult Female. Much larger. Length 17-5 to 18 inches.; wing 9-5 to 97 ;
tail 8-0; tarsus 2-5 to 27..
Young. Brown above, with a fully developed occipital crest. Upper tail
coverts banded with darker brown and tipped with white. Tail with five
cross bands of darker brown. Under surface of body white, throat as in the
adult; breast broadly streaked with pale rufous or dark brown; lower breast,
thighs, and abdomen barred with jpale rufous, darker on the thighs ; under tail
coverts white, with a few narrow rather indistinct cross bars ; under wing
coverts buff, spotted and barred with dark brown.
Hab. Southern India and Ceylom, Assam, Burmah, Java, Borneo, Sumatra,
and the PhilKpine Islands. Nothing is known of its nidification in India. The
larger Nepalese race is provisionally separated by Mr, Sharpe as A. indicus.
16. Astlir badlllS, Kaup. his, 1847 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br. Mus. p. 109,
(Sub-Sp. A.). Micronisus badius, Bp. Consp* i. p. 33 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 48,
No. 23; Blyth, Ibis, 1863; Hume, Rough Notes, p. 117; Murray, Hdbk.
ZooL, &c., Sind ; id. Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 108. Accipiter badius, Strickl.
Ann. Mag. N. H. xiii. p. 33. The SHIKRA or BROWN HAWK.
Young. Head, nape, neck behind, back, scapulars, wing and upper tail
coverts ashy, dusky, or pale earthy brown, the feathers on the head slightly
darker, and all edged with pale rufous, the feathers of the neck with their
white bases showing through. Lores and eyebrow white ; sides of the face and
ear coverts pale brown, tinged with rufescent and mesially streaked with
darker; chin and throat white, with a mesial dark brown throat stripe; breast
and abdomen whitish with large longitudinal drops oval on the upper breast
of a pale rufous colour. Vent and under tail coverts white ; under wing
coverts buff, streaked and barred with dark brown ; thigh coverts also barred.
Primaries brown, their inner webs buffy, and barred with dark brown ; secon-
daries brown, barred darker on both webs and margined and tipped with buffy.
tail ashy brown with 56 broad dark brown bands ; narrower and about nine
ASTL'k. JO
an the outermost feathers, the interspaces and tips of all huffy white. Cere
yellow ; bill dusky with a bluish tinge. Iris pale yellow ; feet yellow.
In the adult plumage the- upper parts are bluish grey ; the nape is mottled
with white, and the white bases of the scapular feathers show through in some
specimens ; the primaries are dusky black, with their inner webs of a buff colour
and barred darker brown, nearly black ; the secondaries are bluish grey and also
barred. The tail is ashy grey, and tipped with white, the bars on the lateral tail
feathers 9 11 m number, and of a dark brown colour.. The throat stripe is
less distinct than in the young, and the entire- lower surface is barred with
white and rufescent brown. The abdomen, thighs, and under tail coverts
unspotted white; rest as in the young. The adult female is like the male but
larger,
Length. Adult male 13*5 inches ; wing 7-9 ; tail 6' 3 ; tarsus 2.
Adult Female. Length 14'$,; wing 8'3 ; tail. 6*4; tarsus 2*15.
Hab. The Indian Peninsula generally, and" Ceylon, extending to Assam
and Burmah, and also to Beloochistan, Persia, and Afghanistan. Occurs in
Oudh, Bengal, Central Provinces, Rajpootana, Central India, Kutch, Kattiawar,
Guzerat, Concan, Deccan, and Southern India. Breeds in April and May
in Sind, Punjab, and N.-W. Provinces on large lofty trees on the edges of
streams or lakes, laying, usually three or four eggs, oval or pyriform in shape,
smooth, fine, glossless shells of a pure, delicate bluish white, as a rule without
markings or at most thinly sprinkled all over with very faint greyish specks
and spots. In size the eggs vary from 1*5 to r63 inches in length and from
r2 to 126 in breadth. It is commonly trained by natives, being easily
reclaimed and expert in, striking a quarry.
17. Astur poliopsis, Hume, Stray Feathers, vol. ii. p. 325 (.1874);
id. vol. iii. p. 24 ; id. Hume and Davison, Birds of Tennaserim, vol. vi. p. 7 ;
Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br. Mus. Sub.-Sp. B r vol. i. p. I IO. Micronisus badius,
Sel. Ibis, 1864, p. 246; Swinhoe, Ibis, 1870, p. 84; id. P. Z. S. 1871, p. 411.
The GREY-FACED SHIKRA.
Adult. Very similar to A. badius which it replaces to the eastward of Bengal.
Much paler blue above and below, banded with broader and brighter vinous
bands than its near ally ; wanting the nuchal rufescent collar and the central
throat stripe and with the cheeks and ear coverts unicolorous with the crown.
Legs and feet yellow ; claws black ; base of upper and lower mandible, except
tips, plumbeous ; rest of bill black ; cere greenish yellow.
Length. 1 1 inches ; culmen 6*7 ; wing 7-3 ; tail 6'i ; tarsus 1*95.
In the Birds of Tennaserim Hume and Davison give the following measure-
ments :
Length. Expanse. Tail. Wing. Tarsus. Billfromgapo
Males. 12-0 to 1275 24*010260 5-9 to 6-62 7-3108-12 roto.ro 0-8100-85.
Females. 13-0 to 14-6? 26-75 to 28-37 6 7 to 7'37 8 3 to 9' r # to 2 '5 '9 to !
. Tennaserim, Burmah, Siam, and Camboga ; Formosa, Hainan
(Hume and Sharpe). Occurs throughout Tennaserim, but Hume and Davison
say it is nowhere common. The species is excessively shy, seldom allowing
of even a moderately near approach. Feeds entirely on insects and small
reptiles.
18. Astur SOloeilSiS, Horsf. apudLath, Gen. Hist. i. p. 209 ; Sharpe,
Cat. Ace. Br. Mus. vol. i. p. 1 14; Str. F. vol. v. 124 ; id. vi. p. 8. Doedalion
soloensis, Horsf. Tr. Linn. Socy. xiii. p. 137. Micronisus soloensis, Gray,
Cat. Ace. B. M. p. 75 ; Wallace, Ibis, 1868, p. 12. Nisus soloensis,
Schleg. Mus. P. B. Astures ; Blyth, Ibis, 1863, p. 1 6. The SOOLOO
FALCON.
The following is Sharpe's description of the adult plumage of this species :
The adult plumage appears to be gained by a gradual mersion of the
rufous stripes on the breast. Above light bluish grey, some of the feathers
margined with darker grey ; sides of face and neck grey like the head but a
little more dingy ; under surface of the body pale buffy vinous, the throat,
flanks, and thighs, as well as the under wing and tail coverts white with a
slightly greyish shade on the sides of the breast; quills black, externally
shaded with ashy grey ; under surface white at base of inner web, but having no
distinct bars above or below; tail dull bluish grey above, ashy white beneath,
with four or five indistinct cross bands of dark brown, a little plainer under-
neath, but these not strictly continuous. Cere yellow ; gape and orbits yellowish ;
bill black, lead colour at base; feet and irides yellow. Total length I r8
inches; culmen 075 ; wing 7-9 ; tail 5-4 ; tarsus rg.
Young. Above brown, with rufous edgings to the feathers, a little broader
on the upper tail coverts ; the sides of the neck washed with rufous, the
nape mottled with white ; crown blackish ; an ill-defined eyebrow and fore
part of the cheeks white, narrowly lined with blackish brown. Ear coverts
brown, slightly washed with dull rufous ; throat buffy white with a moustachial
line on each side and a median streak of brown ; rest of under surface buffy
white, the chest broadly streaked and the breast and flanks barred with pale
rufous. Under tail coverts white ; under wing coverts clear buff, the lowest,
spotted with blackish. Quills dark brown, slightly tipped with whitish
very indistinctly barred above with darker brown ; underneath buffy white at
the base of the inner web, indistinctly barred with dark brown, visible only
on the inner webs ; tail ashy brown, whitish at tip, crossed with five bars of
darker brown ; the under surface whitish ashy, the cross bars more distinct,
except on the outer web, where they are almost obsolete.
Hab. Tennaserim (Malewoon, Mergui district), Java, Malacca, Sumatra,,
Phillipine Islands ; Batchian, Celebes, New Guinea.
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA.
ASTUR SOLOENSIS
Mlntem. Bros
ACCIPTKK. 21
Gen. Accipiter. Briss.
Bill short, much compressed, festooned. Nostrils oval, rather oblique,
situated on the forepart of the cere, and partly hidden by setce. Wings moder-
ate, rounded, and with the 4th and $lh quills longest. Tarsi long.
19- Accipiter niSUS, Lin. Syst. Nat. i. p. 130; Pall. Zoogr. Rosso
As. i. p. 370 ; Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 29 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 5 1, No. 24 ; Hume,
Rough Notes, i. p. 124 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br. Mus. p, 132 ; Murray, Hdbk.
Zool. &fc. t Sind, p. HO; id. Vert. ZooL Sind ; (Basha, the female; Bashin^
the male, Hind). The EUROPEAN SPARROW-HAWK.
Young. Head, nape, neck behind, back, scapulars, and wing coverts dusky
brown, darker on the upper back, the feathers margined with rufous, the
occiput and nape with white mottlings, caused by the broad white bases of the
feathers showing through. Lores and eyebrow white ; chin and throat and
sides of the neck white, the feathers with mesial dark streaks. Ear coverts the
same. Rump and upper tail coverts like the back, the feathers with dark
shafts and tipped rufous. Primaries and secondaries dusky brown, basally
rufescent white on their inner webs and barred with dark brown. The tips of
the secondaries rufous or rufescent white ; inner web of the tertiaries
subterminally white, and margined at the tips with pale rufous. Tail ashy
brown above, greyish white on the under surface, tipped whitish and with five
dark brown bands ; breast, abdomen, flanks, and thigh coverts barred with
rufous brown and white. Under tail coverts white. Under wing lining buff,
with spots and transverse dark brown bars.
Adult Male. Head, nape, hind neck, wing coverts, back, and scapulars
slatey, with a bluish tinge, the nape mottled white, and some of the tertials
basally white. Upper tail coverts and scapulars with indistinct dark shafts.
Tail, like the back, tipped white, and with four dark brown bands. Primaries
dark brown, their inner webs rufescent white, and crossed with darker brown,
nearly black bars ; secondaries slatey, also rufescent white on their inner webs
and barred acrobs with dark brown. < 'hin and thioat white, with a rufoub tinge ;
22 FALCONIOdE.
breast, flanks, and abdomen barred with bright rufous and white. Thigh coverts
the same. Under tail coverts white. Under wing coverts barred with rufous
and dark brown. Bill horny or dark horn blue , cere, base of lower man-
dible, and legs yellow ; iris orange.
Length. 13 inches; wing 8' 15 ; tail 6-3 ; tarsus 2-3. Females* larger and
of a duller tint. Length 15*5 ; wing 9-3 to 9-5 ; tail 7 ; tarsus 2*5.
Hal. The whole of Europe and Northern Asia, extending in winter into
Algeria, N. E. Africa, the Indian Peninsula, and China (Sharpe). Occurs
throughout Sind, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, and Bengal ; also through-
out the Western Presidency, in Rajpootana, Central India, Kutch, Guzerat,
Concan, Deccan, Southern India, and in Beloochistan, Persia, Mesopotamia,
and Afghanistan ; also British Burmah, Upper Pegu, Tennaserim, and Nepal.
Affects gardens and cultivation. It is much used for hawking, and is said to*
be easily tamed, and owing to its courage, a better bird than the Shikra
for the quarry.
Mr. Hume in his " Rough Notes," p. 128, describes in detail the Dove-Hawk
(Accipiter melaschistos) from Simla as a new sp-ecies which Mr. Sharpe
thinks is only a dark race of this species.
20. Accipiter virgatUS, Temm. PL Col. i. pi, 109 ; Vig. ZooLJourn.
i- P- 338; Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 29; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 52, No. 25 ; Hume,
Rough Notes, i. p. 132; Jerd. Ibis, 1871, p. 243; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br.
Mus. vol. i. p. 150 ; Stray F. vol. ii. p. 141. The BESRA SPARROW-HAWK.
Adult Male. Head and neck dusky black, sides of the neck washed with
rufous, nape mottled with white ; ear coverts and face light dusky, throat buffy
white ; wing coverts blackish slate colour. Quills dark brown, unbarred above ;
under surface ashy, pale rufous near the base of the inner web and barred, with
blackish. Tail ashy grey above, much paler below, with three transverse bands
of slatey black. Abdomen and under tail coverts white, rest of under surface
bright ferruginous or vinous chestnut, paler on the thighs ; under wing coverts
yellowish ochry ; axillaries barred with brownish. Cere pale lemon yellow ;
bill black, plumbeous at base. Legs and feet pale orange yellow. I rides yellow.
Length. ll to H'25 inches; wing 6-5 to 6'6 ; tail 15*75 to&6; tarsus
1*9 tO 2'2.
Adult Female. A little larger than the male.
Length. 13 inches; wing 7-4 to 8; tarsus rg to 2'2.
The plumage of the various stages of the young of this species is so very
variable, that it is not possible to give a description which would suit, but
the following from Rough Notes is the usual type of colouration of specimens
from the Punjab, in the Kurraclice Museum. Head, nape, back, mantle, and
HUTFONIN /P.. 23
upper tail coverts dusky cyaneous, darkest on the head. Nape mottled
with white. Tail siatey grey, brownish on lateral feathers, and with seven
narrow transverse bars on the inner webs and four broad blackish bars on both
webs of the other ten feathers. Sides of neck and coverts dusky, the latter
with traces of rufous strrae. Chin and throat white with one central blackish
stripe ; a streak of white over the eye. Breast deep ferruginous at the sides,
the central portion having the feathers a mixture of blackish, deep ferrugi-
nous and white. Sides, flanks, and upper abdomen ferruginous, imperfectly
barred with white; lower abdomen white, barred with pale ferruginous.
Tibial plumes white, closely barred with rusty grey ; under tail coverts white.
Hob. Throughout the Indian Peninsula nearly. Occurs in the Concan and
Deccan, Rajpootana, in South and Central India ; also in the Punjab, N.-W. and
Central Provinces, the Himalayas, and S. Andamans. Mr. Wallace gives it from
Malacca, Timor, and Java, and Dr. Jerdon says extends to Assam, Burmah, and
Malayans. Mr. Thompson (Rough Notes) is confident that it breeds in the
forests of Gurhwal from March to May, but nothing certain is known. It is
caught wherever fairly numerous and much used by falconers for the quarry.
It is said however to be a difficult bird to train, but when trained fetches a
considerable price, being speedy and active, especially at partridges, quails*
doves and snipe.
Sub-Family-BUTEONlN^:.
Bill small, moderate, tip hooked. Wings moderate ; tail generally short ;
tarsi with scuta? in front and behind tibia longer than tarsus. Outer toe
connected to middle toe by interdigital membrane.
Gen. Buteo. Cuv.
Bill short with hooked tip ; margin of upper mandible slightly festooned ;
nostrils oval. Lores clothed with bristle-like feathers. Wings long ; 3rd, 4th,
and $th quills sub-equal and longest ; inner webs of 1st four quills strongly
notched. Tarsus bare or feathered on the upper third only.
21. Buteo ferOX, S. G. Gmelin, N. Comm. Ac. Petrop. xv. p 442 ;
Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 274 ; Stray Feathers, iv. p. 362 (1873) '> Sharpe,
Cat. Ace. p. 176. Buteo canescens, Hodgs. Beng. Sport. Mag. 1836, p. 180 ;
Jerd. B. of Ind. p. 88, No. 45. Buteo longipes, Jerd. Madr. Journ. x.
p. 75. B. aquilinus, Hodgs. J. A. S. B. xiv. p. 176 ; Jerd. B. of Ind. i.
p. 90, No. 46. The LONG-LEGGED BUZZARD.
The plumage of this large and handsome Buzzard varies considerably in all
its different stages. This circumstance has led to its being described as
cancsccns, Hodgs ; longipes, Jerdon ; rufinus, Rupp. ; leucurus, Naum. ; and
fuliginosus, Hume. Mr. Hume in his scrap book goes very minutely into the
differences observed in the plumage of its various stages, and states at page
281, that "the great difficulty we meet with in assigning any chronological
24 FALCONID/R.
value to these changes is that the changes on the upper surface do not corre-
spond with those on the lower. It is easy enough, he says, to arrange any
number of specimens, in what, looking at the upper or under surface only,
appears a very perfect series in which no links are wanting, but directly we
turn the specimens over, all traces of any arrangement seem to vanish." The
question as to which is the adult plumage seems yet a vexed one, the Buzzard
being known to breed in plumage which has been described as immature, but
it is probable that the fuliginous plumage (B. fuliginosus) of Hume is that of
very old birds, in which the whole head, neck, ear coverts, cheeks, throat, and
breast is a deep umber brown, indistinctly margined with rufous.
Male. Feathers of the forehead and crown of the head rufescent brown
with stiff dark shafts. A narrow dark line in front of the superciliary edge of
the eye. Lores whitish, with numerous elongated stiff bristle-like feathers which
extend to the base of the cere, partially cover the nostrils and turn up on to
the front of the forehead above the base of the cere. Cheeks rufescent brown,
the feathers dark shafted. Ear coverts yellowish or a soiled white, the feathers
dark shafted. Chin and throat white, some of the feathers with dark shafts.
All round the edges of the lower mandible there are stiff bristle-like hairs,
which are \ an inch or more long. A rufous brown line behind the eye, and
another from the gape forming a fairly distinct moustachial stripe. Sides of
the neck rufous, the feathers dark shafted and edged lighter. Breast rufescent,
the feathers dark shafted and edged buffy. Nape and back of the neck rufous
brown, mottled with white, the basal portion of the feathers showing through.
Abdomen deep chestnut brown, the feathers edged fulvous and with dark
shafts. Thigh coverts deep brown, the feathers edged reddish fulvous ; upper
back, scapulars, and lesser wing coverts brown, edged with rufous; lower
back and rump uniform brown, the lateral feathers of the upper tail coverts
bright rufous and irregularly barred with brown. Lower tail coverts white.
Tail (except the two lateral feathers, which are shaded with ashy grey) pale
rufous, with a broad terminal band of slightly deeper rufous ; the shafts and
inner webs white, with traces of brown cross bars. Outer webs of quills
ashy grey, the inner webs blackish from the tip to the emargination or sinuosity
and white beyond, forming on the under surface of the wing a large white
patch. Except the first three, all the other primaries are barred on both webs ;
the 3rd, 4th, and 5th quills emarginate on ttie outer webs, and all five primaries
emarginate on their inner webs.
Legs and feet pale lemon yellow. Irides brownish yellow ; orbital ridge
dusky greenish. Bill brownish plumbeous, gape yellow, tip black. Cere
yellowish green.
Length. 24 inches; wing 1675 ; tail from vent 9*75 ; tarsus 3*20.
Female obtained at Sehwan, 5th February, similar to the male. Length 25
inches; wing 1975 ; tail from vent 1075 ; tarsus 275.
MTTEO. 25
Hab. Winter visitant in Sind. Found throughout India. It is recorded
from Northern, Southern, and Central India, N.-W. Provinces, the Punjab, the
Gangetic Valley, N.-W. Himalayas, Kashmir, Nepal, Oudh, and Behar; also
from Beloochistan, Persia, Afghanistan, Eastern Turkestan, and Palestine. In
Palestine Mr. Tristram (Ibis, 1865) took its eggs from a rocky ledge on Mount
Carmcl. The plumage of his Palestine specimen, he says, is very rufous,
and he shot breeding birds with and without the bar on the tail
22. Bllteo desertorum, Daud. Traite, ii. p. 164; Vieill. N. Die. d
Hist. Nat. iv. p. 478; Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 268; Jerd. Ibis, 1871,
p. 338. Buteo rufiventer, Jerd. III. Ind. Orn. pi. 27. Buteo vulgaris, Jerd.
B. Ind. i. p. 87. The AFRICAN BUZZARD.
Adult.. Above brown, all the feathers except on the lower back and rump
margined with rufous. Head and neck tawny rufous, the feathers mesially
streaked with dark brown ; sides of face whitish, washed with rufous and
narrowly shafted with dark brown. Under surface of body tawny rufous,
some of the feathers of the lower breast tipped with creamy buff, the under
tail coverts inclining to this colour, as also the middle of the breast ; thighs and
flanks rufous, shaded with ashy brown ; under wing coverts creamy buff with
rufous central streaks, the outermost and greater series inclining to ashy
brown ; upper wing coverts dark brown, the feathers margined with rufous.
Primaries black, externally shaded with ashy grey, the secondaries lighter
brown, tipped with whitey brown. Under surface of quills white at base of
inner webs, shading into ashy white gradually towards the tips.
Upper tail coverts rufous at tip and on outer web ; tail rufous, yellowish at
tip, with an indistinctly indicated subterminal bar of brown, the shafts white.
Cere lemon yellow. Bill dark plumbeous, lighter near the cere ; feet lemon
yellow; iris light hazel, or yellowish. Length 21 inches; culmen 1*55;
wing 13*4; tail 7-8; tarsus 3. (Sharpe.)
Hab. The whole ofAfrica, S.-E. Europe, and the Indian Peninsula gene-
rally. Common in the Himalayas. Recorded from the Neilghcrries, and from
Murree to Darjeeling. Nothing is known of the nidification of this species,
except what Dr. Bree says, that, according to M. Fairer, it nests among the
rocks and the male takes its turn in sitting.
23. Buteo pllimipeS, Hodgs. in Grafs Zool. Misc. p. 81 ; id. P. Z.
S. 1845, p. 37; Jerd. B. 1ml. p. 91 No. ; Hume, Rough Notes, p. 285;
Jerd. Ibis, 1871, p. 340; Str. F. iv. pp. 358-371 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. B. M.
p. 180. Buteo japonicus, Bp. Consp. i. p. 18 ; Jerd. Ibis, 1871, p. 337. Buteo
vulgaris, Blyth, Ibis, 1863, p. 20. The HARRIER BUZZARD.
PLATE.
Adult. Above dark purplish brown, the feathers rufescent on their mar-
gins ; sides of face and neck rufous, the feathers mesially streaked with brown ;
lores whitish. Upper margin of ear coverts dark brown ; cheeks blackish,
forming a strongly pronounced moustache. Under suffacc of body rufous,
4
26 FALCON'ID/E.
streaked with blackish on the chin arad less distinctly on the throat ; chest
almost uniform rufous with a black shaft stripe ; lower breast fulvous white,
irregularly barred with rufous brown ; thighs rufous with fulvous margins to
the feathers ; lower abdomen, vent, and under tail coverts creamy buff.
Primaries blackish ; secondaries paler with whitish tips and irregularly mottled
or barred with brown; tail brown with an indistinct purplish subterminal
band, a white tip, and 3 4 other distinguishable bars of darker brown.
Length. -21-5 inches; wing 157; tail 9; tarsus 3; culmen 1*35.
Aged specimens are everywhere dull smoky brown, the wing coverts and
scapulars lighter ; primaries dark brown, inclining to purplish brown near the
tips ; the inner web buffy white, barred with brown ; shafts whitish ;
secondaries like the back ; tail uniform smoky brown with whitish shafts and
pale whitey brown tips with obsolete remains of cross bars. Sides of face
and neck and entire under parts uniform smoky brown.
Length 20 inches; wing 15-4; tail 9; tarsus 3.
Hab. The Travancore Hills of Southern India, the Himalayas, the
Northern portions of the Tennaserim province of British Burmah, Nepal and
Sikkim and eastwards to China and Japan.
Mr. Bourdillon in Sir. F. states that this is a winter visitor in Travancore
during December, January, and February, preferring high open country, where
two or three may be seen steadily quartering the ground and occasionally
pouncing on some mouse or lizard. As to the identity of this species with
plumipes there is still a set controversy owing to the very variable plumage of
the Buzzard in all their different stages. Messrs. Hume, Blyth, Sharpe,
Dresser, and Gurney have worked hard to find out the points of distinction
between the Indian species of Buzzards, but no satisfactory conclusion has yet
been come to. Mr. Sharpe has, however, in his Catalogue fairly well given a
key to seventeen species of Buteo from all parts of the world. I doubt
whether anything could be made of the Indian species.
Gen. Archibuteo. Brehm.
Characters of Buteo. Tarsi lengthened and feathered to the toes*
24. Archibuteo StrOphiatUS, Hodgs. ; Gray, Cat-. Mam. and B.
Nepal] Jerdon, Ibis, 1871, p. 340; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. B. M. p. 199.
Archibuteo hemiptilopus. Sly. J . A. S. B. xv. p. I ; Jerd. B. Ind* i. p. 94,
No. 49; Htime, Rough Notes, p. 232; id. Str. F. i. p. 315. Archibuteo
leucoptera, Hume, Sir* F. i. p. 318. The BROWN EAGLE BUZZARD.
PLATE.
Adult. Above rich deep fuscous brown, slightly glossed with pinkish ;
interscapulary region slightly darker ; scapulars and wing coverts margined
paler ; lores whitish ; sides of face and neck brown. Entire under parts brown ;
also the tarsal feathers, which extend to the root of the toes ; a broad irregular
band of white across the breast. Quills dark brown ; primaries shaded greyish
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA.
ARCHIBUTEO STROPHIATUS.
BUTEO PLUMIPES.
Mtntem. Bros, lath
27
externally and white at base of inner web. Tail brown above, ashy white
beneath ; the shafts and tips white or albescent and the feathers crossed with
traces of 7 8 bars of dark brown.
Length. -27 inches; wing 19*4; tail n ; tarsus 3*6; bill 1-9.
Hab. Sikkim, Nepal, and Tibet. Nothing is known of the habits and nidi-
fication of this Buzzard, of which there are only 3 or 4 specimens in existence.
Sub-Family. AQUILINE, EAGLES.
Bill strong, more or less lengthened, festooned but not toothed ; tarsus reticu-
late behind, more than half the length of the tibia. Outer toe only connected
to middle toe by membrane. Wings moderate. 4th quill usually longest.
Gen. Gypaetus.
Bill strong, lengthened, compressed, straight ; tip of upper mandible much
hooked. Nostrils oval, hidden by stiff bristles. Chin with a tuft of black
rigid hairs.
Gypatus barbatus.
28 FALCONID/E.
25. GypsetUS bar bat US, Storr. Alpenreisse, p. 69 ; Jerd. B. of 2nd.
p. 13; Hume, Rough Notes, vol. i. p. 35 ; Murray, HdVk. Zocl., fyc., Sind,
p. 105; id. Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 64. Falco barbatus, Gm. S. N. vol. i. p. 252.
Gypaetus hemalachanus, Button, Jour. As. Soc. Ben. vol. vii. p. 22. Gypsetus
orientalis, Blyth, Ibis, 1863. The BEARDED VULTURE or LAMMERGEYER.
Adult. Above black, a few brown feathers on the rump; quills brown,
externally washed with ashy, the secondaries with ochreous brown, the shafts
of all the feathers white, feathers of the back also white shafted, tinged with
buffy, especially on the wing coverts. Head white, with dark streaks ; nape
feathers lanceolate, elongate, tinged with bright tawny ; cheek stripe and
supercilium black ; bristles over the nostrils and tuft of hairs under the chin
black. Entire lower parts rich tawny, dull orange, or ferruginous ; a dark
pectoral collar (not always present) more or less distinct. Under wing coverts
dark brown with pale shaft streaks. Bill bluish horn, the tip darker; feet
plumbeous ; iris pale orange ; sclerotic membrane blood red.
Length. 45 to 46 inches; expanse 108 to 112; wing 29*5; tail 20 ;
tarsus 4 ; culmen 3-7.
Hab. The highest mountains of Europe, Asia, and Africa,, principally the
the most inaccessible parts ; also the Himalayas from Nepal to Cashmere,
and the Salt and Sooliman Ranges ; not uncommon in the Bolan (Beloo-
chistan) and South Afghanistan.
The Lammergeyer is not common in any part of Sind, except the northern
country, at and beyond Jacobabad, affecting the hilly districts. Whether it is
a permanent resident of those parts or only a winter visitant, is not known. Mr.
Hume, in his contributions to the Ornithology of India, &c., in Stray Feathers
states that he observed it on two occasions in the hills dividing Sind from
Khelat. Dr. Day observed it in Durryah, and it is said to be well known to
sportsmen who have shot ibex in those ranges.
It does not possess the carrion-eating propensities of the other vultures, but
kills its own game, comprising ibex, hares, &c.
Breeds in the Himalayas during December, January, and part of
February. The nest is a large heap of sticks about 3x5 feet, lined with hair,
rags, feathers and bones and commonly placed in almost inaccessible situa-
tions. Captain Cock took a nest in December 1868, two marches from Rawul-
pindee on the Peshawur side. There were two eggs in it which Mr. Hume
says are excessively like one of the common types of the eggs of Neophron
ginginianus, but much larger, a rather broad oval, somewhat pointed towards
one end. Texture coarse, but the shell more compact and less chalky than
those of the Neophrons. In colour a nearly uniform pale salmon buff,
here and there mottled paler. They measure 3*43 to 3*05x2-68 to 2*52
inches.
AQUILA. 29
Gen. Aquila. Briss.
Bill straight at the base, very much curved at the tip. Sides compressed.
Win^s, 4th and 5th quills longest and equal. Tarsi feathered to base of toes.
26 Aquila chrysaetOS, Lin.; Dumont, Diet. Sci. Nat. i. p. 339;
Gould. B. Ear. i. pi. 6 ; McGill. Brit. B. iii. p. 204 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 55,
No. 26; Stray Feathers, i. p. 157; Hume, Rough Notes, i. p. 139; Murray,
Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 74 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. p. 236. Aquila fulva, Sav. Descr.
Ois. De Egypt ; Shelley, B. Egypt. The GOLDEN EAGLE.
Adult Male. Crown of the head brown; nape and hind neck pale orange
brown, the feathers lanceolate, with brown bases; sides of the face paler.
Lores greyish white. Cheeks blackish. Back, scapulars, and wing coverts
dark brown, the latter and scapulars margined slightly paler. Greater wing
coverts with brownish mottlings. Primaries dark brown, blackish towards their
tips, basally white on their inner webs and clouded or mottled with brown.
Tail nearly square, the middle feathers slightly elongated. At the tip it is
dark brown or nearly black, greyish basally ; the intervening space brown and
much mottled. Under surface of body dark brown ; the thigh, leg and under
wing coverts pale brown, tinged or washed with tawny. Cere yellow. Bill
bluish horn colour, darker at the tip. Legs yellow. Irides hazel.
Length. 35-5 to 40 inches ; wing 24-5 to 28 ; tail 14 to 17 ; tarsus 3-8 to 4*5.
The young has the plumage of a lighter shade. The feathers of the back,
scapulars, and tertials brown, basally broadly white and showing through. The
tail broadly black terminally, white or ashy at the base, and mottled with
brown. Under surface of body light brown, the feathers basally white. The
thigh and under tail coverts tawny rufous. Adult female is larger than the
male.
Hab, The whole of Europe and N. Asia, extending into India and N.
China. Has been found in the Punjab and in the Himalayas. In Sind it
occurs on the hills dividing Sind from Khelat ; also in the Bolan, Beloochis-
tan, and probably extends into Persia and Afghanistan.
Nothing is known as to the breeding of this noble and majestic eagle in
India. Of its breeding in Europe, Yarrell and Morris give long accounts. The
former says it makes a large platform of sticks on high and inaccessible rocks
and precipices, occupying a space of several square feet. Morris (B. Birds)
says, or on the stump of some tree projecting from them or on the lofty
30 FALCONID/E.
trees of the forest. The nest is usually lined with roots, dry grass, heather,
moss, or other vegetable materials. The usual number of eggs is two, but some-
times three are found. They are usually of a dirty white colour and either richly
blotched and spotted or thickly mottled, streaked, and clouded with varying
shades of red or reddish brown. Some are pure white. The eggs according
to Mr. Hume are broad, very perfect ovals, slightly compressed towards one
end. Mr. Hewitson's figures of three eggs measure 3, X 2-35 inches ;
3-13 X 2-3; 2-95 X 2-35.
Of the habits of this noble bird much has been written, to compile which would
take pages of print. In Central Asia it is said to be trained to kill antelopes,
foxes, &c., and to be held in much esteem by all the tribes. Its food consists
principally of sheep, lambs, rabbits, and such like small animals, but it does
not hesitate to attack larger game, fixing itself on the head of the victim and
flapping its wings in the animal's eyes ; the smaller animals it is said to seize
with one foot and drag the other on the ground.
27. Aquila heliaca, Savign. Desc. Egyp. p. 459; Gould. B. Eur.
pi. 5; Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 13; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. p. 238; Murray, Vert.
Zool. Sind, p. 74. Aquila impsrialis, Cuv. Regne. Antm. i. p. 32.5 ; Gray, III.
Ind. Zool. ii. p. 28 ; Jerd. B. of Ind. i. p. 57, No. 27 ; Hume, Rough Notes, i.
p. 142; Stray Feathers, \. p. 157; Murray, Hdbk. Zool. fyc. Sind, p. 109.
Aquila mogilnik, StrickL Orn. Syn. p. 57 (S. G. Gmel.). Aquila bifasciata,
Saund. P. Z. S. 1871 The IMPERIAL EAGLE.
Young. Above rather light brown, the back feathers mostly shaded down
the middle with ashy and on the margins with purplish ; all the feathers of the
upper surface pointed with buffy fawn colour, giving a spotted character to- the
plumage; head and neck tawny buff, the feathers with clear brown bases,
which show through more or less and impart a streaked appearance; the
plumes of the hind neck long and lanceolate, brown like the back, with tawny
streaks down the centre ; wing coverts brown, pointed with fulvous like the
back ; the greater and median coverts with broad buffy white terminal spots,
widening up the shafts of the feathers ; quills blackish ; the secondaries
rather browner, and broadly tipped with buffy white \ feathers of hinder back
and rump tawny fulvous, with dark brown lateral margins, spreading more over
the plumes of the latter part ; upper tail coverts buffy white, in strong contrast
to the tail, which is uniform brown, tipped with buffy white ; under surface of
tail light tawny fulvous, nearly uniform on the throat, abdomen, thighs, tarsus,
and under tail coverts ; the whole of the breast feathers laterally margined
with brown, producing a distinctly streaked appearance ; under wing coverts
rufous fawn colour, streaked with brown ; the lower series ashy brown, like the
inner lining of the wing.
Adult Male. Blackish brown above, much lighter brown on the hinder part
of the back and on the upper tail coverts, which are mottled with white near
the base, and broadly tipped with the same ; many of the scapulars pure
AQUILA, 31
vhite, forming a conspicuous patch, which, however, is confined to the
scapulars themselves ; the least wing coverts slightly mottled with brown, but
not with white near the carpal bend ; rest of wing coverts blackish brown,
uniform with interscapulary region ; quills blackish ; the primaries externally
shaded with ashy grey ; the secondaries browner, the innermost slightly tipped
with buffy white ; the lower surface of wing ashy brown ; the primaries mottled
with whitish at base of inner web. Tail ashy grey for a little more than the
basal two-thirds, shaded with silvery grey, and mottled with blackish brown,
forming indistinct and broken bars on sc-me of the feathers ; the terminal third
blackish brown with a narrow tip of fulvous ; head and neck light fulvous with
fawn-coloured bases to some of the feathers of the nape. Hind neck dark,
fawn brown with light buff tips and dark brown centres ; forehead and anterior
part of crown blackish, as well as the feathers over the eye ; sides of face and
of neck light fulvous like the crown, the feathers under the eyes inclining to
brown. Cheeks and entire under parts blackish ; the under tail coverts tawny
buff with dark brown shaft lines and whitish tips to the feathers ; under wing
-coverts and axillaries blackish, like the breast. Cere pale yellow. Bill bluish,
darker at tip. Feet pale yellow. Iris brownish yellow.
Length. Male 31 inches; culmen 2-0"; wing 22'6; tail 1 1*3; tarsus 2-9.
(Sharpe, Cat- Ace.)
Adult Female. Larger. Length 32-34 inches ; wing 237524 inches; tail
ii'S 5 tarsus 3'85. (Sharpe, Cat. Ace.)
Hab. South, Eastern and Central Europe, and throughout India nearly.
'Occurs in Sind, the Punjab, Beloochistan, Afghanistan, Persia, Concan, and
Deccan; Nepal, Behar, Central and Southern India, and the Himalayas.
Mr. Hume (Rough Notes) has collected all the information possible in
regard to the nidification of the Imperial Eagle. A few, he says, remain to
"breed in the upper Punjab and possibly in the Dhoon ; the rest breed in the
Himalayas. They lay (in the plains) in February, March, and possibly April,
building a large platform of sticks on or near the top of trees ; Peepul trees
generally, and also at times on Babool (Acacia) and other thorny trees. The
nests were from 2 to 2-5 feet in diameter and some 6 to 8 inches thick, lined
with a few green leaves, Mr. Blewitt took a nest near Hansie which was only
1 8 inches in diameter, without any lining and also from on top of an Acacia
tree. The eggs, Mr. Hume adds, vary much in size and shape 2*6 to 3 inches
in length and from 1-95 to 2-15 in breadth. The average of nine eggs is given
as 2*7 x 2 '09 inches. The figure in Bree measures 2*05 x 2'88, normally the eggs
seem a broad oval, but one or two are a good deal lengthened. The Kurrachee
Museum specimens are all broad ovals, white or greyish white, and one only
has the faint spots and streaks of pale brown with purplish brown blotches.
The number of eggs is generally two, and sometimes three. Mr.C. Farman(7fo>,
1869 ) an d Rough Notes) notes that it is a very shy bird and difficult to approach,
32 FALCONID^E.
and is very daring during the breeding season. The male, he says, is always on the
watch circling gracefully in the air above the nest or seated on some neighbour-
ing tree, whence on the slightest approach of danger he comes swooping
down towards his eyrie, uttering a hoarse, croaking noise as a warning to the
female who instantly leaves the nest and joins her partner.
This is not however Mr. Hume's experience, he looks upon the " Konigs-
adler " as no better than a great hulking kite. He has taken their eggs before
their eyes without the parents flapping a pinion to defend what a Shrike would
swoop to save. The Imperial Eagle, though preying on quails, rats, and some-
times hares, does not disdain carrion.
28. Aquila mogilnik, Gm. N. Comm. Petrop, xv. p. 445, pi. xi. b.
(1770). Aquila bifasciata, J . E. Gray in Gray & Hardw. 111. Ind. Zool. i.
pi. 17; Anderson, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 621. Aquila nipalensis, Hodgs. Asiatic
Researches, xviii. pt. 2, p. 13, pi. I. The RUSSIAN EAGLE.
Adult Male. Head darker brown than the back, which is a pale brown, as also
the lesser and median wing coverts ; lower back, and rump, the under surface
of the body and some of the median wing coverts tipped with fulvous ; the
greater wing coverts dark brown, also tipped with fulvous. Lores whitish. Primaries
and their coverts deep brown, tipped broadly in some with buffy or ashy grey
with buffish tips. Under surface of the wing blackish brown, mottled with
greyish at the base of the inner web ; under wing coverts brown, the lesser
series pure white. Upper tail coverts white, tail brown with indistinct ashy
bars and fulvous tips. Cere, gape, base of lower mandible, and feet deep
yellow ; bill blackish ; irides dark brown.
Length. 30 inches ; wing 22 ; tail 117 ; tarsus 4. (Sharpe.)
The adult female is not very much larger. The length as given by Sharpe
in his Catalogue of the Accipitres in the British Museum is 30 inches ; wing
23'2 ; tail 11*5 ; tarsus 4. The young male is described as ashy brown on the
upper surface, shaded with glossy purplish black on the back, scapulars, and
wing coverts. Median and greater coverts blackish, shaded with ashy grey and
broadly tipped with bright ochraceous fawn colour, paling into fulvous on the
extreme tip and forming a triple band across the wing. Primaries and their
coverts blackish, broadly tipped with fawn colour ; both webs, like the wing
coverts, distinctly but irregularly barred with silvery grey, distinctly so on the
under surface of the secondaries. Primaries black below, greyish on the inner
web, and thickly mottled with brownish ; lower back and rump ashy brown
like the head, the lower feathers of the latter part more or less marked with
fawn colour ; the upper tail coverts entirely fawn colour, paling into fulvous on
their tips ; tail dark brown with a broad terminal band of fawn colour mottled
conspicuously with ashy grey on the outer feathers and taking the form of
imperfect bars on the middle ones, sometimes 8 or 9 being distinguishable.
Sides of face and neck as well as entire under surface of the body ashy brown,
AQUILA. 33
paler on the tarsal feathers. Under tail coverts pale huffy fawn, some of the
under wing coverts also marked with a terminal triangular spot of the same
colour. Bill, feet, and gape yellow. Cere greenish.
Hab. South-Eastern Europe, N.-W. India, and the Himalayas, extending
into Siberia.
It has been found in Nepal and in Kumaon and Gurhwal in the N.-W.
Provinces. Of its nidification nothing certain is known, and this is owing chiefly
to the vexed question whether or not, Radde's Imperialist Gray's bifasciata
nczvia, and punctata are not identical with this species. There are marked
differences, but the various stages and colouration of plumage of this order and
the present uncertainty of the validity of the typical specimens of the various
stages compel me to accept Mr. Sharpe's description of this Russian Eagle as
distinct from those above referred to.
29. Aquila vindhiana, Franki. P. Z. S. 1831, p. 114; stricki,
Orn. Syn. p. 59 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. p. 244. Aquila punctata. Gray, in Gr. <J-
Hard. III. Ind. ZooL i. pi. 16. Aquila fusca, id. Op. Cit. ii. pi. 26. Aquila
fulvescens, id. Op. Cit. ii. pi. 29 ; Jerd. B. of Ind. i. p. 60, No. 29 ; Hume,
Rough Notes, i. p. 173; Stray Feathers, i. p. 158; Murray, Hdbk. Zool. fyc.
Sind, p. 109; id. Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 76. Wokhab, Hind ; Ukab Sind. The
TAWNY EAGLE.
Young. Above glossy purplish brown with distinct fulvous tips to the
feathers, broader on lower back, rump and upper tail coverts ; head and neck
all round and entire under parts greyish mouse colour, with distinct points
to all the feathers of the head and neck, absent on the under surface,
excepting a few remains on the tips of the abdominal and lower throat
feathers ; lores and chin whitish, with narrow black shaft lines, the latter also
apparent on the cjieeks and ear coverts, which are mouse grey, like the breast ;
tarsal feathers and under tail coverts more fulvescent ; under wing coverts
mouse grey with pale fulvous tips ; upper wing coverts ashy brown, with a
very slight purplish gloss, but not so dark as the back, nor so grey as the head,
though tipped like the latter with fulvous ; greater and primary coverts, as
well as the secondaries, deep brown, with whitish ends ; primaries black,
slightly shaded with brown near the base ; lower surface of wing ashy brown,
blackish towards tips of primaries ; the inner webs of all slightly mottled with
greyish. Tail purplish brown, tipped with buffy white ; all the feathers shaded
with ashy grey, forming indistinct bars on the centre feathers, on which
remains of eleven or twelve can be counted.
Length. 28 inches; wing 2075 ; tail n ; tarsus 3*2.
Adult Female* General colour fulvous or tawny brown, most of the fea-
thers with lighter margins, especially on the least wing coverts ; the median
coverts darker brown, but not so glossy as the back, with fulvous margins ;
greater and primary coverts, as well as secondaries, tipped with fulvous ;
5
^ | a 7
34 FALCONID^E.
primaries blackish, externally shaded with ashy grey, forming distinct bands
on both webs, these bands more vermiculated on the lower surface, the inner
webs of the quills being ashy brown, shading into deep brown towards the
tips of the primaries ; tail dark brown, tipped with fulvous, the feathers shaded
with ashy grey, forming 89 distinct bars on centre feathers ; head and neck
rather paler than the back, the feathers of the latter part margined with fulvous,
giving a very mealy appearance; sides of face also light fulvous; under
surface of body pale fulvous brown, lighter on the throat, thighs, and under
tail coverts ; under wing coverts with many of the feathers whitey brown on
their margins, and near the base, the lower series ashy brown like the inner
lining of the wing. Cere and gape deep yellow ; feet yellow. Iris hazel
brown. (Sharpe, Cat. Ace.)
Length. 27 28 inches; expanse 67 69 inches; wing 1975 21-75 ; 4th
and 5th primaries longest; tail 1 1-25 11-5 ; tarsus 3-8.
Adult Male.--*2% inches; wing 20-5 ; tail 1 1 ; tarsus 3-4. (Sharpe, Cat. Ace.)
ffa&.Smd, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Bengal, Rajpootana, Kattiawar, the
Deccan, Concan, Behar, the Carnatic, Central and Southern India, Nepal
and Darjeeling.
A permanent resident in Sind and most parts of India. In Sind it breeds
in January, making a large nest of sticks lined wtth straw, leaves, &c., on high
trees, laying normally 2 broad oval, or spherical eggs ; the ground colour is
greyish white, either unspotted or with blotches and patches of yellowish brown.
In, upper India it breeds from the middle of November to the middle of June,
but the majority, according to Hume, lay in January. In size the eggs vary
from 2-35 to 3-25 inches X r8 to 2-25.
30. Aquila hastata, Less. Voy. Belang. p. 217 ; B-lyth. J. A. S. B.
xv. p. 7 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 62 No. ; Hume, Rough Notes, \. p. 180 ; Anderson,
P. Z. S. 1871, p. 622. Aquila naevia, Brooks, Sir. F. i. p. 293. The
LONG-LEGGED EAGLE.
Adult. Glossy hair brown above, most of the feathers tipped with white.
Quills glossy purplish black ; tail the same, but obsoletely barred with dusky
grey and tipped white ; upper tail coverts barred with white. Breast, abdomen,
feathers of the leg, lower wing coverts, and under tail coverts yellowish white,
closely barred with brown. Quills and tail beneath grey, mottled and barred
with dusky. In some only the feathers of the hind head and neck are tipped
with white, the tertials are broadly tipped with white and there are three
distinct rows of spots on the wings ; lesser wing coverts with small white spots;
nostrils rounded.
The young and adolescents are much lighter in colour, the lower parts from
the breast are streaked longitudinally with fulvous white and the secondaries
and tertials barred and clouded with whitish and brown.
AQUILA. 35
Adult & .' Length 23 to 25 inches; wing 19 to 19*15 ; tail 9*5 ; tarsus 3-9
to 4 ; culmen 2*3.
Males are smaller.
Hab. Upper India. Recorded from Behar, Darjeeling, and Nepal,
Nothing is known of the nidification of this handsome eagle, regarding which
there is a set controversy as to its being distinct from A. n&via. Mr. Sharpe
however remarks that the small white spots on the least wing coverts which
frequently occur in this species may perhaps present a character of importance
in distinguishing it from A. navta.
31. Aquila Clanga, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso. Asia/, i. p. 351 ; Gray, Hand
List. i. p. 28 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. p. 248 ; Murray, Hdbk. ZooL fyc. Sind.
Aquila vittata, Hodgs. in Gray's Zool. Miscellany, 1844. Aquila nsevia r
Schrenck. Reis. Amurl. Vog. p. 220 ; Jerd. B. of Ind. i. p. 29, No 28 ; Hume,
Rough Notes, i. p. 162 ; Stray Feathers, i. p. 158 ; Andr. P. Z. S. 1871 ;
Murray, Vert. ZooL Sind, pp. 75, 76. The SPOTTED EAGLE.
Young Male. Above brilliant purplish brown ; head and neck rather duller
with lanceolate apical streaks of dingy buff on the nape and hind neck ;
wing coverts purplish brown like back, with a few dull white longitudinal
streaks on the median coverts, much larger and forming distinct oval spots on
the primary and greater coverts and tips of the scapulars. Quills blackish ;
secondaries browner with obsolete blackish bars and oval markings as the
scapulars ; lower back and rump with distinct triangular spots of ochraceous
buff ; the upper tail coverts almost uniform buffy white ; tail feathers blackish,
shading into brown towards the end, and tipped with whitey brown with 34
black bars near the tips ; under surface of body blackish ; the chin browner ;
breast feathers with pale brown mesial streaks, more ochraceous on the abdo-
men and leg feathers. Under tail coverts ochraceous buff; under wing coverts
uniform blackish ; axillaries browner.
Length. 2628 inches; wing 20 21 ; tail 10 10*5 ; tarsus 3-9.
Adult Male. Smaller than female. Length 26 27; wings 20 205;
tail IO; tarsus 3-6. The female is a powerful bird, and is 29 inches in length,
the wing being 21-4, tail ir8, tarsus 4*2. (Sharpe, Cat. Ace)
Hab. Sind, Persia, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Bengal, Kutch, and Guzerat;
also the Concan and Deccan, Malabar, and Southern India. Breeds in
Sind, the Punjab, N.-W. Provinces and Oudh ; also in Bengal and Central
India. Capt. Marshall's note on the nidification of this species in the Sharun-
pur district gives May and June as the period of breeding. He says the nest
was placed in a fork near the top of a large tree along the bank of the Eastern
Jumna canal. It was a large circular platform-like structure of sticks with a
few dead leaves in the egg receptacle but no other lining. The diameter of the
whole nest was about 20 inches .with an interior depth of two inches. Eggs one
36 FALCONID^;.
and sometimes two a very blunt oval of a slightly yellowish white ground, some-
what profusely spotted and blotched with rather faint yellowish brown and a
pale washed out purplish brown, which latter colour greatly predominates.
In size the eggs vary from 2*5 to 27 inches x 1*96 to 2'5.
Gen. NisaetUS. Hodgs.
Bill much hooked at tip ; cere large ; nostrils large, elliptic ; upper mandible
festooned ; tarsus feathered to the toes. No elongated occipital crest.
32 NisaetUS faSCiatUS, Vieill (Aquila apud Vieill) Mem. Lin. Soc.
Paris, p. 152; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. p. 250; Strickl. Orn. Syn. p. 61 ; Murray,
Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 77. Falco bonelli, Tern. PI. Col. i.pl. 288. Aquilla bonelli,
Less. Man. Orn. i. p. 83 ; Gould. B. Eur. i. p. 7 ; Shelley, Birds of Egypt, p.
206. Eutolmaetus bonelli, Blyth, J . A. S. B. xix. 174 ; Hume, Rough Notes,
i. p. 189. Pseudastus bonelli, Bp. Cat. Ois. Eur. Parzud. p, I ; Hume, Stray
Feathers, i. p. 158. Nissetus bonelli, Jerd. B. of Ind. i. p. 67, No. 33;
Murray, Hdbk. Zool. fyc. Sind, p. 100. The CRESTLESS HAWK EAGLE.
Adult Female. Above deep brown, the feathers white at base, some of them
paler margined ; eyebrow and sides of neck streaked with white. Sides of the
face white ; cheeks streake.d with brown, ear coverts inclining to rufous.
Under surface white with dark shaft stripes ; flanks irregularly barred and
marked with dark brown arrow-head markings. Feathers of the tarsus more or
less pale brown, varied with dark brown and irregularly spotted with white ;
under wing coverts white, streaked with black ; the lower ones entirely black
with white tips ; auxiliaries white, barred and streaked with blackish. Quills
deep brown, mottled on the inner web with white. Tail ashy brown, inclining
to grey, with 5 6 indistinct bars of brown near the base, and a broad
subterminal band of dark brown ; the tips of the feathers fulvous ; cere and
gape dingy yellow, bluish about the nostrils. Bill horn black. Feet whitish
brown, tinged with yellow. Iris yellow.
Length. 26 inches ; culmen 2*5 ; wing 21 ; tail H'5 ; tarsus 4.
Adult Male. Length 27 29 inches ; wing 1819-6; tail n; tarsus 3-5.
(Sharpe, Cat- Ace.}
Hab.~- Found in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean. Breeds nearly
throughout India. In Sind and the Punjab during December and January and
in the Himalayas according to Hume in April and May. It occurs in the
N.-W. Provinces, also in Persia, Beloochistan, and Southern Afghanistan,
Kutch, Guzerat, the Deccan, Concan, Central and Southern India, Kattiawar,
the Carnatic, Nepal, Assam, and in fact the entire Indian Peninsula.
This Eagle breeds on trees, or on ledges of precipitous rocky cliffs. The nest
is from 4 to 6 feet in diameter, made of sticks, with scarcely any depression,
except in the middle for the reception of the eggs. The lining of the nest
is usually of green twigs and leaves. The number of eggs is usually two,
NIS/ETUS. 37
but three have occasionally been found. They vary in shape and size, also
in colouring; generally they are oval, unspotted pale greyish or faintly streaked
and blotched with pale yellowish or reddish brown. In size they vary from
2*56 to 3 inches in length and from 1*95 to 2*22 in breadth.
33. NisSBtUS pennatUS, Gm. Sys. Nat. \. p. 272 ; Tern. PI. Col. i.
pi. 33 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. p. 253 ; Murray, Vert. ZooL Sind, p. 78. Aquila
pennata, Vig. Zool. Journ. ; Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 14 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. p. 63,
No. 31 ; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. IO; Murray, Hdbk. Zool. fyc. Sind. Hieratus
pennatus, Kaup. Mus. Senck. iii. p. 260; Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv. p. 7.
Hume, Rough Notes, i. p. 182; S. F. vol. vii. pp. 74, 198; viii. 162. The
DWARF or BOOTED EAGLE.
Head and neck behind, and on the sides, rufous or pale orange brown, the
feathers lanceolate and streaked mesially with dark brown ; some of the
lengthened feathers entirely dark brown and forming a not very apparent crest.
A narrow superciliary stripe ; a band from the angle of the mouth below the
ear coverts, and a central chin stripe dark brown. Ear coverts rufescent
brown ; back, scapulars, and wing coverts sepia brown ; the median wing
coverts and some of the scapulars broadly edged with fulvous white, forming
a conspicuous wing band ; rump and upper tail coverts like the back, the
latter shading from dull fawn brown to buffy white on their margins and tips.
Tail dull sepia brown, shaded with ashy, tipped with fulvous white, and with
4 5 indistinct bars of darker brown, more distinct on the under surface.
Primaries dark brown, inclining to ashy white basally on their inner webs ;
secondaries indistinctly barred with dull brownish white. Under surface of
body rufous, buffy, or fulvous white, deeper on the breast, and streaked with
dark brown, the streaks disappearing on the abdomen, thighs, and under tail-
coverts, which are white. Under wing coverts white with a few narrow shaft
streaks. Cere and gape bright wax yellow ; bill bluish black, pale blue at the
base ; feet pale wax yellow ; iris pale brown.
Length. Female 19 24 -inches ; wing 15-5 to 16 ; tail 9 to 9-25 ; tarsus
2-8. The young bird is paler beneath, the breast rufous or fulvous with
a white shoulder spot, and white lores and forehead. The upper tail coverts
are whitish, and the tail distinctly barred on both webs.
Adult Male. Smaller than the female. Length 19 inches; wings 137;
tarsus 2 '4.
Hab. Sind, the Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Beloochistan (Quetta),
Persia, and Afghanistan ; also the Concan, Deccan, and throughout the Indian
Peninsula and Ceylon. Hume says it breeds in Spain in' April and May, and
that Mr. Theobald found a nest in the Salem district at Huroor. The eggs
were two in number ; one which reached him, he says, was a very broad oval.
Ground colour dead white, devoid of gloss, and thickly blotched and streaked
throughout with reddish brown. Size 2*13 x 1-78 inches.
38 FALCONID^;.
Gen. Lophotriorchis.
Nostrils visible ; no chin tuft ; crest long and wedge-shaped ; bill short,
high at the base, with a prominent festoon ; tarsi feathered to the base.
34. Lophotriorchis kieneri, Geoff. St. HiL Rev. Zool. 1845, pi.
35 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br. Mus. p. 255. Spizaetus kieneri, Gray, Gen. B. \.
p. 14; Hume, Rough Notes, i. p. 216 ; id. Sir. F. i. p. 311, Limnaetus
kieneri, SfrickL Ann. Nat. Hist. xiii. p. 33 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 74,
No. 37. The RUFOUS-BELLIED HAWK EAGLE.
Above black, slightly shaded with brown. Occipital crest 2*4 to 2*5 inches
long ; feathers of the nape white at the base. Ear coverts mixed white,, black
and rufous ; cheeks, throat and breast pure white with a few narrow black shaft
lines ; rest of under surface including under wing and tail coverts tawny rufous,
streaked with black shaft stripes, broader on the flanks ; wings black, some of
the feathers externally brownish, the inner lining of quills whitish ashy with
a few blackish bars on the inner webs of the primaries; secondaries narrowly
tipped with white; tail black, very narrowly tipped with whitey brown and
w ith 5 7 indistinct bars of dark brown ; lower surface of tail ashy white with
a subterminal brown bar. Cere and feet yellow ; bill plumbeous ; irides brown.
Length. 21 to 25 inches; wing 14 to 16; tail 8'5 to 9-5; tarsus 2-9 to 3;
culmen 1*5.
Hab. >The Indian Peninsula, Burma to Borneo and Sumatra, Travancore.
Not uncommon in Lower Bengal, extending to the Himalayas. Mr. Inglis gives
it from N.-E. Cachar and Wallace from the Phillippines. Nothing is known of
its nidification. It is said to have a rapid and elegant flight and to mount and
soar well.
Gen. NeopUS. Hodgs.
Bill moderate, bending from the base, much hooked at the tip, with a slight
festoon in the upper mandible ; cere large ; nostrils ovoid oblique ; wings
exceeding the tail, which is long and slightly rounded ; primaries emarginate ;
claws nearly straight.
35- NeopUS malayensiS, Tern. PL Col. i. pi. 1 17; Horsf. and Moore,
Cat. B. M. E. I. Co. i. p. 381 ; Jerd. B. bid. i. p. 65, No. 32; Hume, Rough
Notes, i. p. 187; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. B. M. p. 257. The BLACK EAGLE.
SPI/AETUS. 39
Uniform brown black, paler and duller beneath. Upper tail coverts barred
with white, feathers of the tail more or less distinctly barred with ashy ; quills
mottled with white or greyish white near the base and faintly barred on their
inner webs. Cere, gape, and feet deep yellow ; bill greenish horny, black at
the tip ; iris dark brown.
Male. Length 27-5 to 29-5 inches; wing 22 to 227; tail i2'8 to 14;
culmen 2*05 ; tarsus 3*4.
Female. 30-5 to 31*5; wing 23 to 25-5; tail 14 to U'75 ; tarsus 3-62
to 375-
Hab. The Indian Peninsula, Ceylon, Burmah, the Malayan Peninsula to
Java and Sumatra. It occurs in Malabar, in the Wynaad, Coorg, the Western
Ghats, Travancore, Central India, the Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, throughout
the Himalayas, Nepal, and Ceylon.
Jerdon says it is a bird of easy, graceful, and elegant flight, always soaring
and circling about at no great height, with hardly any flapping of its wings.
It lives chiefly on eggs of birds and nestlings.
Gen. SpizaetUS Vieil.
Form aquiline ; bill short, high at the base, curved, hooked at the tip ; upper
mandible with a festoon ; wing short, tail long and square ; tarsi moderate,
feathered to the base ; inner toe without the claw, shorter than the outer.
36. Spizaetus nipalensis, Hodgs. J. A. S. B. v. p. 229, pi. 7 ; Gray,
Cat. Ace. p. 8 ; Blyth, J* A S. B. xix. p. 333 ; Hume, Rough Notes, i. p.
2lo; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. B. M. p. 267. Limnaetus nipalensis, Jerd. B. Ind.
i. p. 73, No. 36; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 41 1. The SPOTTED or HODGSON'S
HAWK EAGLE.
Adult Male. Crown of the head, occipital crest, ear coverts, cheeks, sides
of the neck and nape blackish brown ; the occipital crest, which is usually from
2-5 to 4 inches in length, is tipped with white, and the feathers on the nape,
cheeks, and sides of neck edged with tawny ; chin and throat white or fulvous
white with a broad streak of black down the centre ; back, scapulars, wing
coverts and secondaries deep brown, the feathers with darker transverse bars ;
upper tail coverts a lighter brown than the back, narrowly tipped with white,
and with broad transverse white bars ; tail pale brown, narrowly tipped with
white, and with 4 5 broad transverse, deep brown bands broader than the inter-
spaces ; neck in front and upper breast a mixture of brownish and fulvous
white, the feathers broadly centred with blackish brown ; rest of under surface
including tarsal feathers which reach to between the inner and middle toes
brown, barred transversely with white or fulvous white ; under wing coverts
white or fulvous white, also barred or spotted with brown ; cere and bill black ;
feet dirty yellowish white ; iris yellow.
40 FALCONID^:.
Length. 28 to 29 inches ; wing 18-5 to 19 ; tail 13 to 13-2 ; tarsus 3-9 to 4;
culmen 1*9.
The adult female is larger than the male. Length 29*25 to 32 inches; wing
18-5 to 187; tail 1 2 '6 to 13; tarsus 4-2 to 4-4.
Mr. Hume in Rough Notes describes a young male as having the whole of
the head, back, and sides of the neck and ear coverts rufous buff, each feather
with a narrow dark brown central stripe, a long conspicuous occipital crest
black and narrowly tipped with white ; scapulars and interscapulary region
hair brown, the feathers paling at the margins and towards their bases to a
pale wood brown ; rump and upper tail coverts dingy, somewhat rufous wood
brown ; central tail feathers a sort of olive brown, very narrowly tipped with white
with a one inch subterminal and four other half inch broad transverse dark
brown bands ; wing coverts, except the greater primary coverts, a rather pale
wood brown with dark brown centres, paling into the margins ; secondary
greater coverts almost wholly white on their inner webs ; quills and primary
coverts umber brown ; 2nd to 5th primaries emarginate on their outer webs
and obscurely barred with dingy buff ; chin and throat pure white, also the base
of neck in front, breast and abdomen the feathers tipped with rufous buff
, and black shafted near the tip ; lower tail coverts, flanks, and tibial plumes pale
rufous brown, barred obscurely with white ; axillaries the same, with spots
forming imperfect bars ; under wing coverts barred with dingy rufous or hair
brown.
Hab. Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, the Himalayas, Khasia, Southern India,
Travancore, and Ceylon.
This species as far as is at present known breeds in the Himalayas during
March, April, and May. Its nest, not unlike other eagles, is made of sticks and
is said to be either hidden in a dense forest or projecting from the face of some
inaccessible cliff. The normal number of eggs is two, in shape a broad regular
oval, almost symmetrical at both ends. Shell coarse, dull, and glossless ; the
ground colour a slightly greenish white spotted thinly with reddish brown and
with numerous large blotches and streaks of very pale inky purple. Size 378
by 2*23 inches. (Hume.) Hodgson's Hawk Eagle is a shy forest bird and
confines itself to deep wooded hills ascending far into the interior of the
Himalayas, where it feeds on pheasants, hares, and partridges.
37- Spizaetus cirrhatus, Gmei. S. N. i. p. 274 ; Bp. Comp. i. p. 29 ;
Hume, Rough Notes, i. p. 206 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. B. M. p. 269. Limnaetus
cristatellus, Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 71, No. 35 ; Holds-worth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 41 1 ;
Stray F. vol. iv. 356 ; id. vol. vii. p. 33. The CRESTED HAWK EAGLE.
Adult Male. Head, nape, and upper back brown, the feathers with a mesial
dark brown shaft streak ; occipital crest 3*9 to 4*9 inches, black, with or
without white tips, and with white bases. Cheeks and ear coverts pale brown
the feathers with a very narrow mesial dark brown stripe ; throat white, with a
SHZARTUS. 41
broad white central streak and with a distinct moustachial stripe on each side *
l>iv:ist and upper abdomen pure white inclining to rufous, the leathers with a
l>n>;ul dark brown central stripe on the terminal half; lower abdomen, vent,
under tail coverts, and tibial plumes uniform brown, also the lower back, rump,
and upper tail coverts. Under wing coverts rufous brown, with dark shaft
stripes; the lower series white, centred or barred with blackish brown. Axilla-
ries a paler brown. Quills brown, barred with darker brown. Secondaries
tipped with buff or buffy white, the innermost paler than the back, and the
barrings very conspicuous. Wing coverts dark brown, the greater series mar-
gined paler. Tail pale brown with three and a broad sub-terminal dark brown
band, broader than the interspace between it and the next. Cere pale yellow,
feet and iris yellow.
Length. Male 25 to 26 inches; wing 16 ; tail 1 1 ; tarsus 3-9 to 4.
Female. Length 29 to 32 inches ; wing 17-5 to 17-8; tail 12-51 to 12-57;
tarsus 4' I.
Hab. Central and Southern India, the Central Provinces, Guzerat, Ceylon
and Nepal. It has been found in Travancore, the Western Ghauts, Madras,
the Xeilgherries, Seone, Raepoor, Etawah, Mundla and other localities in the
Central Provinces ; also at Mount Aboo, in Guzerat and South Concan.
Mr. Bourdillon in Stray Feathers, iv. 356, says of it, that it is very daring,
frequently making a dash amongst chickens, when, if it misses, it retires to
some neighbouring tree to concert a fresh plan of attack. It usually keeps to
well-wooded tracts and feeds generally upon small birds as quail and
pigeons, and at times on snakes and lizards ; and Mr. Vidal in Stray Feathers,
vol. vii. p. 31, adds that he had heard of one having been seen attacking a
mongoose. Mr. Vidal has taken the eggs of this Hawk Eagle in the South
Concan. He says it breeds during December and January and as late as
April. The nests he says are large and comparatively deep stick structures
loosely put together with the twigs hanging down untidily, built very high
up, as a rule, in fork of trees. They are always profusely lined with green
mango leaves. The old birds make no attempt to defend their nests. Out of
32 nests examined by Mr. Vidal, none contained more than one egg or one
young bird. The largest egg measured 3 inches x 2'i and the smallest
2-25 x 1*85. In shape they vary greatly, but the usual type is a moderate oval
pointed at the smaller end. Colour a dull greenish while, sometimes unspot-
ted and sometimes faintly streaked at the larger end with reddish brown. It is
unglossed and has a pale green lining.
38. Spizaetus alboniger, myth* J. A. S. fi. xiv. p. 173 ; id. xix. p.
335; Wall. Ibis, 1 868, p. 215; Sharpc, Cat. Ace. B. If. p. 271. Limnaetus
alboniger, Hume am? Dzvison, Stray F. vi. p. 12. Spizaetus nanus, Wall. Ibis*
1868, pi. I. The PiEU-CKiisiKu HAWK KACLK.
8
42 FALCONID/E.
PLATE.
Adult. Crown, occiput, sides of the face and a broad throat stripe black.
Occipital crest black, 2*25 to 2-75 inches in length and tipped with white ; lores
white. Chin and throat white. Breast white, tinged in some with ferruginous,
each feather with a broad central spot. Rest of under surface of body,
including tarsal and tibial plumes, also the flanks and lower tail coverts, white,
barred transversely with blackish brown, narrowly on the flanks and tibial
plumes and a little more broadly on the abdomen and lower tail coverts.
Back, wing, scapulars, and upper tail coverts black. Quills paler, banded
with black, tipped white, and with a subterminal black band. Under wing
coverts white, barred or spotted with black. Tail ashy brown, tipped very
slightly paler and with a subterminal and three other bands of black; the basal
or third band hidden under the upper tail coverts.
Length. 21 to 22-5 inches; wing 12-13; tail 9-5 ; tarsus 3-3; culmen 1-4.
The young is paler brown above ; the head and neck is a fawn brown ; the
occipital crest from 1*8 to i~g inch in length with white tips, and the
scapulars, tertiaries, wing, and upper tail coverts tipped with white. The
entire under surface is white or tinged with fawn colour, most marked on the
breast. Under wing coverts pure white, and unspotted. Primaries blackish
brown with transverse darker bands. Tail brown, tipped with white and with
three broad transverse dark bands.
Length. 19*5 to 20 inches ; wing 1 1*2 to 12 ; tail 9 to 9-5 ; tarsus 2-85 to 3.
Hab. Tennaserim, Malacca, Borneo, and the Sunda Islands.
The Pied-crested Hawk Eagle is an inhabitant of dense forests near the
foot of the hills at the extreme south of the Province of Tennaserim. Nothing
is on record in regard to its habits and nidification.
39. SpizaetUSlimnaetUS, Horsf. Tr. Lin. Soc. xiii. p. 138. Spizaetus
niveus, Blyth. Ann. Mag. N. Hist. xii. p. 91 ; S/iarpe, Cat. Ace. p. 272.
Spizaetus caligatus, Gray, Cat. Ace.-, Wall. Ibis, 1868, p. 13; Hume, Rough
Notes, i. p. 198. Spizaetus nipalensis, Ely. J. A. S. B. xiv. p. 174.
Limnaetus niveus, Tern. PI. Col. i. pi. 127, Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 70, No. 34 ;
Stray F.\\. 1 1, n ; vii. p. 94, 198, 246 ; viii. p. 44 ; ix. p. 373. The CHANGEABLE
HAWK-EAGLE.
Adult. Above and below deep chocolate brown, the head, back, quills, and
tail darker, the shafts of the latter brownish and the inner webs of the quills
ashy. Tail the same as the back, the under surface ashy white, brownish
towards the tips and with irregular dark transverse bars. Occipital crest
rudimentary, or none. Tarsi shorter than in Cirrhatus. Cere, feet, and the
iris yellow. The young is described by Sharpe (Cat. Ace. B. M.) as being
clear brown above with faint terminal margins of fulvous brown, the buff
coloured bases showing very conspicuously on all the upper parts but
CIRCAETUS. 43
especially disCrnct on the wing coverts, which are also broadly margined with
buffy white. Quills deep brown, the secondaries lighter and more purplish
brown, broadly tipped with buffy white and indistinctly barred with darker
brown, plainer on the inner web, especially underneath where it is ashy white
on the primaries and greyish orr the secondaries \. lower back and rump pale
brown ; upper tail coverts brownish buff ; tail brown, tipped with buffy white
and crossed with 68 bars of darker brown. Under surface of body buffy
white, washed with, pale fawn colour on the sides of the body and thighs, with
a few indistinct spots of the same on the breast. Head and neck whitish buff,
washed with sandy rufous, and centred dark brown. Under wing coverts
white, spotted with dark brown ; tarsal pFumes white, not extending beyond
the point of the toes.
Adult. Length 25: inches ; wing 16; tail II ; tarsus 4*1 ; culmen 1*7.
Young. Length 24 inches ; wing 15^5 ; tail 9-' 5 ; tarsus 3-7; Irides brownish.
Hab. The Qoncan, Deccan (rare), Central Provinces, N.-E. Cachar,
Gurhwal, Lo wen Bengal, the Malayan Peninsula, Tennaserim, Java, Sumatra,
Borneo, Ceylon and 1 the Eastern EFimal&yas. According to Mr, Thompson, in
Hume's Rough Notes, p. 198, the breeding season of this eagle commences in
March and lasts till the end of June. The nest is usually placed on a high
tree in a locality good for game, but in dense woods. Eggs usually two. In
G-urhwal it is commonly known> as Mborhaitah or Peacock-killer.
Gen. CircaetUS. Vieill.
Bill short, gradually curving from the base, much hooked at tip. Nostrils
oval, oblique. Wing long, more than once and a half the length of the tail.
3rd quill longest. First three quills emarginate; Tarsi plumed below the
heel. Toes scutellate at base of the claws.
40. CircaetUS galliCUS, G'mel. Syst. Nat. i. p, 295 ; Vieill. Nat. Hist.
Diet. vii. p. 37; Gray, Gen. Birds, i. pi. 16; Jerdon, B. Ind. i. p. 76,
No. 38; Hume, Rough Notes, i. p. 217; Shelley. Birds of Egypt, p. 202;
Sharpe, Cat. Ace. p. 280; Hume, Sir. Feathers, vii. 74, *99> 53 J Murray,
Hdbk.Zool. tyc. Stud,.?, 1 10 ; id. Vert. Zool Smd, p. 79. -The COMMON
SERPENT-EAGLE.
44 FALCONID^E.
Adult Male. Above dark brown with a purplish gloss ; the wing coverts
rather paler, especially on their margins ; head rather more ashy brown ; the
forehead, lores, sides of face, and chin whitish with narrow hair-like lines of
black, a streak of which overhangs the eyebrow. Cheeks, hinder ear coverts,
and sides of the neck brown. Under surface of body white ; the throat
narrowly streaked with brown, and with a distinct central dark shaft stripe ;
chest white, streaked with brown ; flanks barred brown at wide intervals, the
bars disappearing on the thighs and under tail coverts, which are almost
entirely white ; under tail coverts and auxiliaries white with irregular spots or
bars of brown. Quills black ; secondaries browner, the outer ones glossed
with purplish and narrowly tipped with white. Inner lining of quills white,
excepting the tips and inner margins of primaries, which are deep brown ;
secondaries barred with dark brown, the subterminal band broad. Some of
the upper tail coverts notched externally and tipped with white. Tail brown,
tipped with white and crossed with three dark or blackish brown bars. Cere
whitish, tinged bluish grey. Bill pale bluish grey at base, blackish horny at
tip. Iris bright or orange yellow.
. Male 2.6 inches; culmen 2-15 ; wing 19*65 ; tail ir$ ; tarsus 37.
Adult Female. Larger. Length 31 inches; wing 21*3 ; tail 12-5 ; tarsus 4.
Hob. Sind > Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Bengal, the Concans, Deccan,
Kutch, Kattiawar, Behar, Nepal, and Rajputana. Said to be found through-
out the Indian Peninsula and all the countries bordering the Mediterranean,
extending into South-Eastern Europe. Breeds in Upper India (Gurhwal,
Etawah, Hume) ; also in Palestine (Tristram) during January, February,
March, April and May on high trees. Hume (Rough Notes) says, that from
between forty and fifty nests, taken by himself and friends, never more than a
single egg was obtained from any one. The eggs are typically broad ovals,
with a slightly pyriform tendency, of a bluish white colour and invariably
spotless. Mr. Tristram, in his Ornithology of Palestine (Ibis, 1865), remarks
that of the eggs he took at Carmel and Heshbon, east of the Dead Sea> one
was prettily spotted and the others were w:hite.
Gen. Spilornis, Gray. Haematornis, Vigors.
Bill straightened at the base ; wings short ; head crested, crest feathers
rounded. Other characters as in Circaetus.
41. Spilornis Cheela, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 14 ; Bp. Consp. i. p. 17 ;
Strickl. Orn. Syn. p. 17; Jerd. Birds of Ind. i. p. 77, No. 39 ; Hume, Rough
Notes, i. p. 222; Hume, S. F.i.p. 306; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. p. 287 ; Murray,
Hdbk. Zool. fyc. Sind, p. no; id. Vert. Zool. Sind, p. So. Circaetus cheela,
Gray, Cat. Ace. p. 18. The CRESTED SERPENT-EAGLE.
SP1LORNIS. 15
Young. Above brown, with large spots of dark brown near the end of each
feather, which is slightly tipped with fulvous, the bases of the feathers white ;
the upper tail coverts tipped and barred on the outer web with the same;
wini: coverts blackish brown, the least ones apically margined with white ; the
greater series whitey brown, more or less entirely white on inner web, mesially
streaked with dark brown, widening into a spatulate apical spot. Quills dark
brown, tipped with white ; the secondaries more broadly barred across with
blackish brown, very distinct underneath, where the inner webs are for the
most part white. Tail ashy brown, tipped with white, and crossed with three
broad bands of darker brown. Head and neck all round white, with a
narrow shaft stripe and a diamond-shaped apical spot of dark brown. Ear
coverts and cheeks nearly uniform brown. Under surface of body white,
with broad streaks of brown on the breast, becoming very narrow and linear
on the flanks ; thighs narrowly barred with brown. Under wing coverts white,
with large oval spots of rufous brown on the innermost, and having bars of
brown on the lower series.
A dull Female. Head much crested, jet black, with conspicuous white
bases to the feathers, those of the nape tipped with dull ochraceous ; rest of
upper surface of body purplish brown, paler on the interscapulary region ; the
wing coverts blacker, with remains of white tips, which are less distinct on the
scapulars, but very broad on the upper tail coverts. Quills brown, tipped with
white and mottled slightly on the outer web, but more on the inner with the
same ; all the quills dark brown at base and having a broad subterminal band
of blackish brown, the primaries showing a second dark brown band near the
base ; the inner web of the quills below whitish, showing the bands very dis-
tinctly. Tail black, narrowly tipped with whitish and crossed with a very
broad median band of pale whitey brown ; sides of face and chin blackish with
a distinct greyish band, the latter showing slight tips of fulvous to the feathers ;
rest of under surface pale ochraceous brown, with distinct but irregular
transverse lines of dark brown ; the rest of the under surface with large white
spots, rather oblong in shape, mostly margined above and below with black,
changing to bars on the thighs and under tail coverts. Under wing coverts
and auxiliaries light rufous with very distinct oval spots of white.
Length. 30 inches ; culmen 2-25 ; wing 20*5 ; tail 13; tarsus 4-5.
Adult Male. Smaller. Length 28 inches ; wing 18-5 ; tail 12 ; tarsus 4*5.
Chest perfectly uniform brown with no traces of cross barrings on the under
surface ; breast and lower parts very largely and distinctly spotted with white ;
cere, loral skin, and gape bright yellow ; bill slatey plumbeous at base, bluish
black at tip and on culmen; feet pale dingy yellow; iris intense yellow.
(Sharpe).
Hab. Sind, in the Narra Districts, and in well-wooded situations ; also the
Concan, Lower Bengal, Himalaya*, Nepal, Aaaam, and Bunnah ; not uncom-
46 FALCONID^E.
mon in the Panjab (Shaharunpur District). Breeds throughout the sub-
Himalayan ranges and regions as far west as Kangra at heights from 2,500
to 5,500 feet above the sea level, laying in March, April and May. Nest
usually in the vicinity of water, built in the fork of a tree, circular, loosely
made of sticks and twigs lined with fresh leaves and roots of grass. Eggs
usually one in number, mottled and streaked with dingy brick-red and
.blood-red ; ground colour white. Size 2-8 x 2*25 inches. Mr. Hume, in his
Rough Notes, gives a good compiled account of the nidification of this
species.
42. SpilomiS melanotiS, Jerd. Madras 7o//r.xiii. p. 165 Sharpe,
Cat. Ace. B. M. p. 289, Sub-sp. a; Davison and Wenden, Stray F. vol. vii.
sp. 74 ; Ball. id. p. 199 ; Vidal, Stray F. ix. p. 33 ; Butler, id. ix. p. 373
Hsematornis spilogaster, Bly. J. A. S. JB. xvi. p. 351. Spilornis spilogaster,
Blanf. J. A. S. JB. 1871, p. 270. Spilornis davisoni, Hume, Stray F. i. pp.
305, 422 ; id. iv. pp. 281, 358. Spilornis rutherfordi, Swinli. Ibis, 1870^.85 ;
id. P. Z. S. 1871 ; Wald. Ibis, 1870, p. 298. Spilornis bacha, Holds, (non Le
Vaill) P. Z. S. 1872, p. 412. The SOUTHERN or LESSER HARRIER EAGLE.
Similar to Spilornis cheela, but smaller.
Cere, orbital skin, and legs yellow ; irides orange ; bill bluish, black at the
tip. The following are comparative measurements of this species and S. cheela
in inches.
S. cheela. S. melanotis.
Adult. Adult.
Length 28 to 30 24 to 26.
Wing 18-5 to 20*5 15 to 16*8
Tail 12 to 13 io'8 to 12-5
Tarsus 4-15*0 4'S 3'65 to 375
Hab. Central and Southern India, the Andamans to Ceylon and China.
Occurs in both Northern and Southern Concans, the Deccan, Travancore,
Raipoor, and other localities in the Central Provinces from the Ganges to the
Godavery, Orissa, and also in Lower Bengal.
The Lesser Harrier Eagle affects marshy and hilly forest tracts, especially
where there are rice and other cereal cultivations. It feeds chiefly on frogs,
mice, and small birds. The only record of its nidification is in a paper in
S- F. by Mr. Vidal on the Birds of the South Concan. Two nests were taken
by him during March, and the eggs in his possession measured respectively
275 x 2-25 inches and 2-65 x 2-12 inches. They are said to be broad ovals,
slightly pointed at the smaller end, white, streaked all over with reddish
brown, and with a confluent cap of the same shade at the large end,
43. Spilornis pallidus, Wald. Ibis, 1872. p, 363, Spilornis cheela,
Wall. Ibis, 1868, p. 15 ; Hume, Stray F. iv. 281 j id. vii. p. 513 ; id* viiL
p. 44. The PALE HARRIER EAGLE.
BUTASTUR. 47
Adult Male. Crown of the head Mnck with an elongate occij)ital crest,
which is Mack with white bases to the feathers. Feathers <>f the nape with
slightly rufous tips ; sides of the face and throat clear bluish grey, of the neck
and chest uniform pale brown. Above pale brown with indistinct margins of
fulvous brown to the feathers, the scapulars slightly tipped with white, the
upper tail coverts broadly so, and the wing coverts with two white spots at the
tip of each feather. Quills ashy brown, tipped with buiTy white, and with a
broad subterminal and basal blackish brown band. Tail dark brown, tipped
with buffy white, and crossed with a broad median band of pale whitey brown
shaded with ashy. Under surface of body pale brown spotted with white ; on
the thighs and under tail coverts the spots take the form of bars ; under wing
coverts the same, but paler and more rufescent.
Length. 21 inches; culmcn r8 ; wing 14; tail 8'8 ; tarsus 3-25 (Cat.
Ace. B. jlf.)
The young female is described by Sharpe as pale brown above, with lighter
margins. Crown of the head white with a black terminal spot ; the body below
pale brown ; the throat and chest vermiculated with cross lines of dark brown,
with a few white spots on the abdomen, turning to bars on the thighs and
under tail coverts. Tail brown at base with two broad black bands, the basal
one with slight indications of a whitish band immediately preceding the lower
of the two and a broad subterminal whitey brown band.
Length. 24-$ inches; wing 14*3; tail 9 4; tarsus 3.
Hab. The Malay Peninsula, Tennaserim, British Burmah, Borneo, Sarawak.
This is a doubtful Indian species, but I have given a description of it owing
to two skins, received from Mr. E. Whimper, being labelled Tennaserim and
British Burmah.
Gen. ButastUf, Hodgs. J. A. S. B. xii. p. 311.
Bill short. Edge of mandible scarcely festooned ; nostrils small, oval, with
a superior membrane. Wings reaching nearly to end of tail ; 3rd and 4th
quills subequal and longest ; the first four emarginate.
44. Butastur teesa, Hodgs. J. A. S. B. xii. p. 31 1 (1843) . Sharpy
Cat. Ace. p. 295 ; Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 87. Poliornis teesa, Kaup.
Class! f. Saug. u. Vog. p. 122 ; Gray, Gen. Bird, \. p. 30 ; Jerd. B. of
Ind. i. p. 92, No. 48; Hume, Rough Notes, ii p. 286; id. Stray Feathers,
p. 159 ; Murray, Ifdbk. Zool. fyc. Sind, p. 1 15 (1873). The ZUGGUN FALCON
or WHITE-EYKD BUZZARD.
Adult Male. Above timber or pale rufous brown, the feathers margined
paler, and with dark shaft stripes. Forehead and a nuchal mark white. Ear
coverts light brown, the feathers very lax. Lores white, with elongate stiff
hair-like feathers, the edges of the under mandible also with stiff bristles.
Rump and upper tail coverts rufous brown, the rump with dark shaft stripes,
and the upper tail coverts with dark cross bars. Tail pale rufous, tipped
48 FALCONID^.
\vith buffy white and crossed with 67 indistinct bars, the snbterminal one
black, and broadest ; wing coverts like the back, the median series mottled
light brown and whitish. Primary coverts dark brown, externally shaded
greyish. Outer webs of primaries dark brown, frosted over with ashy grey,
and broadly tipped with darker brown. Inner web pale brown between the
black tip and emargination of the first four quills, and white beyond, with a
few faint dark incomplete bars. The secondaries pale brown, half the inner
webs, with 4 5 bars of dark brown and tipped darker ; outer web of the
secondaries pale brown with a rufous tinge, tipped blackish, and with faint
traces of transverse bars. Chin and throat white or yellowish white, bordered
on each side with a black moustachial stripe from the base of the lower man-
dible, and one of the same colour down the centre of the chin and throat.
Breast pale rufous brown, with yellowish white or fulvous spots, the feathers
dark shafted. Rest of under surface buffy white, barred with rufescent brown.
Under wing coverts white, some of the feathers streaked and spotted with
rufous brown. Thigh coverts pale fulvous or buffy white, most of the feathers
with a subterminal triangular patch of rufous brown. Vent and lower tail
coverts white, some of the feathers with a subterminal band or triangular
patch of rufous brown ; under surface of tail feathers greyish white, the
transverse band showing through in all but the exterior feather.
Legs and feet dingy orange yellow. Iris pale yellowish white. Eyelids
orange yellow.
Length. 1675 to 18-5 inches; culmen 1-4; wing II to 12-5; tai!6'56to
7-8 ; tarsus 2 to 2-55.
ffab. Throughout India to British Burmah and Malaya to Assam and
Nepal. Recorded from Sind, Beloochistan, Persia, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces,
Oudh, Bengal, Nepal, Behar, Kattiawar, Deccan, Concans, Cutch, Rajputana,
and N. Guzerat.
The White-eyed Buzzard is plentiful in all the places where it is known to
occur. Not unlike the Kestrel its flight is very rapid, and living as it does on
rats, lizards, frogs, crabs, and insects, it is always seen flying low, skimming
along just above the ground. It affects bare plains, low jungle, cultivated
ground, and marshy tracts.
Breeds nearly throughout India from January to April, nesting on high
trees and laying three eggs of a pale bluish colour, a broad oval in shape and
varying in size from 1-4 to 1*9 inches. Mr. Hume says the parent birds are
much attached to their nests and hang about them for many days after they have
been robbed, and at times will lay in them a second time.
45. Butastur liventer, Tern. PI. CW.i.pl. 438. Buteo liventer, Cuv.
Regnt. Anim. i. p. 37. Poliornis liventer, Kaup. Classif. Sang. u. Vog. p. 122 ;
Wall. Ibis, 1868, 1 1 ; Hume, Stray F. i. 319 ; iii. p. 31 ; iv. 299 ; vi. p. 21.
Adult Male. Whole head and neck all round are a pale earthy or grey
brown, the feathers darker shafted ; lores whitish ; chin and throat more or less
BUTASTUR. 49
faintly streaked with white; breast like the neck, but with faint traces of obscure
rufescent bars, all the feathers darker shafted ; sides and abdomen the same ;
libial plumes, vent, lower tail coverts and the whole lower surface of the
wing, except the primaries beyond the notches on the inner web, pure white ;
auxiliaries white, with close-set transverse bars of brown and rufous. Quills,
primary greater coverts, and winglet a rich chestnut red, tipped more or less
broadly with brown, darkest on the primaries ; the outer webs of the second to
the 5th primaries from above the emarginations pure white, the red portions
of the inner webs with a few widely distant narrow dark brown transverse
bars, the outer webs with traces of similar bars. The first four primaries
conspicuously notched on their inner webs ; the 3rd, 4th, and 5th somewhat
emarginate on their outer webs. Rump and upper tail coverts a rich more
or less rufous brown, each feather darker shafted ; tail bright chestnut,
tipped white or rufous white and with a moderately broad transverse sub-
terminal black band on both webs ; the central and outer feathers exhibit
two or three narrow transverse dark brown bars and a few black spots, traces
apparently of these, the one about an inch and the other about two inches
above the band just described, and the third just below the tips of the
coverts ; mantle a more or less rufous brown, some of the coverts faintly
margined paler, and all the feathers darker shafted ; lesser and median coverts
browner and less rufous and more or less fringed with albescent. Longest
scapulars brownish at the tips, bright chestnut above, and with traces of grey
brown bars ; primaries and secondaries narrowly margined towards the tips
with dull white. Edge of the wing w^hite ; lower surface of the tail white,
tinged purplish (S. F. iii. 31). The adult female (type of species) is described
by Sharpe (Caf. Ace. B. M.). I have not seen a specimen, nor is one record-
ed in Stray Feathers as having been obtained by any one of Mr. Hume's
numerous correspondents. The shaft stripes of the male is everywhere indi-
cated in the female, but the coloration is paler. Tail rufous instead of bright
chestnut, margined and tipped with ashy grey and crossed with six blackish,
bars, the subterminal one a little 'broader.
Length. Male 14 to 14*5 ; expanse 35 to 37*5 ; tail 5-8 to 6-5 ; wing 107
to 1 1*5; tarsus 2-3 to 2*6; bill T2 to 1-4. Female larger. Bill pale orange
yellow, the tip black. Cere, orbits, and feet yellow. Irides pale yellow.
Hal. British Burmah and Siam to Celebes; occurring in Java (Sharpe), the
Continent of India (Tern.). Dr. Armstrong has had it in the vicinity of
Elephant Point, in the Rangoon district of the Irrawady Delta, where he says it
is by no means common and frequents the extensive paddy fields, coursing
along with a graceful swooping flight from one field to another. Messrs. Hume
and Davison say that it is confined to the northern and central portions of
the province of Tennaserim, and rare in the northernmost districts. Tonghoo
(Lloyd and Ramsay), Kankaryit, llongthraw, R. Thyetmoo, and Amherst are
also given as localities.
7
50 FALCONID/E.
It is said by Mr. Gates, (S. F. v. 141) to breed in British Burrnah during
March, laying 2 eggs of a pale greenish white colour without gloss. Size
i-Six i'45 inches. A second egg measured rS6 x 1-47 inches.
46. Butastur indiCUS, Gm. S. N. I. p. 264 (ex Lath). Buteo
pygmseus, Blyth, ?. A. S. B. iv. p. 177. Poliornis indicus, Gray, Cat. Ace.
1848, p. 68. Poliornis poliogenys, Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 30 ; Wall. Ibis, 1868,
p. 19; Hume^ Rough Notes, p. 290; Stray F. vi. 19. The GREY-CHEEKED
BUZZARD.
Adult. Above uniform hair brown, inclining to ashy on the head and
upper back, and to rufous on the lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts,
the latter barred and broadly tipped ivith white ; forehead white ; sides of the
face clear grey sides of the neck ashy brown ; wing coverts and scapulars
slightly tipped with rufous white, or rufous brown, and mottled with clearer
rufous. Primary coverts rufous, broadly tipped with black. Quills rufous,
narrowly tipped with buffy white.; primaries brown externally and towards
their tips, also barred with dark brown on their inner webs ; the secondaries
ashy brown, inclining gradually to whitey brown, at their tips, washed with
rufous and barred with dark brown ; the lower surface of the wing creamy
white on the inner webs of the quills, somewhat washed with rufous ; tail
ashy brown, whitey brown at tips, and crossed with three or four broad bars of
blackish brown ; the lower surface ashy white, the bars showing more plainly
except on the outermost feathers, where they are obsolete. Throat white, with
a mesial line of ashy brown, as well as two not very distinct moustachial
stripes. Upper breast ashy brown, washed with rufous ; the lower breast and
abdomen barred with white and rufous brown, the rufous bars decreasing
towards the vent and thighs and absent on the under tail .coverts. Bill blue
black, pale on the gonys and lower portion of the base of the upper mandible.
Cere, irides, and feet yellow. (Sharpe.)
Length. 17 to i8'5 inches ; wing 13- 12 to 13*15 ; tail 7*9 to 8 ; tarsus 2*4 ;
bill from gape 1*3.
The adult female is larger than the male. Length i8 f S to i8'8 inches;
wing 13*6 to 13-8; tail 8-4 ; tarsus 2*45 ; bill from gape 1-45.
The young is considerably different from the adult. The crown, occiput,
nape and sides of the neck are brown ; the feathers of the crown and hind neck
margined with creamy white and slightly washed with rufous. Forehead and
eyebrow creamy white, also the fore part of the cheeks. Breast buffy white,
with lanceolate rufous brown shaft stripes and spots. Under tail coverts
creamy buff ; also the under wing coverts, but with a few rufous brown
markings. Axillaries barred. Tail ashy brown, tipped with pale rufous brown,
and crossed with five bars of darker brown. Throat with a central dark
streak.
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA,
HALIAETUS ALBICJLLA
HAU/ETUS. 51
Hal. Borneo, Sumatra, and the Phillipine Islands, also Tennaserim.
Recorded localities from the latter are Amherst, Mergui, Pakchan and Banka-
soon. Hume and Davison {Sir. F. vol. vi. p. 19) state that it seemed to be of a
confiding and somewhat indolent disposition, preferring to seat itself on some
dry tree or other point of vantage from whence it keeps a look out for lizards
and locusts, &c., of which its food seems principally to consist.
Gen. HaliaettlS, Savigny.
Hill straight at the base, longish, compressed, curved towards the tip, which
is much hooked; margin of upper mandible sinuate; wings long; 4th and 5th
quills sub-equal, longest ; tarsus plumed for nearly half its length ; lower half
of tarsus scutellate.
47. HalisetUS albicillUS, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 123; Sharpe, Cat.
Ace. p. 302. H. albicilla, Leach. Syst. Cat. Mam. $r., B. M. p. 9 ; Gould.
Birds Eur. p. 10 \McGilhvray, Brit. B. iii. p. 221 ; Shelley, Birds of Egypt,
p. 204 ; Hume, S. Feathers, i. p. 159; id. Rough Notes, p. 257; S. Feathers,
vii. 341 467; Murray, Hdllc. Zool. -c. Sind, p. in. Falco albicilla, Gm.
Syst. Nat. i. p. 253. Aquila albicilla, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso. As. i. p. 345.
Ilalixtus pelagicus, Hume, Rough Notes,\\. p. 252. Haliaetus brooksi, Hume,
Ibis, 1870, p. 438 ; Murray, Vert. Zool- Sind, p. 83, The EUROPEAN WHITE-
TAILED SEA EAGLE.
Male. The legs and feet bright orange yellow. Gape and portion of cere
yellow, the upper portion being yellowish brown. Bill blackish horny ; head,
nape, cheeks, ear-coverts and sides of the neck hair brown, all the feathers white
at their bases, in some for the basal half, in others for fully the basal two-thirds,
but very little of the white showing through, the feathers being densely set ; all
the feathers of these parts long and linear, those of the occiput especially ; the
back of the neck, the whole of the back and rump, scapulars and wing coverts,
except the greater primary coverts, as well as the feathers of the breast and
abdomen a warm buffy fawn colour, changing to white at their bases, and more
or less broadly tipped with hair brown ; the longer scapulars and the upper tail
coverts, which latter are very broad and come down to within some four inches
of the tip of the tail, a mixture of yellowish and hair brown, mottled and
freckled with white and yellowish white ; tail, which is very wedge-shaped,
dark brown, mottled all over with dingy yellowish white, which colour pre-
dominates on the inner webs ; the quills, winglet, and greater primary coverts
chocolate brown ; the second to the 5th primaries conspicuously emarginate on
52 FALCONID/E.
the outer web, and with a grey silvery tinge above the emarginations ; the 1st
to the 5th primaries conspicuoucly notched on the inner webs ; the chin and
throat pale buffy brown, the feathers whitish at the base and darker at the tips ;
the flanks and thigh coverts pale yellowish brown, the feathers tipped darker ,-
the lower tail coverts dingy white, broadly tipped with brown, which in the
longer ones is a dark hair brown : in the shorter a dull yellowish brown ; wing
lining a sort of umber brown, the bases of all the feathers paler, some of
them fawn-coloured and some white.
Female. The legs, feet, cere and gape a sort of brownish yellow ; the upper
mandible and claws blackish horny ; the tip of the lower mandible yellowish
horny .; the whole of the head, nape, sides of the neck, cheeks, chin and
throat pale yellowish brown ; the feathers white, tipped with yellowish brown,
which, owing to the feathers being closely set, is the predominant colour,
especially on the top of the head ; the ear coverts a darker brown ; the whole
of the back of the neck, back, rump and upper tail coverts, breast, sides,
abdomen, vent, and lower tail coverts white, comparatively narrowly tipped
with yellowish brown, and many of the feathers, with a narrow, linear, ovate,
hair brown shaft spot near the tip. As in the male, the upper tail coverts are
ovate lanceolate, very broad and long, and reach to within less than six inches
of the end of the long wedge-shaped tail ; most of the scapulars and the tail
feathers are a mixture of dull dark and pale dingy yellowish brown, everywhere
mottled and freckled with dirty white, which occupies almost the whole of the
inner webs of the lateral tail feathers ; the wing coverts, except the greater
primary coverts, are wood brown, showing little or nothing of the white bases ;
most of the tertiaries are mottled white and dingy yellowish brown, like the tail ;
the secondaries are a dull, slightly rufous brown, much mottled on the inner
webs with white, and the primaries are dark chocolate brown, greyish above
the emarginations ; some of the primary greater coverts are dark chocolate
brown and others are a pale rufous brown. (Sir. F. vii. 341 .)
The following is McGillivray's description quoted in Stray Feathers :
Male. The cere and bill are pale yellow ; the iris bright yellow ; the tarsi
and toes gamboge ; the claws black with a tinge of greyish blue ; the plumage
of the head, neck, forepart of the back and breast with the upper wing coverts
greyish yellow, the feathers all greyish brown at the base ; of the other parts
greyish brown, edged with yellowish grey ; scapulars and feathers of the rump
glossed with purple ; those of the abdomen, tibia and subcaudal region inclin-
ing to chocolate brown ; the quills and alular feathers brownish black, with a
tinge of grey, the inner secondaries inclining to chocolate brown ; the shafts
of all white towards the base ; the lower surface of the quills and the large
coverts tinged with greyish blue ; the upper tail coverts and the tail are white
(generally freckled with dusky grey at the base) ; the down on the breast pale
grey, that on the sides darker.
HALI/RTUS. 53
Length, to end of tail, 36 inches ; extent of wing 72 inches ; bill along the ridge
3-41, along the edge of lower mandible 3; its height 1-41 ; wing from flexure 24
inches ; tail 1 1*4 ; tarsus 4.
The female does not differ from the male in colour, and her superiority in
size is often not very remarkable. Length, to end of tail, 40 inches ; extent of
wing 10 ; bill along the ridge 3*91 ; along the edge of lower mandible 3'33; its
height i'66 ; wing from flexure 27*5 ; tail 12 inches ; tarsus 4^5 inches.
Hal. Sind, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Beloochistan Coast, and
Persia. On the Indus and the larger lakes or dhunds throughout Sind, espe-
cially on the Munchur Lake it is very common ; also on the Jhelum, Chenab
and Sutlej rivers. Sharpe gives its habitat as Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands,
the whole of Europe and Northern Asia, Kamschatka and Japan, extending
into China as far as Amoy.
The Erne or European White-tailed Sea Eagle is a bird of a very imposing
aspect. It often assumes many elegant attitudes, especially when excited. Its
habitat is always either near the sea on rocky prominences, or inland on the
larger lakes, where it feeds upon fish, plunging into the water after the manner
of the osprey. Aquatic birds also form part of its food. Of its breeding
in India there is no information. Morris in his British Birds says it builds in
March and sits very close, but is by no means so courageous as the Golden
Eagle in defending its brood. The nest is about five feet wide, flat, and
has only a slight hollow in the middle. It is a mass of stick, heather or seaweed,
as the case may be, and lined with any soft material as grass, wool or feathers.
It i& placed on some precipice, or in the hollow of a crag or rock overhanging
the sea, or else in some inland fastness. The eggs, one or two in number, are
about 3 X 2^ inches, white or yellowish white, thickly sprinkled over with
reddish spots.
48. Halisetus leucogast er, Gm. S. N. i. p. 257 ; Vig. Zopl. Journ. i.
P- 33 6 ',Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 85 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. B. M. p. 307; Sir. F. ii.
149; iii. 324-335 ; iv. 422-461 ; vi. 17; vii. 199; ix. 32. Cuncuma leucogaster,
Hume Rough Notes,i. p. 259 ; Wall. Ibis, 1868, p. 15. The WHITE-BELLIED
SEA EAGLE.
Adult. Head, neck all round, breast, abdomen, under tail and wing coverts
white ; the outermost of the latter shaded with grey ; the greater series ashy
grey with white bases ; body above ashy grey, shaded with brown. Primaries
cinereous black ; also the secondaries, but tipped narrowly with white ; tail
black, broadly tipped with white. Cere and orbital ridge bluish lead tinged
with green ; legs and feet yellowish. Irides olive brown.
Length. 2% to 30 inches; wing 22 to 24; tail 9 to 9-5 ; tarsus 3-1 to 4;
bill from gape 2*25.
54 FALCONID/E.
The adult female is larger. The young is described by Mr. Sharpe (Cat.
Ace.) Head and neck dark brown, streaked with buffy white ; throat sandy
buff, the feathers paler centred ; rest of under surface rufescent brown with
distinct buffy shaft streaks widening towards the apex ; under tail coverts for
the most part white, irregularly mottled with reddish brown. Above brown, the
feathers margined paler, and with dull whitish shaft stripes ; lower back and
rump rather darker than the rest of the back, and with distinct white streaks ;
quills deep brown ; secondaries paler and tipped with buffy white ; the quills
with more or less distinct darker brown bars ; tip of inner web whitish below for
the greater part of its length ; tail dark brown, tipped with whitish and crossed
with three ill-defined bars of paler brown, much mottled with darker brown
and shaded with whitish.
Hob. The whole of India, including British Burmah and the Tennaserim
province, also Assam and the Malay Archipelago, the Andamansand Nicobars.
Occurs in the Concan, Deccan, Central, Northern and Southern India, Punjab,
N.-W. P. and Bengal. A permanent resident in most parts, breeding on lofty
trees.
Mr. Vidal has taken the eggs, in October, November and December, in the
Southern Concan. The nests are gigantic platforms, built of strong, thick
sticks, and are fully 5 feet in diameter. The normal number of eggs is one,
and sometimes two have been found ; they are greenish white, unspotted and
glossless, from 27 X 2-04 to 3- X 2 '06 inches. Mr. Vidal's experience is that
the same nests are used year after year, after being repaired, and that they
build on large trees in cocoanut and other gardens. As its English name
implies, it feeds chiefly upon fish.
49. Haliaetus leucoryphus, Pallas, Reis. Russ. Racks, i.p. 454;
Keys, and Bias. Wirb. Eur. p. xxx. ; Strick. Orn. Syn. p. 52; Hume, Rough
Notes, ii. p. 242; Stray Feathers, i. pp. 102-159 ; Hume and Henderson, Lahore
to Yarkand, p. 173 ; Blanford, Eastern Persia, p. 112; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. B .M.
p. 309; Murray, Hdblc. Zool. fyc. Sind; id. Vert. Zoo I. Sind, p. in. H.
fulviventer, Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 82, No. 42. Ichthysetus leucoryphus, Blyth,
Ann. and M. N. H. xv. p. 37. Cuncuma macei, Gray, Cat. Ace. p. 23.
The RING-TAILED SEA EAGLE.
Adult Male. Above dark brown, with a slight purplish gloss ; some of the
greater coverts slightly margined with paler brown ; quills blackish ; the
secondaries rather browner like the scapulars ; the lower surface of the quills
brown, inclining to bluish ash colour on the inner web of the primaries ; some
of the secondaries mottled with white near the base of the inner web ; lower
back, rump, and upper tail coverts purplish brown, some of the outermost of
the latter whitish at base ; tail white, blackish at base, with a broad black
terminal band. Head, hind neck and interscapulary region sandy-brown,
the feathers of the head and hind neck streaked with fulvous. Sides of face
HALI/KTUS. 55
and throat huffy white, the latter with narrow whitish streaks down the centre
of the feathers ; rest of under surface of body dull fulvous brown, lighter
on the chest, where the feathers are paler centered and deeper brown also on
the Hanks, thighs and under tail coverts. Under wing coverts and axillaries
blackish brown, slightly mottled with white. r Cere pale bluish green. Nos-
trils, gape, and base of lower mandibb bluish. Upper mandible greenish
horn colour, dusky at tip ; feet greyish white ; iris pale brownish
yellow.
Length. 30 inches; culmen 2'6 ; wing 22'2; tail 12*2 ; tarsus 3'6.
Adult Female. Length, 33 inches ; wing 24*4 ; tail 117; tarsus 4-3.
young. Above dark brown, the feathers of the back deeper brown towards
their bases ; the wing coverts lighter than the back, and the upper tail- coverts
plainly margined with whitey-brown ; greater coverts dark brown with whitey-
brown tips ; quills blackish, externally shaded with ashy ; the innermost
secondaries dark brown like the back ; lower surface of quills ashy brown,
some of the innermost primaries inclining to whitish on inner web ; tail dark
brown, shaded with ashy above and below ; head, neck, and under parts ful-
vous brown, deeper on the head and varied with white bases to the abdominal
plumes and under tail coverts ; the head and neck rather darker than the
under parts and streaked with sandy brown ; the chest and breast feathers
with broad whitey-brown margins and tips ; under wing coverts dull brown,
margined with paler brown ; the median series streaked with whitey-brown,
the greater ones ashy white at the base and mottled along the shaft towards
the tip, which is also white ; feet clear lemon yellow. (Sharpe.)
Mr. Hume (R. N. p. 245) describes a nestling female nearly able to fly as a
nearly uniform dark brown above and lighter below ; the legs and feet a clear
pale lemon yellow.
Hob. Sind, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Oudh and Bengal ; Kutch, Rajpu-
tana, the Western Coast and the Cancan; also Beloochistan, Persia and
Afghanistan. Ascends the Ganges and other large rivers ; found also in
Nepal and Cashmere. In the Concan and along the Sind, Kutch and
Kattiawar Coasts, it is known as the Mutchee Mar or Mutchlce Mimg.
The Ring-tailed Sea Eagle is found throughout the year in Sind, along the
Indus., and on the larger lakes. It breeds in the winter months (November,
December and January), building a nest of twigs, &c., from 4 to 5 feet in
diameter, inclusive of the outer thin layer, usually on high trees in'the vicinity
of water. Eggs usually 2, but I have found a third and fourth laid by the
same bird a tortni-ht after taking the two first ones. In colour they are white
or greyish white and unspotted, and measure 2j 3 inches x 2-\ to 2.
56 FALCONID/E.
Gen. Haliastur.
Bill stout, curved and hooked. Nostrils circular with bony margin all
round. Wings very long, the 4th quill longest ; tail slightly rounded ; tarsi
plumed at the knee, and covered with scutse.
50. Haliastur IndUS, Bodd. Tail. PL Enl 25 ; Gray, Gen. Birds,
i. p. 18 ; Jerdon, B. of Ltd. i. p. loi, No. 55 ; Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 316 ;
S. F. vii. 251, i. p. 160; Murray, Hdbk. Zool. &c. Sind, p. 116; Gray,
Cat. Ace. B.M. p. 313. Haliaetus indus, Sch. Mus. P. .p. 19. The
MAROON-BACKED KITE.
Adult. Head, neck, throat, entire breast, and as far as the middle of the
abdomen white, with dark brown shaft stripes ; rest of the plumage maroon,
or rufous chestnut, paler on the secondaries, the tail paling into a fulvous white
at the tip. Quills black, rufescent at the base of inner web ; under wing
coverts deep maroon, with dark shaft stripes ; cere brownish ; feet greenish
yellow ; irides brown.
Length. 20 to 21 inches ; wing 1475 to 16 ; tail 7 to 8.
The young bird is a rather deep brown above, the feathers tipped with
rufous. Head, neck, and lower parts pale rufous, streaked paler.
Hal. India and Ceylon. Recorded from Sind, the Punjab, N.-W. Pro-
vinces, Kutch, Kattiawar, Ajmere, Concan, Deccan, Tranvancore, Upper
Pegu, Nepal. Breeds wherever it occurs from the middle of February to the
beginning of April, The nest is always on a tree near by water, and is not
unlike that of Milvus govinda. The normal number of eggs is two, but it is
not uncommon to find three. In shape they vary much ; but typically they
are very perfect, moderately broad ovals, slightly compressed towards one end ;
in colour greyish white, speckled or spotted with pale dingy brown or reddish
brown. Size 1-89102-28 X i'5 to 1-79.
Gen. MilvUS. Cuv.
Bill short, straight at the base, well curved and hooked at tip. Upper
mandible with a rounded festoon. Nostrils oval, oblique. Wings long.
Tail forked or emarginate. Tarsi short, plumed at the knees, and with
scutae in front below.
M1LVUS. 57
51. MilvUS govinda, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 81 ; Jtrd* 23. of JmL
p. 104, No. 56 ; Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 320; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. J3. AT
p. 325 ; Stray Feathers^ i. p. 1 60 ; Murray, HdUk. ZooL fyc. Sind,
p. 1 1 6 ; id. Vert. ZooL Sind, p. 90. The COMMON PARIAH KITE.
Adult Male. Above brown or rufous brown, the head and neck rufescent
with dark central stripes. Scapulars and wing coverts edged with buff, the
wing coverts with dark central stripes. Quills and greater coverts dark brown,
the quills albescent near the base and mottled with brown. Tail ashy brown,
tipped with buffy white and barred with brown ; the under surface pale brown
or whitish, and also mottled and barred. Throat albescent with brown
shaft stripes. Under parts dull rufous brown, buffy on the vent and under
tail coverts, and with brown shaft stripes. The feathers of the breast some-
what fulvescent. Under wing coverts rufous brown, with dark brown centres
to the feathers. Cere and gape yellow. Bill horny black. Feet yellowish.
Irides yellowish.
Length. 20 to 23 inches; wing 18*5 to 19 ; tail 13 ; tarsus 2-25.
Hal. Throughout India. A resident scavenger. Breeds on house tops,
old mosques, and flat-roofed buildings, seldom on trees, during January,
February, and March. It occurs also in Beloochistan, Afghanistan, and
Nepal.
52. MilvUS melanotiS, Tern, el Schhg.Faun.Jap. ; Stanford, J. A.
S. B. 1872, p. 153 ; Gray, Gen. Birds, i p. 24 ; S. F. i. p. 160; id. in. 229;
Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br. Mus. p. 324; Murray, Zool. $r. Sind, p. 1 16. Milvus
major, Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 326; Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 91.
The LARGE PARIAH KITE.
Adult Male. Above dark chocolate brown, all the feathers distinctly
streaked down the centre with black; the wing coverts a little paler brown, the
lesser series washed with rufous, all with distinct black shaft stripes. Greater
coverts and quills dark brown, the secondaries paler brown, the primaries
blackish, all the quills distinctly white at the base of the inner web, and
sometimes mottled with brown. Tail rather pale brown, the centre feathers
with a slight rufous tinge and distinctly barred with darker brown ; these bars
are distinct on the inner web only of the outer feathers Under surface of
tail brownish ashy, the bars more or less distinct. Lores, forehead, cheeks
and throat white, with distinct shaft lines of dark brown ; ear coverts dark
brown; throat white, tinged with rufous on the lower part. Breast deep
rufous brown, shading into clear rufous on the abdomen and under tail coverts ;
the feathers on the breast margined lighter and with broad central dark streaks.
Under wing coverts dark brown, dashed with rufous; the lower ones ashy
brown, notched or barred with white on their inner webs. Cere pale greenish
yellow. Bill horn black. Feet dull yellow. Irides reddish brown.
8
5g FALCONID^E.
Length. -25- $ inches; wing 21 ; tail 13-2 ; tarsus 2-5.
There is yet a set controversy in regard to the distinctness of this species
from M. govinda. Mr. Edwin Brooks, in vol. iv. S. F., says that from an
examination of the type of M. govinda in the South Kensington Museum, he
concludes that M. melanotis (T. and S.) and M. major (Hume) must be con-
sidered as synonyms of M. govinda (Sykes). Schlegel again unites melanotis
and govinda, but Mr. Hume holds that the pure white wing patch of major
distinguishes it equally from melanotis, govinda and affinis, a third species
found in India, also by its larger size.
The following comparative measurements are given by Mr. Hume :
Wing, Male. Wing, Female.
M. govinda 17-5 to 18 18 to 19-5
M. major 19 to 20-5 19-45 to 21
M. affinis 16 to 17-5 17 to 1775
#00. Throughout India, Japan, and China; also Nepal and Eastern
Turkistan.
53. Milvus affinis, Gould. P. Z. S. 1837, p. 140 ; id. B. Austr \.
pi. 21 ; Wall. Ibis, 1868, p. 13; Jerd. Ibis, 1871, p. 343 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace.
B. M. p. 323; 'Str.F. i. p. 160; vii. 44-200 ; Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind,
p. 9!. The MALAYAN or LESSER INDIAN KITE.
Head pale brown, or rufescent brown, the feathers darker streaked ; lores and
ear coverts blackish ; chin whitish, with distinct black shaft stripes, under
surface of body dull rufous brown, inclining to dusky on the chest and flanks-
all the feathers distinctly but narrowly streaked with black along the shaft ;
back blackish brown, the wing coverts paler, and with distinct shaft stripes ;
primaries blackish ; secondaries paler ; under surface of wing pale brown,
ashy near the base ; tail dark brown, ashy beneath, with remains of dark bars
on the centre feathers j under wing coverts rufous brown with blackish shaft
stripes ; cere and feet yellow ; bill blackish ; irides brown.
Length. 20 inches; wing 16 to 17-5 ; tail 107; tarsus 2'05 ; culmen 1-55.
Females larger.
Hal. Sind, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Central and Southern India, Ajmere,
Bengal, the Deccan, British Burma (Upper Pegu) ; Maccassar, Celebes, Timor,
Chusan, and Australia.
Common throughout India nearly ; habits the same as M. govinda.
54. Milvus korschun, Gm. N. Com. Petrop. xv. p. 444 ; Strickl.
Orn. Syn. p. 133; Blf. Geol. Zool. Abyss, p. 300; Shelley, Birds Egypt;
Sharpe, Cat. Ace. p. 322. Falco ater, Gm. Syn. N. i. p. 262 ; Bree. B.
Europe, i, p. 101. Milvus niger, Bp. Comp. List. B. Eur. and N. Am. p. 4,
ELANUS. 59
Adult Male. Crown, sides of the head and nape white ; the forehead
narrowly and the other parts broadly striped with blackish brown ; upper
parts dark hair brown, wiih a metallic gloss on the back ; the feathers on the
hind neck with dark central stripes, those of the wing coverts and a few of
the scapulars with lighter edges ; primaries black, excepting some of the
inner ones, which are deep brown ; secondaries blackish brown, the inner
ones assimilating in colour to the back ; tail like the back, but slightly duller
and a trifle grey in tinge, and with scarcely perceptible darker bars, being also
but slightly forked ; throat dull white, striped with blackish brown ; breast
clove brown with blackish stripes ; rest of the under parts deep ferruginous,
each feather with a dark shaft line; under wing coverts rufous, varied with
deep brQwn ; bill blackish horn, yellowish at the base of the lower mandible ;
cere pale yellow ; iris greyish, with a yellow tinge surrounded by a black line ;
legs pale yellow; claws black. Total length about 32 inches; culmen i'6 ;
wing 17-0; tail 11*2; tarsus 2-25.
Female. Resembles the male, but is somewhat larger in size, rather darker,
and a trifle more rufous in general colouration.
Young. Upper parts of a much duller brown than the adult; the feathers
tipped with yellowish white, which gives it a very spotted appearance ; crown
and nape with these terminal spots much larger, so as almost to hide the rest
of the feathers ; throat brownish white, the feathers with dark shafts ; rest of the
under parts dull dark brown, becoming dull reddish brown on the abdomen,
every feather with the terminal portion, except on the edge, dull horny colour,
which gives the under parts the appearance of being marked with elongated
oval spots of this latter colour ; quills and tail as in the adult ; but the latter is
tipped with dull brownish white, and the bars are more conspicuous. (Dresser,
Birds of Europe.)
Hab. Upper Sind Frontier, Beloochistan, and Southern Afghanistan;
Africa, Madagascar, S. and VV. Europe. Breeds nearly throughout Afghanis-
tan and Beloochistan during March. Eggs, in size, shape and colour the
counterpart of M. govinda.
Gen. ElanuS. Savigny.
Bill small, ridge (without cere) greater than half of middle toe without
claw ; tip much hooked and lengthened ; edge of upper mandible slightly
sinuate. Cere small ; nostrils oval. Loreal space feathered. Wings reaching
to end of tail, pointed ; 2nd quill longest; the ist emarginate near the tip.
Tail short. Tarsi short, plumed above, covered with small round scales.
Middle claw keeled.
55. ElanuS CaeruleilS, Desf. Mem. Acad. R. des Science, p. 503, pl_
15. Falco melanopterus, Daud. Traite, ii. i. p. 152 ; Bree, Birds Eur. i. p. 108.
Elanus melanopterus, Leach, Zool. Misc. p. 5 ; Jcrd. Birds of bid. i. p. 112^
60 FALCONID^.
No. 59 ; Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 570 ; Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p2i ; Sfr.
F. i. pp. 21, 163 ; Murray, Zool., &c., Sind, p. 117; id. Vert. Zool. Sind,
p. 92. The BLACK-WINGED KITE.
Adult. Entire upper parts ashy grey, lighter on the head ; forehead, eye-
brow, lores and sides of face white ; ear-coverts ashy grey ; supercilium dark
brown or black ; lesser and median wing coverts and winglet glossy black ;
greater coverts concolourous with the back. Axillaries and under wing coverts
white ; inner lining of wing dark grey ; primary coverts and quills ashy grey,
the latter white at the base and black-shafted. Tail ashy, the two centre
feathers greyish ; entire under parts white. Cere, orbits, and feet yellow ; bill
black ; irides crimson.
Length. 13 inches; wing IO*6 to ii ; tail 5-6; tarsus 1-4.
Hal^ South-Eastern Europe, Africa, India and Ceylon. Very widely dis-
tributed. Recorded from Egypt, Gambia, Transvaal, South Africa, and the
Mediterranean ; also from Kutch, Kattiawar, Jodhpore, Sambhur, North
Guzerat, the Concan and Deccan, Pegu, Burmah and Nepaul. Breeds
almost throughout Upper India. Nest circular, composed of small twigs and
sticks, and lined with fine grass roots and fibres. Eggs, bluish white or creamy,
streaked and blotched with pale yellowish brown or brownish red.
As to the habits of this species there is not much recorded ; it usually flies
low, skimming above the surface of the ground, or hovers in the air much like
a kestrel, but dropping suddenly to the ground. It is not uncommon to
see it perch on telegraph wires, on the bare end of a bough, or on some dry
tree in the vicinity of water. It feeds chiefly on rats, mice, beetles, grass-
hoppers, and other insects.
It is a resident in Sind, and affects chiefly the acacia forests lining the
banks of the Indus. Breeds in the Narra districts from June to August.
Gen. Machseramphus. Westermann.
Bill small, feeble, and keeled ; culmen, with a sharp cutting edge, which has
two faint sinuations on the upper mandible ; cere small; nostrils long, oblique,
pierced near the margin of the cere; loreal plumes produced above half the
nostril ; tail of 1 2 feathers ; tarsi feathered in front for three-fourths of an inch,
reticulate ; outer and inner toes, with claws of the same length.
PERNIS. 61
56- MachserampllUS alcinUS, Wester-man, Bijd. lot. d. Dicrk., i. p.
29, pi. 12; Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 502 ; id. Cat. Ace. B.M.^. 341;
Hume, Stray F., iii. p. 269 ; id. Vol. vi. p. 24.
Adult Male. Black throughout, shaded with brown ; throat and front of the
neck white ; chin with a diamond-shaped patch of black, continued as a line
down the centre of the throat ; breast white ; a band of white above and below
the eye ; head with an occipital crest of pointed lanceolate feathers ; irides
bright yellow ; bill and claws black ; legs and feet pale plumbeous ; cere black.
Length. iS-o to .18-5 inches; expanse 46^0; tail 7'37; wing 14-62;
tarsus 2-5 ; bill, from gape, r8 ; from edge of cere to point (straight) 075;
greatest height of upper mandible 0*4.
Hab. Southern extremity of the Tennaserim provinces at Malewoon, and
Malacca.
The above particulars as to the colors of the soft parts and measurements
have been extracted from Mr. Hume's notice of the species in Sir. F., vol. iii.
Mr. Sharpe does not seem to have had a specimen to describe them.
Of the habits of this remarkable species I have no information. The wood-cut
of the head and bill is that of an allied species, M. Anderssoni, copied from Mr.
Sharpe's work, to show their peculiar structure.
Gen. Pernis. Cuv.
Bill curved from the base ; the margin straight ; lores clothed with scale-
like feathers ; tarsi short, reticulate, half plumed in front ; scales on toes
transverse ; wings and tail long.
57. Pernis ptilonorhynchus, Stcph. Gen. Zool. xiii. pi. 35 ; Holdsw.
P. Z. S. 1872, p. 414; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. B. M., p. 347. Pernis cristata, Cuv.
Regne An., i. p. 335 ; Jerd. B. Ind., i. p. 108, No. 57 ; Hume, Rough Notes, ii.
p. 330. Stray F., vol. iii. p. 448, vol. ix. p. 375. The HONEY BUZZARD.
Adult. General color above and below rich chocolate brown, with indistinct
black shaft stripes ; the crown and sides of head, as well as the throat, ashy grey ;
the lower throat blackish ; quills and tail brownish ashy, the latter with 3 dark
bands, the uppermost hidden by the upper tail coverts, the terminal one
tipped with greyish white ; crest undeveloped ; cere black, greenish towards
commissure and nostrils ; gape and lower mandible pale blue ; feet bees'-wax-
yellow ; irides yellow.
Length. 24 to 25-5 inches; wing 15-5 to 16^5 ; tail 11-5 to 1275; tarsus
2* i to 2-2. The female is larger. The intermediate and young stages of
the Honey Buzzard are so very variable, that it is scarcely necessary to de-
scribe them. Mr. Sharpe says : '* Great variations exist in the tone of the
intervening stages, the color varying from tawny to fulvous brown, while the
extentof black stripes on the throat is also a very variable character." Again, he
adds, under "Obs." that, the young of P. ptilonorhynchus, if they happen to be
crestless, are undistinguishable in plumage from the immature of P. apivorus ;
62 FALCONING.
and I have seen young birds from India which I could not separate from
European examples. A natural inference is that these may not be P.
pt Honor hynchus but P. apivorus, the young of which may migrate to India
in the winter." Mr. A. O. Hume's remarks are also to nearly the same effect.
ff a j) t The whole of India, except Sind ; the Himalayas, Burmah, the
Malayan Peninsula, Sumatra and Java, also Nepaul and Ceylon.
Breeds in May and June, on trees, making a moderate-sized nest of sticks and
twigs lined with leaves or grass ; eggs normally 2 in number, spherical
nearly, or a very broad oval, white or buffy with red, reddish brown, or blood
red markings and varying in size, from 1-82 to 2*2 in length and from 1*5
to 1*9 in breadth. The food of the Honey Buzzard is young birds, frogs,
mice, bees, and reptiles generally. It has a rapid flight, soars very high and
gracefully, and glides through the air without apparent effort. It is easily tamed,
bears confinement well and does not show the fierceness of other birds of
prey. Another species, Perm's brachypterus, Blyth, has been mentioned in Stray
Feathers, Vol. III. p. 36, as having been found in Upper Pegu. The description
is certainly very curt, and I have seen birds answering it from the Punjab
and the Deccan. The extremely variable character of the plumage of the
intermediate and crested stages of the species, leaves room to doubt its
validity.
Sub-family FALCONING, FALCONS.
Bill short, suddenly curved from the base ; upper mandible distinctly
toothed ; nostrils, either round, oblique, or linear oval ; cere short ; tarsi,
slender, naked ; hinder aspect reticulate. Outer toe only connected to mid-
toe by interdigital membrane ; tibia longer than tarsus.
Gen. Baza. Hodgs.
Bill small, much hooked, grooved on its side ; upper mandible with two
sharp teeth on each side, lower with 3-4 ; lores covered with feathers ; nostrils
transverse, narrow ; head crested ; wings moderate ; the 3rd quill longest,
the 1st three slightly emarginate towards the tip ; tarsi covered with small
smooth hexagonal scales ; claws small, sub equal.
58- Baza lophotes, Tern. PI. Col. i. pi. 10; Gray List, Gen. B., p. 4,
Btyih. Cat. B. Mus. Soc. Beng., p. 17 ; Jerd. B. Ind., i. p. in, No. 58 ;
Bly. Ibis, 1863, p. ii ; Wall. Ibis 1868, p. 19 ; Hume, Rough Notes, p. 337 ;
Hold., P. Z. S. 1872, Sharpe, Cat. Ace. B. M., p. 352 ; Hume, Sir. F.> vi.
p. 24; viii. p. 191. The BLACK CRESTED KITE.
BAZA. 63
Above glossy greenish black \vith a very long occipital crest; thigh coverts
under-tail and under-wing coverts also glossy greenish black; quills black,
greyish underneath ; outer webs of the secondaries deep chestnut at base and
towards the tip which is greenish black, rest of the feathers white ; scapulars and
some of the coverts next them white internally and tipped chestnut, forming a
conspicuous interrupted white wing band ; tail greenish black above, ashy
grey beneath ; entire sides of the face and neck as well as the throat black,
tinged with brown ; foreneck and chest white, forming a very broad band,
followed by an indistinct line of blackish feathers, and another broad band of
chestnut covering the upper breast ; lower breast creamy white and banded
with chestnut, narrow on the lower part and flanks ; thighs, lower abdomen,
under tail -coverts and underwing-coverts greenish black, the lower ones of the
latter ashy grey ; bill and legs plumbeous ; irides dark brown.
Length. 13 to 14 inches ; wing 9 to 9-85 ; tail 5- to 57 ; tarsus i'3 to 1-5.
Hab. Southern India, Ceylon, the Malayan Peninsula, Lower Bengal,
Assam, Tipperah and the Tennaserim provinces of British Burma.
Of the nidification of this species nothing is known.
59. Baza sumatrensis, Lafr. Rev. Zool, 1848, p. 216 ; Gray Gen. B.
III. App. p. 2, 1849; Wall Ibis, 1868, p. 18; Sharpe Cat. Ace., p. 357;
Stray F. ii. p. 378 ; iii. p. 313 ; iv. p. 248; vi. p. 25 ; viii. p. 444. THE
SUMATRAN CRESTED KITE.
Male. Hume's specimen from Tennaserim Baza incognita, nobis. Fore-
head, and a broad but inconspicuous band from the latter over the eyes to the
nape pale whitey brown (not noticeable in Sharpe's figure) ; the shafts darker
brown; crown of the head, occiput, nape and sides of the neck rufescent buff;
the feathers broadly centred with dark brown ; crest black, narrowly and obso-
letely barred the feathers with white tips ; lores and an inconspicuous band under
the eye and the base of the ear-coverts grey, the feathers darker shafted ; rest
of ear-coverts and lateral portions of the throat fulvous, the feathers dark shafted ;
chin and throat pure white, slightly tinged with yellowish, and with a narrow
and conspicuous black central stripe ; upper breast mingled white and a pale
54 FALCONING.
brownish rufous ; lower breast, sides, flanks, auxiliaries and abdomen white with
broad regular transverse brownish rufous bands ; vent and lower tail coverts
white or buffy with traces of rufous barring ; wing lining yellowish white with
rufous bars and mottlings ; quills brown on the outer webs, banded obscurely
with darker brown, their inner webs with a dark drab brown at the tips and white
basally, with several broad, blackish brown transverse bands and tipped white ;
also the secondaries and some of the median coverts ; lower surface of quills
French grey at the tips ; tail pale drab with a subterminal band, which is black,
and 3 others ; under surface of tail greyish white, the dark bands showing
through on the outer webs.
Length. 18-5 ; wing 13*12 ; tail 9-62; tarsus r6 ; bill from gape 1-35 ; legs
and feet white tinged with blue. Irides bright yellow ; cere and upper man-
dible blackish ; base of lower mandible paler.
The female is very similar to the male except that the head, nape and sides
of the neck are more rufescent and have less conspicuous dark brown central
stripes, the mantle is a much less dark brown, there is less of the purple gloss
and the marginal fringes of the feathers are broader and more rufous ; there
is no grey about the cheeks, which are pale fulvous fawn ; the chin and throat
too are fulvous white and the throat stripe is brown, instead of black, as in the
male ; the coverts are also paler and more rufescent.
Length. 22*0 inches; wing 1375 ; tail 10*25 ; tarsus 17; bill from gape
>
Mr. Sharpe Cat. Ace., describes a young female from Sumatra, but Messrs.
Hume and Gurney, two profound Ornithologists, suggest that it was not
correctly sexed, and that the specimen is a young male, and not female. The
following is Mr. Sharpe's description.
Young female. Head and hind-neck creamy buff, washed with tawny
rufous, the feathers on hinder part of crown dark brown in the centre ;
occipital crest very long, black, with cream-coloured tip ; back brown with
fulvous edgings, the scapulars and secondaries further margined with white ;
quills ashy brown, barred with darker brown, the tail similarly coloured,
narrowly tipped with white ; the feathers washed externally with rufous near
the base ; the bars on the tail four in number, one being concealed ; the under-
surface of both wings and tail paler and more ashy white ; entire sides of
face, throat and under-parts creamy buff washed with pale tawny rufous ; the
breast and sides of the body broadly barred with the latter colour ; under-wing
coverts creamy buff ; bill black ; pale at base beneath ; feet yellowish white ;
iris yellow.
Length. 2v$ inches; culmen 1-4 ; wing 1275 ; tail 9-6; tarsus r6.
Hab. Sumatra, Tennaserim, B. Burmah.
MICROHIERAX. (55
60. Baza ceylonensis, Lcgge, Birds nf Ceylon-, Stray F., iv.
p. 247; vui - P- 444 : T HE CEYLON CRESTED KITE.
Lores blackish ; head brownish tawny ; centre of forehead and crown, black,
edged with rufous; occipital crest if inches in length, black, conspicuously
tipped with white ; the feathers of the hindneck deeply edged with rufous
tawny, the centre parts being black ; back, scapulars, rump, upper tail coverts
primary and lesser wing coverts blackish brown, the latter the deepest and
with a cinerous tinge ; upper tail coverts paler than the back ; median and
greater wing coverts pale or fulvous brown ; quills black, the outer webs
with smoky grey bars, the corresponding band on the inner web being brown ;
tertials and secondaries tipped with white; tail dark smoky grey, tipped
greyish white and with four blackish bars, the terminal one about \\
inches in depth ; cheeks and ear-coverts slaty grey with dark shafts, the dark
feathers of the occiput passing round to meet the latter region ; chin and
throat buff with a broad mesial black streak ; sides and lower part of fore-
neck with the upper edge of the pectoral region tawny cinerous, the feathers
with brownish shafts ; below this, the under-surface, under-tail and under-wing
coverts are white, with broad rufescent brown edges ; iris yellow, also the
tarsi and feet ; bill blackish leaden ; lower mandible pale at base ; cere dusky
plumbeous.
Length. To front of cere 16-5; culmcn criO; total length 17*5; wing 117;
tail 7-5 ; tarsus 1-5 ; bill to gape 1*2.
If <ib. Southern India (The VVynaad) and Ceylon (Kandy district).
Nothing is known of its habits, &c.
Gen. Microllierax. Sharpe.
Bill short ; upper mandible with a tooth and a notch on each side ; wings
short ; 2nd and 3rd quills equal ; tarsus short, with large transverse scutae
in front.
61. Microhierax cserulescens, Linn. S. N. i. p. 126; Skarpe,
Cat. Ace. B. M., p. 366. Harpagus caerulescens, Sws. Classif.B., ii. p. 213.
Hierax bcngalensis, Ely. J. A. S. B. xi. pt. ii. p. 789, Hierax Eutolmus,
Gray. Gen. B., i. p. 21 ; Jerd. B. ///</., i. p. 42, No. 20; Hume, Rough
Notes, i. p. 3. The WHITE-NAPED PIGMY FALCON.
Adult. Forehead, supercilium continued to down the sides of the neck,
and connecting the broad collar on the nape, white; round the eye and a broad
streak to the ear coverts black; throat, lower abdomen, under tail coverts, and
thi-hs chestnut; occiput to the white collar black, also the mantle, wings,
an. I tail; quills black, barred with white on their inner web; tail spotted
with white on the inner webs ; lower throat, breast, and" abdomen silky white.
Length. 5-5 to 6-5 inches; wing 4 to 4-5 ; tail 2'i to 2*5 ; tarsus 075 to
0-85.
9
66 FALCONING.
. Southern and Upper India, Nepal, and Assam, Sikkim, Arrakan,
British Burma, the Tennaserim Provinces, Darjeeling.
Affects open jungle, and are often seen perched on dead trees in parties of
5 or 6. Mr. Davison found that they affected the top of some large tree rising
higher than its neighbours, and from this commanding perch they took longer
or shorter flights, after insects apparently. Their flight is rapid and as far as
my observations go, they feed both on insects and small birds. They are
quick and lively in their motions. Of the nidincation of this, the red-legged
Falconet, nothing is known.
62. Microhierax fringillarius, Drap. Diet. Class d'Ht'st. Nat. vi.
p. 412, pi. v. Hierax caerulescens, Vig. Zool. Journ. i. p. 339; JBfy. J. A.
S. B., xii. p. 1 80; Wall. Ibis., 1868 p. 6. Hierax Malayensis, Strickl.
Ann. N. H ti xiii. p. 33. THE BLACK-LEGGED FALCONET.
Adult. Above deep blue black, quills and tail also black, but barred with
white on their inner web ; forehead and a stripe from behind the eye down the
sides of the neck white, lores, round the eye, ear coverts and hinder part of
cheek black ; under parts silky white ; the throat slightly, the abdomen and
under tail coverts more richly washed with ochre ; sides of body, flanks, and
outer face of thighs glossy black.
Length. 575 to 6*45 inches ; wing 3-62 to 3-82 ; tail 2 to 275 ; bill from
gape 0-45 to 0-55 ; tarsus 0-65 to 075; bill legs, and feet black; irides dark
brown; orbital skin plumbeous.
The female is larger.
Length. 6-4. to 67; wing 3-82 to 4-15 ; tail 2-25 to 2*62.
In the young bird the bill is yellow ; frontal band and streak behind the
eye tinged with pale ferruginous ; upper tail coverts and tail feathers margined
with buff.
Hab. The Malayan Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Tennaserim,
Malacca and Singapore.
The black-legged falconet is common in the southern portions of the
Province of Tennaserim, as high up as 3,500 feet elevation. It is not known
from any other part of British India. It feeds generally on small birds and
insects, and its habits are quite those of M. ccerulescens.
^*^ f Gen. Poliohierax. Kaup.
Nostrils perpendicular, oval, with no overhanging membrane or central
tubercle ; bare part of tarsus greater than outer toe and claw.
63. Poliohierax insignis, Waid. P. Z. S. 1871, p. 627, et Ibis.
1872, pp. 200-471 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. B. M. p. 370; Stray. F.> vi. p. 2.
Lithofalco fieldeni, Hume, J. A. S. B. 1872, p. 70. FIELDEN'S FALCONET.
Adult Male. Forehead, lores and feathers round the eye greyish white with
dark shafts ; rest of the top, back, sides of the head and upper back slaty
POLIOHIERAX. 67
i
blue, each feather with a linear dark shaft stripe ; lower hack, rump and
upper tail coverts white ; tail feathers black, tipped with white and with a feu-
white spots, the remains of narrow transverse bars, not very apparent on the
central tail feathers ; quills blackish brown or black (the later secondaries
and tertiaries more or less tinged slaty) with a few small white spots, most
conspicuous on the outer webs of all but the first primary and numerous broad
white bars on the inner webs ; chin, throat, and whole lower surface, including
wing lining, white ; some of the feathers of the throat with narrow, central
brown shaft stripes and, those of the sides and upper abdomen with broad
grey brown dashes ; cere, orbits and feet yellow ; bill leaden black, yellow
at base.
Male. Length IQ'5 inches ; wing 5^5 ; tail 5*8 ; tarsus 1*55 ; culmen 0*85.
The female is like the male* but distinguished by its bright ferruginous head
and markings ; forehead, eyebrow, and sides of face ashy white with narrow
linear black shaft stripes.
Length. 10-7 to 10*9 inches; wing 5^9 to 6 ; tail 5*8; tarsus 1*5 to i'6.
Hab. Pegu, Toonghoo, and Tennaserim. Capt. Fielden says it is common
about Thayetmyo. Mr. Gates, (S. F. iii.), says, from the Irrawady to the sum-
mit of the Pegu hills, also Arracan,
According to Capt. Fielden's observations its food consists of insects, with an
occasional mouse, snake, or lizard. He adds that " the ordinary note of this
bird is like that of the white-eyed buzzard, but of course not so loud.
During the pairing season, its call-note is a kind of whistling hoot, which
appeared to me to resemble ' tooovey,' the ' too,' very much prolonged. I once
saw a pair meet, when they uttered a succession of loud harsh screams which
resembled the cries of a flock of red-waltled plovers when disturbed, but
before they rise. They pair about the last week in January. I found
an unshelled egg in March (on dissection). I think I found an old nest in
the fork of a tree as I shot a young bird a short distance off, but I only mention
this as a help to others in looking for the nest. It resembled a small hawk
eagle's nest both in make and position.
"The habits of these birds are very peculiar, in something resembling those
of the magpie. They perch exactly like a falcon ; but if they wish to move
along a branch, they hop sideways, or if the branch is pretty upright, walk up
it foot over foot, if I may use the expression, in the same manner as a Magpie.-
When at all alarmed they jerk their tail, and when much excited by the ap-
proach of any one, lower their heads exactly in the same way as some of the
owlets. Altogether, when moving about the branches of a tree, they might at
a short distance be mistaken for a magpie, except for the shape of the head.
The flight is also peculiar, a few tolerably rapid strokes ending, if I remember
rightly, in a slightly upward jerk, then a short sail through the air, and then
a few more strokes, and so on.
08 FALCONING
" I have invariably found them on cleared ground in the middle of jungles,
seated on trees, and once on a fallen hut. The exception to this being when
I found them at a spot where several jungle roads meet and form an open
space, or on low gravelly hills thinly covered with bushes, and an occasional
tree. Their most favourite seat seems to be a dead tree, barked by the Burmese,
in the middle of one of their half-cleared cotton fields. I once saw a pair on
a tree in a dry rice field, but on every other occasion the ground was covered
partially with bushes, cotton plants, &c. I have found them from the level
of the Irrawady to the highest cultivated patches in the hills about Thayetmyo,
I have never seen one in a large open space or in thick jungle."
Gen. FalGO. Linn.
Nostrils round with a central tubercle. First one or two quills notched
internally, second quill longest ; tarsus feathered at the knee ; toes long,
scutellated.
64. PalCO COmmimiS, Gm., S. N.p. 270; Less. TraiU, p. 88,
pi. 16; Sharpe, Ann. N. H. xL p. 222 ; id. Cat. Ace. B . M. p. 376. Falco
peregrinus, Gmel. S. N., vol. i. p. 272 ; Jerdon, Birds of India, vol. i.
p. 21; Ibis, 1 87 1 j Gray, Cat. Br. Mus,, p. 1 1 ; Hume, Rough Notes,, vol.
i. p. 49; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br. Hf.,p, 376; Murray, Hdbk., Zool., &c.,
Sind, p, 1 06. Bhyri (the female), Bhyri Bacha (the male). Hind. Falco
atriceps, Hume, Ibis, 1869, p. 356 ; id, Rotigh Notes, i p. 58; id. Ibis, 1871,
p. 24 ; Jerd- Ibis, 1872, p. 2. Falco Brookii, Sharpe, Ann. N. H. (4) ii.
pp. 20, 222, 1873. THE PEREGRINE FALCON.
Adult Male. Above bluish grey, paler on the rump and upper tail coverts,
and barred with blackish. Head, neck, upper part of mantle and wing-coverts
blackish, with grey barring, more or less indistinct on the latter. Cheeks, ear-
coverts, and a short moustachial band blackish. Forehead, sides of neck, chin,
throat, under surface of body and breast white, the latter with a tinge of pale
fawn, as also the lower abdomen ; the chest with a few narrow black shaft-
stripes almost disappearing in old individuals ; abdomen with some small
heart-shaped spots, some similar marks on the under-tail coverts also. Thighs
transversely barred with narrow black lines. Quills brownish black, primaries
slightly shaded with greyish, the secondaries clearer grey, crossed by dull
blackish bars, the smaller median quills tipped white. Tail feathers greyish,
broadly barred with black and tipped'with white. Bill bluish, black at the tip ;
cere, legs and feet yellow ; claws black ; iris hazel-brown.
Length. 15 to 16; inches oilmen 1*2 ; wing 12*2 to 127; tail 6*5. {Adult
female similar to the adult male, but larger. Length, 17 to 19 ; inches, culmen
1*35 ; wing 14-5 ; tail 7-5 j tarsus 2-3.)
FALCO. 09
The young bird is brown, all the feathers edged with pale buff shading
into whitish ; under surface of the body whitish, the throat unspotted, all the
rest of the feathers dark brown in the centre, lower flanks barred ; head more
edged with whitish ; cheek stripe brown. Wings darker than the back; the
inner webs spotted or barred with rufous. Tail feathers brown, broadly tipped
with white ; the outer web spotted and the inner one barred with pale rufous
more or less distinct.
Very widely distributed species, A winter visitant to India Occurs in Sind,
Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Rajpootana, Kutch, Central and
South India, Guzerat, Concans and Deccan, also Beloochistan, Persia, and S.
Afghanistan. Rare in Pegu and Tennaserim. Has been found in Nepaul,
and also in Ceylon.
The peregrine is believed to breed below Ferozepoor along the banks of the
Indus, but nothing certain is known. Mr. Hume, in his "Rough Notes" men-
tions having a nestling shot by a shikaree in the interior of the Himalayas,
not far from Kotegarh. In Europe it builds on rocks and cliffs. Eggs
2,3 or 4, of a light russet red colour marbled over with darker shades, patches,
and streaks of the same. Nest composed of sticks, seaweed, hair, and other
such materials. The flight of the peregrine is extremely rapid and by re-
peated beatings of its wings. 150 miles an hour has been calculated as
its rate of flight. It is much prized for its value in falconry on account of its
courageous spirit and fearlessness. The food of the species consists principally
of birds, such as seagulls, partridges, plovers, grouse and ducks ; but it also feeds
on hares, rats, &c. It has frequently been known to stoop upon and carry
off game from before the sportsman.
65. PalCO peregrinator, Sundev. Phys. Tidskr. Lund. 1837, p. 177, '^
pi. 4; Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 19; id. Cat. Mam. and B. Nepal Hodgs. p. 44 ;
Blyth, J.A. S. B. xix. p. 321 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 25 ; Hume, Rough Notes, S
i. p. -555Z; Jerd. Ibis, 1878^.237; Sharpe, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. xi.
p. 223, 1873 ; id. Cat. Ace. B. M. p. 382; Sir. F. V. 500; id. vii. 423. ^
Falco Shaheen, Jerd. Madr, Journ. x. p. 81 ; id. III. Ind. Orn. pis. xii. and
xxvii. The SHAHEEN FALCON.
Adult. Head, nape, neck, interscapulary region, cheek stripe and wing
coverts deep black, the latter shaded with bluish grey ; lower back, rump, and
upper tail coverts slaty or bright bluish grey, the latter with remains of or
without obsolete blackish cross markings. Quills black, externally washed with
greyish, the inner web with a few nearly obsolete rufous bars ; secondaries
tipped with fulvous. Tail bluish grey, the tips tawny, the blackish bars nowhere
distinct; chin, throat and upper breast white ; rest of under surface rufous, or
tawny ferruginous ; flanks, thighs and under tail coverts with a few spots or
bars. Under wing coverts rufous with black bars. Cere yellow ; bill slaty,
blue black at tip ; feet yellow ; iris deep brown.
7Q FALCONING.
Length. \6 to 16-5 inches; wing 12-25 to 12*77; tail 6-5 to 6-8; tarsus
2-2 to 2-25.
flab. The whole of India, the Himalayas, Ncpaul, Ceylon, B. Burmah,
Afghanistan, and extending into Western Asia.
The Shahccn Falcon, like the Peregrine, is much prized in falconry. All the
peculiarities which arc sought for in the Peregrine are also exhibited in this
species which is considered a better bird. Its native habits have not been studied
much. It however affects both rocky hills and forest land, and destroys much
game. It has been found breeding in Central and Southern India during
March and April, building on inaccessible cliffs.
66. FalCO barbarUS, Linn. Syst. Nat. \. p. 125 ; Salvin, Ibis, 1859 ;
ffeugl. Orn. Afrik. i. p. 21 ; Hume, Sir. F., i. p. 19; Saunders, P. Zool.
Soc.y 1872, p. 356; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br. Mus., p. 386; Murray, Zool., fyc.,
Sind, p. 107; id. Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 68. Falco pelegrinoides, Tern. pi.
col. 479 > Gray, Gen. B., i. page. 19. THE BARBARY FALCON.
The forehead presents a mixture of rufous and dull white. This part of
the headjis encircled by a black (or dark slaty) horse-shoe shaped band, of
which the lateral branches pass over the eyes, their extreme points joining in
front of the eyes, the moustachial stripes, which extend along the sides of the
neck. The occiput and nape are covered by a rufous half collar marked
with three black spots, of which the centre one forms a band on the nape. The
back and wings are a light bluish grey, with large spots and irregular bars of
bluish black.
The tail, which is a lighter grey than the back, is barred transversely with
black bands, very narrow towards the bases of the feathers, but widening
gradually towards their ends, the tips of which are white. The chest is pure
isabelline. The flanks, vent and abdomen of the same colour, but the
feathers bear very narrow longitudinal striae and little triangular black spots.
The base of the beak is yellow, but the point blue. The cere and feet
beautiful yellow, and the orbital skin orange. (Tern. Ex. S. F. 1.19.)
Length. Female 15-5 inches; expanse 36*4; wing 1 1-4 ; tail 6*4; tarsus
1-8. Male Length. 14 inches ; wing 10-8 ; tail 5 ; tarsus r6.
Hob. Sind (winter visitant), Persia, Kutch, and the Central Provinces.
Sharpe, (Cat. Ace.) gives its range as N. and N.-E. Africa as well as Sene-
gambia on the West Coast, ranging into N.-W. India and the Himalayas.
67. FalCO babylonicus, Gurney, Ibis, 1861, p. 218, pi. vii.; Jerd.
B. of Ind., vol. i. p. 32; Ibis, 1866, p. 221 ; Hume, Rough Notes, i. p. 79;
Sharpe, Ibis, 1870 ; Cat. Ace. Br. Mus. t p. 388; Str.F., vii. p. 329; Murray,
Hdbk., Zool., 8fc. t Sind ; id. Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 67. THE RED-HEADED
LANNER,
FALCO. 71
Young Male. Dark earthy brown, some of the feathers of the crown obscurely
margined, the nape and hind neck mottled, the lower back and rump edged,
and the upper tail-coverts barred with rufous. Tail dark brown, spotted
on the outer web and banded on the inner one with rufous, the two centre
feathers nearly obsoletely barred. Quills dark brown, barred with pale buff on
the inner web ; the secondaries paler brown, edged and spotted on the outer
web with rufous. Feathers under the eye and cheek stripe blackish brown.
Sides of the face and ear-coverts strongly tinged with rufous ; throat whitish ;
rest of under surface earthy buff, with central dark brown streaks to the
feathers inclining to bars on the vent and under tail coverts. Under wing
coverts brown, spotted and barred with clear buff. Cere pale sea-green ; bill
pale bluish-green, blackish on the culmen and tip ; feet bright yellow ; iris
dark brown.
Length. 15*5 to 16 inches ; wing 11-87 to I2tail ; 6 to 6*6 ; tarsus 1*9.
Adult Male. Above bluish grey, the feathers with pale fulvescent margins,
and having indistinct bars of darker grey ; the lower back, rump and upper
tail coverts paler and clearer blue grey, transversely barred with dark grey, the
bars somewhat irregular and arrow-shaped on the upper tail coverts. Wing
coverts con-colorous with the back, the greater series rather lighter grey. Quills
brown, externally shaded with grey ; the secondaries margined and broadly
tipped with buffy white, and barred across with darker grey, the bars very
distinct on the lower surface of the wing and especially numerous on the pri-
maries. Tail grey, tipped with fulvous and crossed with nine or ten bars of
darker grey, the light grey interspaces sometimes tinged with rufous, the lower
surface of the tail whitish, the bars very distinct. Head and hind neck clear
rufous, the crown more or less inclined to greyish black, of which colour many
of the feathers are composed, having only a slight margin of rufous. A rufous
half collar round the back of the neck, mottled somewhat with slaty. Sides of
the face buffy white, tinged with rufous ; the ear coverts streaked with brown,
collecting on the cheeks and forming a distinct moustache. Throat pure
white ; chest also white, with a few narrow central streaks of brown ; remain-
der of under surface whitish, slightly tinged with buff and numerously marked
with arrow-head spots of brown in the centre of the body, and barred on the
sides of the breast, flanks, and under wing coverts with the same colour. The
bars on the thighs and under tail coverts narrower than on the greater series
of the under wing coverts. Cere, gape, orbits and feet bright yellow ; bill
bluish, blackish at the tip ; iris deep brown.
Length. 17-25 inches; wing 13; tail 7*25; tarsus 175.
Hab. The Punjab, Beloochistan and Persia, N.-W. Provinces, Nepaul,
N.-E. Africa, Mesopotamia, Central Asia. It is said to breed in Cashmere.
A winter visitant. Not uncommon from November to February in Sind and
Northern India.
72 FALCONING.
68. Falco juggur, 7- E. Gray, 111. Ind. Orn. ii. pi. xx. ; id. Cat.
Mammals, and Birds Ncpaul ; Hume, Rough Notes, vol. i. p. 70 ; Str. F. vol. i.
p. 152 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br. Mus.,p. 393 ; Murray, Hdbk., ZooL, fyc., Sind ;
id. Vert. Zool., Sind, p. 67. Falco Kiggur, J erd. Madras Journ. x.p. 80 ; id.
111. Ind. Orn. pi. xliv. 1847. Lugger (female), Juggur (male), Hind. THE
LUGGUR FALCON.
Adult Male. Above dusky ashy or slate colour ; crown of head dull rufous
with central ashy black striations. Lores, forehead, chin, throat and eyebrow
white ; moustachial stripe black ; wing coverts con-colorous with the back,
the carpal margin white. The breast white, with a few brown spots. Lower abdo-
men, flanks, and thighs ashy brown. Tail clear ashy grey with pale rufous
bars on the inner webs and a white tip.
Length. 15'5 to 17 inches; wing ir8; tail 7; tarsus i'95; culmen I.
Female. 17 to 19 inches; wing 13-6 to 15-5 ; tail 8 to 8'5 ; tarsus 1-95 to 2.
Young, of a chocolate brown above and below ; wing coverts with rufous
margins. Head yellowish-fawn or pale rufous. Forehead and eyebrow
whitish. Chin and throat white- Under tail coverts dirty white with faint
brown markings.
The Luggur Falcon is the most common of the Lanners, and very generally
distributed. It has been recorded from the whole of India; also from
Beloochistan and Afghanistan. In the more moist climate, and wooded districts
of Malabar, it is found, but not in any numbers. Jerdon remarks, that while
the Byri prefers the sea-coast and the neighbourhood of lakes, rivers, and wet
cultivation, and the Shaheen delights in hilly and wooded regions, the Luggur,
on the contrary, frequents open, dry plains and the vicinity of cultivation.
It breeds during January, February and March, particularly in Sind, Punjab, and
N.-W. Provinces ; also in the Deccan ; but is partial, for this purpose, to a dry
climate. The nest is placed either on a high tree or on a rocky ledge, but in
Sind almost always on ledges of high buildings and mosques or church steeples.
The normal number of eggs is 4 ; five have, however, been occasionally found ;
in colour reddish, brownish, or yellowish brown, thickly spotted and speckled all
over with brick red or reddish brown. In size they vary from rS5 to 2*15 in
length and 1*48 to 1*65 in breadth ; generally broad ovals, slightly pointed at
one end, glossless, of a slightly chalky but compact texture.
The Luggur Falcon preys chiefly on small birds, also field rats, for which it
may be often seen hawking over plains infested by them. It is trained by
natives to bring down water-birds of kinds, as, the herons generally, also part-
ridges, floriken, quail and snipe, but at this latter it is not dexterous. Jerdon
has a footnote stating that it is also used to strike the Houbara, Otis, macqueeni
and hares.
FALCO. 73
69. FalCO SUbbllteo, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 127; Gould, B. Eur.
i. pi. 22 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1863^.9. Hypotriorchis subbuteo, Boie, Isis, 1826,
p. 976 ; Gray, Gen, B. i. p. 20 ; Jerd. B, Ind. i. p. 33, No. 13; Hume, Rough
Notes, i. p. 85 ; id. Stray F. ix. 282. The HOBBY.
Adult Male. Top of head, back, scapulars and wing-coverts bluish black,
the latter sometimes tinged with rusty ; lower back and rump clear slaty grey.
Forehead and eyebrow, whitish ; nape tinged with rufous, forming two indis-
tinct rufous spots. Lores, cheek stripe, feathers below the eye and ear-coverts
black. Throat and sides of the neck, creamy white, tinged with rufous, the
breast and abdomen the same, streaked mesially with dark brown, narrow on
the centre of the abdomen, and wider on the flanks ; vent, under tail coverts
and thigh coverts rich ferruginous. Under wing coverts buffy white with
some transverse dark bars. Quills blackish, barred internally with rufous.
Tail dark slaty or slaty grey, barred on their inner webs with rufous, and tipped
with whitish.
Length. 1 1 to 11-5 inches ; wing 9*5 to 9-6 ; tail 5-5 ; tarsus 1-25. Females
are larger. Length 13-5 ; wing IO-6 ; tail 6-5 ; tarsus 1-4.
The young bird is dark or grey brown above, the feathers edged with
fulvous. Cheek stripe darker. Forehead and superciliary fulvous white ;
sides of the neck, nape, throat, and under surface creamy buff ; lower abdo-
men and thigh coverts with a rufous tinge, and streaked mesially with brown.
These streaks are rather broad and distinct on the breast, and long and narrow
on the under tail coverts. Wings and tail as in the adult black, and banded
with rufous.
Hal. The whole of Europe and Northern Asia, extending to India and
North China, and migrating in winter to South Africa (Sharpe}. It has also
been found in Nepaul and Darjeeling, also in Kumaon, Oudh, Dhurmsala,
between Mussoorie and Gangootri, Northern Guzerat, Kutch, and Jerdon killed
one at Jaulnah. In Sind it was obtained by Mr, S. Doig at Hydrabad in the
month of June.
The Hobby is a winter visitant. Nothing is known of its breeding habits in
India. Mr. Hume says, although common enough in some parts of the
Himalayas, it is a rare visitant and if it breeds anywhere within our limits, it
would probably be in the higher ranges of the hills. From Kumaon, Mr. R.
Thompson, writing to Mr. Hume in September, says he saw flocks of the Hobby
hunting about for insects which appear to be its food. Snipe, plovers,
swallows and sandpipers, it is also very partial to. The nest of the Hobby
which is built of sticks and lined with moss or hair is usually placed in the top-
most branches of trees in forests. Eggs 2 to 4 in number, short and oval, of a
dingy white or bluish white ground colour, much speckled all over with reddish
or yellowish brown.
10
74 FALCONING.
70. FalCQ severUS, Borsf. Tr. Lin. Socy. xiii. p. 135 ; Blyth, Ibis.
1863, p. 8. Hypotriorchis severus, Gray, Gen. B., i. p. 20 ; Jerd. B. Ind. \.
p. 34 ; No. 14 ; Hume, Rough Notes, i. p. 87 ; Sharpe t Cat. Ace. B. M. p. 397 ;
Stray F. iv. p. 354 ; and pp. 533-5. The INDIAN HOBBY.
Adult. Dark slaty blue above, black on the cheeks and ears ; beneath deep
rusty red, unspotted. Cere, orbital skin, and legs reddish yellow ; bill plumbeous.
Length. Male, 10-5 inches ; wing 9 ; tail 4-5.
Mr. Sharpe (Cat. Ace.) describes an adult female. Above black, with a
slight slaty grey shade, more distinct on the lower back, rump and tail, the
bars on the latter obsolete ; head, cheek and ear coverts black. Under surface
of body, bright chestnut ; throat and sides of neck creamy white, the latter
with a slight wash of chestnut. Under wing coverts bright chestnut, some of
the lower ones barred with black. Primaries black with a few rufous bars
near the base. Cere, orbits and feet yellow ; bill bluish black, yellow at
base ; iris dark brown.
Length. 13-5 inches ; wing 8*5 to 875 ; tail 4*5 to 4.62 ; tarsus 1.15.
Hab. Northern and Southern India ; Nilgherries, Travancore Hills,
Barrackpore ; the lower ranges of Kumaon and Gurhwal and the Himalayas
generally. Out .pf_India proper, Mr. Sharpe gives the Indo-Malayan sub-
region and Nepaul. Supposed to breed in the dense forests of Gurhwal.
71. FalCQ Chiquera, Daud Traite, ii. p. 1 2 1 ; Blyth, Cat. Mus. As.
Socy. Beng. p. i4; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br. Mus. p. 403. Hypotriorchis chiquera,
Gray, Gen. B. i. p 20 ; Jerdon, B. Ind. i. p. 36, No. 16 Murray, Hdblc.
Zool., fyc., Sind, p. 108. Chiquera typus, Bp. Rev. Mag, de. Zool. p. 536,
1854; Hume, Sir. F., i. p. 157. Lithofalco chiquera, Hume, Rough Notes t
i.p. 91 ; Anderson, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 681. The Turrumti, Hind. The RED-
HEADED MERLIN.
Adult Male.* Crown, nape, back, and sides of the neck chestnut ; fore-
head white ; sides of the face, chin, throat and neck white, except a faint, short,
moustachial stripe. Eyebrow and a narrow streak below the eye, black ;
back, scapulars, tertiaries, wing and primary coverts and secondaries slaty blue,
the feathers with dark shafts and barred with dark brown. Primaries dark or
blackish brown, their inner webs barred with white. Under wing coverts
white, barred with blackish brown; breast white, some of the feathers with
dark shaft-streaks ; rest of under surface white, barred transversely with black.
Tail like the back, the feathers barred with black, tipped white and with a
broad subterminal black band. Cere, orbits and feet yellow. Claws black ;
bill greenish yellow at base, black at the tip ; irides light brown.
Length.- 11-5 to 12 inches; wing 8-25; tail 4-75 to 6 ; tarsus 1-5;
culmen '85.
The adult female is similar to the male, but larger. Length. 13 inches ;
wing 9; tail 6-5 j tarsus 1*5 to 1*55.
FALCO. 75
ffa&.Smd, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Bengal, Nepaul, Kutch, Kattiawar,
Jodhpore, N. Guzerat, and throughout the Indian Peninsula; also Beloochis-
tan, Persia and Afghanistan.
Affects open country in the vicinity of cultivation. It is said to be easily
reclaimed and flown at partridges and quails, which it pursues very persever-
ingly. Like the European sparrow-hawk, it is a very courageous bird, and
the propensity of attacking larger birds of prey than itself seems to be more
developed. Jerdon says it even drives away the Wokhab (Aquila fulvescens)
from the vicinity of its nest or perch. Breeds in February, March, April and
May, nearly everywhere on trees ; nest fixed in a fork near the top. Eggs 3 4
in number, variable in shape ; in color, they are pale yellowish brown, with
from, a few reddish brown specks to a nearly uniform dark brownish red
obscurely mottled and blotched with a somewhat purer and darker. Size r6
to r/5 in length, and 1*25 to 1*32 in breadth.
72. FalcO reglllus, Pall Rets. Russ. Reichs II. Anhang, p. 707 : Gmel.
Syst. Nat i. p. 285 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br. Mus., p. 406. Falco aesalon,
Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 284; Heugl. Orn. N. 0. Africa. Hypotriorchis aesalon,
Gray, Gen. B. i. p 20, Jerd. B. of Ind. vol. i. p. 35, No. 15. Lkhofalco
aesalon, Hume, Rough Notes, i. p. 89; Jerd. Ibis. 1871, p. 242; Murray ',
Hdbk. t ZooL, 8fc., Sind, p. 108. The MERLIN.
Adult. Above clear slaty blue, paler on the rump and upper tail coverts,
the black shafts on all the feathers distinctly indicated. Head dark slaty,
with broad shaft-stripes ; forehead, lores and sides of the face whitish, the
feathers with dark mesial streaks. Eyebrow and nape strongly mixed with
rufous. Ear coverts tinged with grey on the hinder part ; chin and throat pure
white. Sides of the neck and entire under parts white, washed with rufous,
the feathers dark shafted ; under wing coverts white, spotted and barred with
black. Quills black, the inner web barred with greyish white and the outer
washed with bluish grey near the base. Inner secondaries concolorous with
the back, dark shafted. Tail slaty blue, tipped with white, with a broad sub-
terminal black band. .Cere yellow ; bill bluish horn colour, darker at the tips;
feet yellow ; iris dark brown.
Length. Male, 10 to 11-25 inches; wings 7-75 to 8 ; tail 4-5 to 5; tarsus
1-45. Female browner in color, under surface less rufous. Length. 12 to 13
inches.
The young bird is like the adult female in colour, but tinged grey, with dark
shafts and rufous edges to the feathers ; the head rufous, with dark streaks,
the tail ashy brown, barred with rufous and with a white tip.
Hab. Sind, Kutch, Punjab, Beloochistan, and Afghanistan. The whole of
Europe and Northern Asia, extending into India and China.
76 FALCONING.
The Merlin is a winter visitant and is chiefly found in Sind, Punjab and
the N.-W. Provinces, also in Beloochistan and Southern Afghanistan. Out-
side of these limits, it is recorded from all over Europe, Malta, Egypt, Lower
Palestine and according to Swinhoe in Pekin, Amoy and Foochow.
Mr. Hume says it is commonly captured about Umritsur and sold by
native huntsmen. It comes down in some numbers into the Peshawar
Valley, and is always to be met with early in the year in the salt range. He
adds that it is therefore probable that it breeds in Cashmere and the neigh-
bouring regions of the Himalayas, but of this there is nothing known for
certain. The nest in England is generally built on the ground, and the eggs
are laid in them. On the Continent the Merlin is said to breed on trees.
The eggs are 3 or 4, in number ; Bewick says sometimes 5 or 6 (?), bluish
white blotched at the larger end with reddish brown or greenish brown, and
sometimes of a deep dingy red ; in shape a broad oval, slightly compressed
towards one end about 1-6 X 1*25 inches in breadth.
The Merlin flies low, and does not often mount above its prey, which is
generally birds, as partridges, pigeons, plovers, &c. Snipe and Sandpipers are
chased to the edge of the water and are seldom missed.
Gen. Hierofalco. Cuv.
Outer and inner toes, (measured without claws) about equal in length.
Distance between tips of primaries and tips of secondaries about equal to or
less than half the length of tail ; tarsus finely reticulate in front and not twice
the length of mid-toe ; nostrils round with distinct central tubercle.
73. HiOrofalCQ Saker, Briss, Orn. i. p. 337 : Sharpe, Cat Ace. B. M.
p. 417. Falco sacer, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 273; Bree, B. Eur. i. p. 31.
Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 29, No. lo; Hume, Sir. F. i. p. 152; Hume, Rough Notes,
i. p. 62; Murray, Handbook, ZooL &V., Sind; id. Vert. Zool. Sind p. 66.
Falco lanarius, Pall. Zoog, Rosso, As.-i- p. 330 ; Gould, B. Eur. i. pi. 20.
Falco Hendersoni, Hume, Ibis. 1871, p. 407; id. and Henderson, Lahore to
Yarkand, p. 171. The CHERRUG FALCON.
Adult Male. Above pale earthy or slaty brown, all the feathers margined
with rufous. Head pale rufous, reddish ash or bleached nearly white ; the
feathers with narrow mesial streaks. Chin, throat, abdomen, and under tail
coverts white; cheek stripe indistinct; breast and lower parts white, with
oblong slaty spots, more thickly on the breast and flanks ; quills brown,
deeply indented with white or rufous-white notches or bars, less in number on
the secondaries ; tail pale brown, barred with whitish on the inner web, and
ovally spotted on the outer. Thighs streaked with brown. Under wing
coverts and axillaries white, streaked with brown ; cere greenish white ; orbits
and feet yellow.
CERCHNEIS. 77
Length. 18 to 18-5 inches; wing 12-5 to 13* 2; tail 7-3 to 7-5 ; culmcn P2;
tarsus 2. Female, 20 to 24 inches; wing 14 to 15-8; culmen 1-3; tail 9-8;
tarsus 2-1.
Hab. The whole continent of India from Cape Comorin to the Himalayas
(Bengal, Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces and Kutch), affecting open plains.
Outside of India it is found in Asia Minor, Egypt, Nepaul and Yarkand.
It is not common in Sind, and occurs during winter only, arriving at the
same time as F. peregrinus, but of its departure nothing is on record. All
specimens obtained in Sind are in the young or immature phase, with the
upper parts brown, the head a yellowish white colour, and the body beneath
brown. Nothing is known of the breeding of the Cherrug within Indian
limits. In " Rough Notes" Mr. Hume says the Ameer of Kabool mentioned
that the birds he had, bred in Afghanistan. Eggs are said to be 4 in number,
of a slightly elongated oval form, and varying in color and markings from a
light red to dirty reddish white with spots and blotches of brighter red. The
Cherrug is trained to strike at Cranes, Bustards and other large game.
Hab. The whole of Europe and North Asia ; the Indian Peninsula as a
winter visitant ; N. E. and South Africa, Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces,
Oudh, Bengal, Kutch, Kattiawar, and along the Western Coast ; Central and
Southern India to Nepaul ; also Beloochistan, Persia, Afghanistan, and Eastern
Turkestan.
A very useful bird to cultivators, preying only, as it does, chiefly on field-
mice, which are its favourite diet.
74. CerchneiS tinnunCUla, Boie, Isis, 1828, p. 314 ; Sharpe, Cat.
Ace. B. M. p. 425. Tinnunculus alaudarius, Gray, Gen. Bird, i. p. 21 ;
Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 38, No. 17; Blyth, Ibis, 1863; Hume, Rough Notes,
p. 96; Murray* Hdbk., Zool., fyc., Sind, p. 108. (Narzi, the female;
Narzanak, the male, Hind.) The KESTREL.
Adult Male. Forehead buffy white ; crown of the head, nape, neck behind
and on the sides, blue grey, the feathers with narrow dark shaft-stripes.
Eyebrow buffy white ; sides of the face, except a dark moustachial stripe,
silvery white ; chin and throat, also the under tail coverts, unspotted buff.
Upper back, scapulars, tertiaries and wing coverts, brick-red or vinaceous, the
feathers with a subterminal heart-shaped black spot, larger on the tertiaries.
Primaries and their coverts, and secondaries dark brown, the primary coverts
margined with rufous ; outer secondaries narrowly edged and tipped with
fulvous or buffy white, and the primaries barred on their inner webs with
white ; the inner primaries with bars of a rufescent hue. Lower back, rump,
upper tail coverts and tail blue grey, the tail with a broad subterminal black
band and tipped with white ; breast, abdomen and flanks, rufous fawn, the
feathers on the breast, and flanks with mesial dark streaks, which take an oval
shape lower down. Thigh coverts unspotted rufous fawn. Under wing
78 FALCONIN/E.
coverts white, with a buffy tinge, and spotted black. Bill bluish-horn, black at
the tip and yellowish at the base. Cere, orbits and legs yellow. Irides brown.
Length. 12*5 to 13 inches; wing 9-5 to I o; tail 6-5 to 67; culmen 175 ;
tarsus 1*6.
The adult female is less rufous in colour above, and with the subterminal
spots wider and forming bands. Head rufous with longitudinal streaks.
Tail rufous, banded with dark brown, tipped with white and with a subter-
minal black band as in the male. Jy-^&zt ^-i^^f^L>
75. CerchneiS naumanni, Fleisch in Fischer, Jahrg. 1818 (teste
Naumann ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. B- M. p. 435 ; S/r. F. vii. 331 ; id. ix. p. 236,
371. Falco tinnunculoides, Tern. Man. d'Orn. i. p. 30; Gould, B. Eur.
i. pi. 27 ; Bree, B. Eur. i. p. 48. Falco cenchris, Cuv. Regn. An. i. p 322 ;
Sharpe and Dresser B. Eur. pt. 3. (1871). Tinnunculus cenchris, Bp. Cat.
Met. Vcc. Eur. pt. 21 ; Tristram, Ibis. 1865, p. 259. NAUMANN'S KESTREL.
Adult Male. Head, hind neck, lower back, rump, upper tail coverts and
tail blue grey, the latter tipped with white, and with a black subterminal
band ; lores and a few streaks on the cheeks whitish. Upper surface of body
rich cinnamon rufous, also the lesser and median wing coverts, a few of the
outer ones of the latter series washed with blue grey; greater coverts and
inner secondaries blue grey washed with rufous externally ; primaries dark
brown ; throat deep fulvous white ; breast pale cinnamon or vinous with a
few blackish spots, which become larger on the sides of the body ; thighs
unspotted pale rufous ; abdomen and under tail coverts yellowish white ;
under wing coverts white, with a few tiny oval spots, larger on the axillaries ;
bill lightish blue, yellow at base and blackish at tip. Cere, orbits and feet
beautiful yellow, the claws generally white ; iris dark brown.
Length. 12-5 inches ; culmen 075 ; wing 9-1 ; tail 6, tarsus T2.
The Adult Female is dissimilar to the Male. Tawny rufous above with
transverse bars of blackish brown, narrower and more obscure on the lower
back, rump, arid upper tail coverts, the latter of which are strongly inclined to
grey ; tail rufous, barred with black, with a broad black subterminal band and
tipped with whitish. Head and neck rather pale rufous, the former broadly,
and the latter narrowly streaked with blackish shaft stripes ; forehead and a
distinct eyebrow whitish ; cheeks and ear coverts silvery white with narrow
black shaft streaks. Primaries dark brown, barred on the inner web with
rufous ; secondaries like the back, outer ones narrowly margined with white at
the tip ; throat, vent and under tail coverts unspotted fulvous white ; breast in-
clining to rufous fawn, all the feathers mesially streaked with blackish,
broader on the flanks and tiny on the thighs, which are also rufous.
Length. 12*5 inches ; culmen 07; wing 9*3 tail 5 '9; tarsus 1-2. (Sharpe).
Hab. South and South-Eastern Europe, migrating to S. Africa and India,
during winter. Recorded from the Concan, Deccan, South India and NepauK
CERCHNEIS. 79
76. Cerchneis pekinensis, Swinfi. P. Z. S. 1870, pp. 44?, 44 8;
Sharpe, Cat. Ace. B. M. p. 437. Erythropus cenchris, Jerd B. 2nd. i. p. 40,
No. 18 } Hume, Rough Notes, i. p. 103. The LESSER KESTREL.
Adult Male. Similar to C. Naumanni, but darker and more vinous red
above ; below darker colored and Unspotted. Wing coverts entirely blue grey,
the innermost washed with rufous. (Sharpe).
Length. Male 12 inches ; wing 9*6 ; tail 5'8 ; tarsus 1-45 j bill O'8. The
female is larger and Mr. Hume's measurements of one from Coimbatoor, are
as follows: Length, 13 inches; wing 975 ; tail 675 ; tarsus r8i. Bill from
gape o'SS. Bill plumbeous, dark at the tips.
Hob. South and South-East Europe ; North Africa, Abyssinia, the Hima-
layas; (Nepaul;) Umballa, and Delhi (Punjab and N.-W. Provinces) Oudh,
Bengal, the Concan, Deccan and South India; also N.-E. Cachar.
Nothing is known of the breeding of this species in India, beyond what
Dr. Jerdon mentions of his having found it breeding on the cliffs of the
Neilgherries in May and June. In the Ibis for 1865, Mr. Tristram
gives a full account of its nidification in Palestine. According to him, it breeds
in communities, usually in narrow fissures of rocks or crevices of ruins ;
the Common Kestrel too breeding in the same place. Although closely
allied, the eggs of both species are not difficult to discriminate. There is
no regular nest and the eggs, 4 in number, are placed in a depression in the
bare wall, amongst bits of lime with the hard parts of Coleopterous and other
insects, which form the food of this species, The eggs, by Degland's account,
quoted by Bree, are very short, smaller than those of the Common Kestrel, of
a mingled reddish white color, with a great number of minute spots of a
brick red, together and mixed with small brown spots. The figure by Bree
measures according to the drawing 1*42 by 1*17 inches.
77. Cerchneis amurensis, Homey, J. F. 0. j868, p. 251 ; Sharpe,
Cat. Ace. B. M. p. 445. Erythropus amurensis, Gurney, Ibis. 1868, p. 251.
Erythropus Vespertinus, Swinh.Jbis. 1861, pp. 253,327 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 40.
No. 19 ; Hume, Rough Notes, i. p. 106 ; Jerd. Ibis, 1871, p. 243. Hypotriorchis
concolor, Gurney, Ibis. 1866, p. 127. The Red LEGGED HOBBY.
Adult Male. Above leaden black, paler on the lower back and secondaries ;
greater wing-coverts and primaries washed externally with silvery grey; tail
greyish black above, paler below ; under surface of body pale grey ; lower
abdomen, thighs, vent and under tail coverts bright chestnut ; under wing
coverts and axillaries pure white. Cere, orbits and feet dark orange ; claws
whitish ; bill yellowish horn color, blackish at tip ; iris hazel.
Length. 9*5 inches ; culmen 075 ; wing 9 ; tail 5*3 ; tarsus 1*15.
Adult female, is dull leaden grey above, darker on the interscapulary region,
clearer on the scapulars, lower back and rump, all the feathers crossed by
80 FALCONING,
indistinct bars of black ; tail bluish grey crossed by a broad subterminal and
other narrow bars of black. Quills brownish black, externally washed with grey
and barred with white about half way up the inner web ; crown of the head,
lores, feathers round the eye, and a slight moustachial streak dull blackish ;
sides of the face, neck and throat unspotted creamy white, also the breast ;
the latter with mesial streaks of black on each feather ; flanks barred ;
thighs, vent and under tail -coverts pale rufous. Under wing-coverts white
with black spots.
Length. 10*5 inches ; culmen 0*75 ; wing 9*5, tail 5*3 ; tarsus IT.
Hab. Mr. Sharpe gives, AmoorLand, N. China, Nepaul, E. Coast of Africa
and Natal. It migrates during winter to India, and has been found in the
Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Central India, the Concan, Deccan, and also in
N.-E. Cachar and British Burmah.
Its habits are quite like those of the Lesser Kestrel, building in communities
and hunting in company for grass-hoppers and other insects.
SUB -ORDER, PANDIONES.
Outer toe reversible ; toes devoid of feathers ; eyes lateral ; no facial disk ;
plumage close and compact. Nostrils not concealed by bristles.
Gen. Pandion. Savigny.
Bill short rounded above and curved from the cere. Upper mandible
with a slight festoon. Nostrils small, obliquely transverse ; wing lengthened ;
second quill longest; distance between tips of primaries and secondaries
greater than length of tarsus; legs naked ; tarsi with reticulate scales.
78. Pandion hali8DtUS, Lin. Syst. Nat. \. p. 129; Sharpe, Cat. Ace.
B. M. i. p. 45O ; Less. Man. d* Ornithology, i. p. 86 ; Sw. and Rich. Faun.
Bor.Am.Birds,^.2^', Gould. Birds of Eur. pi. 12; Bp. Consp.i. 16 ; Jerd.
B. Ind. i. p. 80, No. 40 ; Hume, Rough Notes, i. p. 234 ; id. Stray Feathers,
i. p. 159; Blanford, Eastn. Persia, p. 114; Murray, Hdbk., Zool., fyc., Sind,
p. IIO; id. Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 81 ; Shelley, B. Egypt, p. 203. Pandion
indicus, Hodgs. in Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 81. Muchee-Mar., Sind; Much
Murrung, Hind. The OSPREY.
Head and nape white, the feathers of the forehead and crown with dark
brown stripes ; a dark brown streak from the eyes over the ears ; upper
plumage rich hair brown ; quills blackish ; tail pale brown with dark bars,
whitish on the inner web ; beneath pure white with some brown spots on the
breast, longitudinal in youth, broader in advancing age, and tending to coa-
lesce in the fully adult ; irides bright yellow ; legs and feet plumbeous
yellow.
Length. Of a female 26 inches; wing 20; tail 9; tarsus 2-4; bill black.
POUOAETUS. 81
Hal). Sind, Beloochistan, and Persia ; also the Punjab, N.-W. Provinces,
JBengal, British Burmah, Ncpaul, Kutch, Kattiawar, Concan and Deccan, and
nearly throughout the Indian Peninsula in suitable localities. Occurs also
all over Europe and Africa, N. and S. America, China and Japan. Very
widely distributed. Most abundant along the coasts, large rivers and lakes.
In Sind it is a winter visitant.
Mr. Sharpe (Cat. Ace. p. 450) remarks that " Ospreys seem to get whiter on
the head with age ; the mottling on the breast is strongly marked in all old
birds, and that the tail becomes more uniform brown with age, so that a
strongly barred tail is a sure sign of immaturity."
It is believed the Osprey breeds in the Valley of Kumaon, where Mr. Hume
saw the nest of one, and Mr. Thompson believes it breeds on the Ganges
above Hurdwar. Nothing certain is however known. In the British Isles
it is said to make a large nest either on trees, on rocks, or about old ruins
near large pieces of water, and to lay 2 or 3 eggs, oval in form, and typically
have a white ground, here and there clouded with pale purple and very richly
blotched and streaked, most densely towards the large end with deep red,
becoming in its intensity almost black. Size 2-52 X 1-89 to 1*93.
Gen. PolioaetllS. Kaup,
Tarsus feathered in front for one-third its length, scutellate in front.
Distance between tips of primaries and secondaries less than length of tarsus.
79. PolioaetUS ichthyaetus, Horsf. Tr. Linn. Socy xiii. p. 136;
Sharpe, Cat. Ace., p. 453; Kaup. Contr. Orn. 1850, p. 73 ; Jerd. B.Ind. i.
p. 8 1 ; Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. I. Haliaetus plumbeus, Hodgs. J . A. S. B.,
vi. p. 367. The EASTERN WHITE-TAILED EAGLE.
Adult Male. Head and neck all round ashy grey ; breast a little lighter brown
than the back; wings darker; primaries blackish. Under surf ace of wing leaden
brown with a whitish spot at the base of the primaries ; tail white with a termi-
nal bar of brown. Abdomen, vent, thighs, lower flanks and under tail coverts
white, under wing coverts ashy brown. Cere and bill blackish ; feet dirty
yellowish white ; iris brown.
Length. 26 inches; wing 18; tail 10; tarsus 375 culmen 2*3-
Adult female. Similar, but larger. Length. 29 inches, with a wing of
20*4, and tarsus 3-9.
The young bird is lighter brown above. All the feathers edged and tipped
with whitish ; feathers beneath pale reddish brown, with mesial pale streaks ;
thighs white, mottled with reddish brown ; quills as in the male with a larger
white basal patch below; tail fulvous brown, mottled with dark brown, tip
uniform dark brown, forming a distinct band.
11
FALCONfDjE.
. Punjab. N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Rajpootana, Central India,
the Southern Mahratta country (Dharwar), Central Provinces, Kutch, the
Concans and British Burmah, extending to Nepaul and Assam. Breeds in
January to as late as April, chiefly in the N.-W- Provinces and Bengal (although
it may be found breeding in other parts of India), building a nest of stout sticks
on high trees on the bank of some river or in the proximity of some
considerable piece of water. The nest is usually lined with some soft material
as grass, weeds and green leaves ; this latter is generally the uppermost layer
on which the eggs are laid. Eggs normally three in number, a broad and
perfect oval in shape ; texture rough and pitted, and with a slight gloss,
and unspotted white. 272 to 2 -8 inches in length, and from 2'i to 2-15 in
breadth.
80. PolioaetUS hlimiliS, Mull and Schleg. Verz. Nat. Gesch. Zool.
Aves. p. 47 pi 6 ; Kaup. Contr. Orn. 1850, p. 73 ; Wall. Ibis. 1868, p. 14 j
Walden. Tr. Z. S. viii. p. 35; Sharpe, Cat. Acer. p. 454. Ichthyaetus
nanus, Bly. J. A< S. JL xi. p. 202. Pandion humilis, Gray, Gen. JB. i.
p. 17; Blyih, Ibis. 1866, p. 244; Sir. F. v. p. 130; id. ix. 244. The
LESSER SEA EAGLE.
Adult female. Above ashy brown ; the back and wings darker and more
chocolate brown ; the feathers of the crown and hind neck slightly fulvescent
towards their tips ; lores and an indistinct eyebrow whitish ; cheeks, throat,
breast and under wing coverts entirely ashy brown ; a few whitish streaks on
the throat and forepart of cheeks ; lower abdomen, thighs, vent, and under tail
coverts white ; primaries black, whitish at base of inner web ; secondaries brown
like the back ; tail pale brown at base, gradually becoming darker brown to-
wards the tip which is white ; bill and cere dusky lead colour ; feet pale bluish
white ; iris light yellow.
Length. 23 inches ; wing 6'2; tail 8 ! 8 ; tarsus 2.85 ; culmen 2*05.
The young is brown with large fulvous tippings to the feathers. Length.
.8-5.
Hal). From Assam, down the Malayan Peninsula, to Sumatra and Celebes.
Found in N.-E. Cachar ; also Bengal.
SUB-ORDER. STRIGES
or
NOCTURNAL BIRDS OF PREY.
Head large, eyes surrounded with a circle of radiating feathers forming
a facial disk and directed forwards; ears large. Nostrils generally hidden
by stiff bristles ; feet generally feathered to the toes ; outer toe reversible ; tibia
more than double the length of tarsus ; plumage soft and fluffy.
KETUPA. 83
Family. BUBONID/E.
Hinder margin of sternum with two or more distinct fissures or cldN ;
furcula free, not attached to keel of sternum ; inner margin of claw of mid-
dle toe not serrated ; mid toe longer than the inner one.
Sub Fam., BUBONIN/E, EAGLE AND SCOPS OWLS.
Ear conch not larger than the eye, and without an operculum.
Gen. Ketupa- Lesson.
Bill long, strong, straight at base, moderately compressed and hooked.
Wings do not reach the end of the tail ; tarsi naked, reticulate; soles of feet with
tiny prickles ; ear-tufts large.
81. Ketupa CeylonensiS, Gmel. Sys. Nat. \. p. 287 ; Gray, Gen.
Birds, i. p. 38; Jerd. Birds of Ind. i. p. 133, No. 72 ; Hume, Rough
Notes, ii. p. 379 ; Str. F. i. p. 34!, ii. p. 469 ; Sharpe, Cat. Striges, p. 4 ;
Murray Hdbk., ZooL, fyc. y Sind, p. 119; id. Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 92. The
BROWN FISH-OWL.
Adult. Above fawn-brown, the feathers broadly centred black and mottled
brown and fulvous on both webs. Feathers of the hind neck thinly barred
with brown ; the ear tufts with dark central longitudinal streaks. Quills
dark brown, the primaries tipped and spotted on the outer web with creamy
buff, the same spots on the inner webs, being dull fawn-brown ; secondaries
dark brown, with less distinct spots and bars, and more mottled with brown.
Tail brown with a fulvous tip, and 3 or 4 pale fulvous bands. Chin and
throat white streaked with dark brown. Loreal plumes whitish ; under surface
of body fulvous-fawn or vinaceous-rusty, all the feathers mesially streaked
with broad black centres and with wavy bars. Disk rusty with dark brown
stripes ; cere greenish grey. Bill pale horny yellow. Legs and feet dusky
yellow. Irides bright yellow.
Length. 21 to 24 inches; wing i6'2$ ; tail 8 ; tarsus 2-65.
Hab. India, Ceylon, Assam and Tenasserim. I have had it at Khandalla
and Poona in the Deccan. At Madras it is not uncommon, as also in
Nepaul and Behar, Sind, Beloochistan, Afghanistan, N.-W. Provinces, Oudh,
Bengal, Punjab ; also Rajpootana (scarce) Central India, the Central Provinces,
Concan, Deccan, South India, British Burmah and Nepaul. There is no
record of its occurrence in Kutch and Guzerat.
Breeds throughout India from December to March or April, making its
nest on a shelf of rock, clay cliffs, or high banks near water. Normally this
species lays two eggs, very perfect broad ovals, white, with in most specimens
the faintest possible creamy tinge. The shell is close-grained, and com-
pact, freely pitted over its surface, but more or less glossy. In size they vary
from 2-29 to 2 -44 in length, and from r&| to 1-94 in breadth. In Sind it
84 BUBONID^.
affects the forests and breeds in holes of decayed trees. Of its food it is not
particular. Fish, young birds, quails and partridges, it is quite partial
82. Ketupa JavanensiS, Less. Traite, p. 114; Gray, Gen. B. i.
p. 38 ; Myth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 37 ; Wall. Ibis. 1868, p. 65. Hume,
Rough Notes, ii. p. 384; Sharpe, Striges, p. 8. Bubo Ketupa, Kaup.
Tr. Z. S. iv. p. 242. The MALAYAN FISH OWL.
General colour a somewhat orange, light rufous, or bright rufous buff, the
lower parts with long blackish brown central stripes ; throat pure white ; the
head, aigrets and back of neck similarly marked to the breast, but the stripes
broader and closer set ; the back, scapulars and wing coverts with broad very
closely set, imperfect transverse black or blackish brown bars. The quills
and tail feathers blackish brown, intersected at wide intervals by somewhat
narrow rufous yellow bars, and all tipped whitish. Face reddish buff, the
feathers dark shafted, and at the sides of the disk tipped with blackish brown.
Length. 16 to 20 inches; wing 13 to 13-2 ; tail 6*5; tarsus 2*45;
culmen 2'i. Auricular tufts 2-0, auriculars pale tawny, streaked with black.
Hal). Burmah, Siam, and the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra, Java, and
Borneo. Common in the Irrawady Delta ; also in Tennaserim, Malewoon and
the Thoungyeen Valley.
In all its habits like K* Ceylonensis. Nothing is known of its nidification.
This species issues from its roost just after sunset with a powerful and heavy
flight generally over the course of creeks, hunting for its prey. Feeds chiefly
on insects and probably fish and crabs. jU //L, >T-
Gen. Bubo. And.
Nostrils oval, situated in the anterior margin of the cere ; cere not inflated.
Ear tufts distinct, tarsi never naked.
83. BubO bengalensiS, Frankl, P. Z. -1831, p. 115 ; Gray, Gen.
Birds, i. p. 37 ; Hume, Str. F. i. p. 163 ; Sharpe, Cat. Striges,\p. 25. Urrua
bengalensis, Jerd. B. of Ind. i. p. 128, No. 69 ; Murray, Hdbk., Zool., fyc.,
Sind, p. 118. Ascalaphia bengalensis, Blyth, Ibis. 1866, p. 252; Hume,
Rough Notes, ii. p. 366. The ROCK-HORNED OWL.
Adult. Forehead and crown dark brown, nearly black, the feathers
narrowly margined with light fulvous ; back of neck, light yellowish buff, the
feathers mesially streaked with dark brown. Ear tufts black, narrowly edged
with fulvous ; back and scapulars deep brown, mottled and barred with light
yellowish buff ; the outer scapulars whitish on their external web, forming a
conspicuous shoulder-patch. Primaries rich tawny buff, barred across and
tipped with brown ; their coverts dark brown at tip, and with slightly vermi-
culated fulvous bars ; secondaries dull tawny buff, also barred across and
tipped with dark brown, the tawny interspaces on the external web vermicu-
lated with brown, the internal ones clear rufous and margined with white ;
tertiaries mottled with fulvous and brown. Lower back, rump and upper
BUBO. 85
tail coverts clear fulvous or tawny buff, vermiculated at the tips, and with
irregular narrow bars of brown. Tail tawny with seven brown bars, the central
feathers brown with much mottled fulvous bars. Loreal plumes white, with
black shafts at the tip. A small black patch above the eye. Cheeks whitish ;
ear coverts dirty fulvous, the feathers tipped black and with dark shafts. Ruff
blackish, the feathers edged with fulvous. Chin white. Throat with a band
of stiff fulvous feathers, mesially streaked with brown ; below this a patch of
white, some of the feathers of which with mesial brown streaks. Breast and
sides of the neck light yellowish buff, the feathers mesially streaked and
finely spotted with dark brown ; abdomen, flanks and thigh coverts buffy
white, with narrow transverse wavy bars of brown, the feathers of the lower
breast with distinct mesial streaks ; under tail coverts fulvous, with narrow
wavy brown bars. Tarsal plume buffy white, fulvous on the sides and behind,
and with a few indistinct brown markings. Under wing coverts tawny buff,
with narrow brown markings. Bill horny black ; irides yellow.
Length. 20 to 22 inches; wing 16; tail 8-8 to 9 ; tarsus 2-95 to 3.
Sab. The Peninsula of India and Ceylon ; also Beloochistan, Afghanistan,
and Nepaul. In India it has been recorded from Behar, Kutch, Kattiawar,
Jodhpore, North Guzerat, the Neilgherries, Mhow, Malabar Coast, the Concan
and Deccan, Punjab, N.-W. P., Oudh, Bengal ; also British Burmah. It is a
permanent resident in India, breeding in March and April, laying from 2 to 4
eggs of a creamy white colour.
The precipitous banks of canals and rivers are the breeding places
of this species. *
84. BubO COromanduS, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 5 3 ; Sharpe, Cat. Singes.
B. M. p. 35. Bubo coromanda, Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 37 ; Hume, Sir. F.
p. 164. Urrua coromanda, Hodgs. J . A. S. B. vi. p. 373 ; Jerd. B- of Ind.
i. p. 130, No 70 ; Hume, Nest and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 63 ; Murray, Hdbk.,
Zool , fyc., Sind., p. 118. Ascalaphia coromanda, Blyth, Ibis. 1866, p. 253 ;
Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 371. The DUSKY-HORNED OWL.
Adult. Head, neck, ear-tufts, back, rump, scapulars and upper tail
coverts greyish brown, the feathers thickly vermiculated and crossed with numer-
ous narrow fulvous bars, and with dark mesial streaks. Loreal plumes greyish
white, with dark shafts to the tips. Ear coverts dark grey with black shafts, a
black patch on the hinder edge of the ear coverts. Chin whitish, quills ashy
brown, the primaries tinged with fulvous and crossed with broad bands of
dark brown. Outer scapulars with yellowish white spots forming a shoulder
patch. Tail dark brown, with 4 broad fulvous bands and a buffy white tip.
Entire under surface pale earthy brown with a fulvous tinge, the feathers
mesially streaked with dark brown and faintly barred with zigzag lines.
Thigh coverts and tarsal plumes fulvescent, with narrow bars of zigzag lines.
Feet sparsely feathered. Claws horny brown. Bill greyish at the base, horny
yellow at tip.
86 BUBONID^:.
Length. 21 to 23 inches ; wing 16; tail 9; tarsus 2 to 2-65.
ffab.S'md, N.-W. Provinces (Futtehgur, Delhi), Oudh, Nepaul, Lower
Bengal, Arrakan, Lower Himalayas, the Carnatic, Malabar Coast, Rajputanaand
North Guzerat. Like the last it is a resident in India. Breeds in December,
constructing nests of sticks in the fork of trees, lined with some soft material
as grass or green leaves. Eggs, 2, 3, varying in size and shape. Typically
they are broad ovals. In colour slightly glossed creamy white and varying
in size from 2' 2 to 2-55 in length, and from 175 to 2 'o in breadth.
85. BubO nipalensiS, Hodgs. As. Res. xix. p. 1 72 ; Sharpe, Cat. Striges,
p. 37. Huhua nipalensis, Hodgs. J.A. S.B t \\. p. 362 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i.
p. 131. No. 71 ; Blyth, Ibis. 1866, p. 254; Hume, Rough Notes, p. 378; id.
Str.F.i.^. 431. Bubo orientalis, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. S. B. p. 34.
Huhua pectoralis, Holds. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 416. The FOREST EAGLE OWL.
Adult. Above brown narrowly tipped and banded across with tawny buff
over the whole of the upper surface, these bars less distinct on the crown, but
broader and deeper colored on the hind neck. Outermost scapulars tipped and
spotted with yellowish buff on the outer web, forming a distinct shoulder
patch. Primary coverts nearly uniform dark brown, with faint indications of
lighter brown bars. Quills dark brown, barred darker ; tail dark brown,
broadly tipped with whitish and crossed with six other bands of fulvous ; face
dusky brown with whitish shaft streaks ; feathers above the eye blackish.
Ear tufts 3' I inches long, dark brown, notched and barred with fulvous or
white on the inner web. Cheeks with white stiff feathers mesially streaked with
brown ; chin whitish rest of under surface of body white, washed here and
there with fulvous and barred across with dark brown ; under tail coverts the
same, also the under wing coverts.
Length. 23 to 25 inches; wing 16-5 to iS'i ; tail 1 1 j tarsus 3'2 ; bill at
gape 2* 5, bill horny yellow ; irides brown.
Hab. Southern India and the Himalayas, ranging Eastward into Tennaserim ;
also Ceylon and Malabar.
I have nothing to record in regard to its nidification. It preys on rats, snakes,
hares and pheasants. Mr. Gurney in P. Z. S. 1884, p. 558, plate 52, gives an
excellent figure of this large owl, from a living specimen in the Zoological
Society's Garden, captured as a nestling on a precipitous ledge of a lofty moun-
tain in the Karenne Country to the N. E. of Pegu. It has lived in the Gardens
since 1878, at which time a note was made of the circumstances of its capture.
(P. Z. S. 1878, p. 790), under the name of Bubo (Huhua) Orientalis.
Mr. Gurney, now has no doubt that it is really an example (now fully adult)
of H. Nipalensis. Mr. Gurney says " the present is probably the most eastern
example of Huhua Nipalensis, of which the locality has as yet been ascertained,
as there appears to be considerable doubt whether a young owl obtained by
Col. Tickell on the Mooleyit Mountain in Tennaserim, belonged to this species
HI 'BO. 87
Of to its convener, //. Orientalist. Mr. Blyih hold the former opinion
(Jbis. 1872, p. Si),) and Mr. Iltimc advocated the latter in Slray F. vol. vi.
p. 31. Capt. R. (\. Wardlaw Ramsay possesses a specimen of H. Nipahnsfs in
immature dress, which was shot at Tonghoo, a locality nearly as far eastward
:.it from which the bird now in Regent's Park was obtained. Col. Godwin-
Austen has recorded a much more northern specimen of this species obtained
in the Darrang Dist. of Assam, jf.A.S. B., vol. xiv., pt. 2, p. 68 ; while Mr.
W. T. Blanford records its occurrence (J. A.S. B. vol. xli., pt. 2, p. 154) in the
Tista Valley in Sikkim, and Hodgson in Asiatic Researches, vol. xix., p. 173,
says it is found in all parts of the kingdom of Nepaul. Major Fitzgerald obtained
the young of this species in the Darjeeling District, and says (Ibis. 1878^19),
that though not a common bird, it is met with in most parts of the Himalayas
in the more temperate valleys. The presumption in favour of the Malabar
bird being identical with H. Nipalensis is strengthened by the fact of this
species being an inhabitant of Ceylon."
88. Bubo OrientaliS, Horsf, Tr. Lin. Soc. xiii. p. 140 ; Sharpe, Cat.
S/n'ges, B. M. vol. v. p. 39 ; Hume and Davison, B. G. Tennaserim, Sir. F.
vol. vi. p. 31. Bubo strepitans, Less. Traite, p. 114. Strix Sumatrana, Rajfl.,
Tr. Lin Soc. xiii. p. 279. HORSFIELD'S HORNED OWL.
Male. Upper set of loral bristles, feathers immediately over and round the
upper portion of the eye black, the bristles white at base and the terminal
halves of the longer ones blackish brow r n ; point of forehead and an obscure
band on each side of the anterior half of the crown greyish white ; middle of
forehead barred greyish white and brown ; crown, occiput, nape, upper portion
of sides of the neck and entire mantle deep brown, with narrow, wavy pale
rufescent transverse bars, narrowest on the crown ; aigrettes of numerous
feathers from 2*0 to 2-5 inches long ; upper feathers barred like the forehead }
the lower ones blackish brown, unbarred or only slightly barred towards their
margins or tips. Some of the under scapulars white with black bars ; coverts
about the shoulder of the wing, winglet and primary greater coverts plain,
very dark brown ; rest of the coverts and scapulars much like the tipper back,
but the rufescent bars wider and with mottled brown centres and a few of the
coverts white-tipped ; upper tail coverts hair brown, with narrow transverse rufes-
cent bars like the upper back ; tail deep brown conspicuously white-tipped, and
with fine lather narrow transverse rufescent white bars mottled and spotted with
brown. Primaries beyond their emarginations dark brown with traces of paler
bars ; inner webs of quills broadly banded with paler ; cheeks and ear coverts
mottled grey brown and dingy white ; chin, bristles of the gape and base of
lower mandible white ; entire throat and breast white, the tips banded with close
bars of blackish brown. Abdomen, sides, flanks, vent, and lower tail coverts
white, with broad, widely separated blackish brown bands ; tibial and tarsal
plumes, similar, but more narrowly banded ; lower portion of feet and inner
portion of tarsi unbarred ; axillaries barred; wing lining irregularly barred or
88 BUBONID^E.
spotted with blackish brown ; feet clear or chrome yellow ; claws black ; bill, cere
and eyelids, yellow; irides dark brown,
Length -18 to 18-25 inches ; tail 675 ; wing 1375 ; tarsus 2 ; bill from nostril
to point 0-96; from gape 17 to 1-9 (Hume and Davison). The adult female
is described in the B. M. vol. of Striges, by Mr. Sharpe on p. 40. It is not
unlike the male, except that the wavy cross bands are a tawny rufous ; and
altogether much lighter in the general tone of colour throughout ; some of the
scapulars have the outer webs white forming a shoulder stripe. Tail crossed
with six dull tawny bands, instead of five, and tipped as in the male with
white*
Length. 20-5 inches ; oilmen 2-3; wing 13*5; tail 7-2 ; tarsus 2-3; ear-
tufts 2-6.
Sab. Malacca, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Bangka and theTennaserim Province
of British Burmah ; according to Mr. Hume rare in the latter. Mr. Davison
notes that he met with it in dense forest on the road between Malewoon and
Mergui. It was a pouring wet day and the bird being quite drenched, he had
no difficulty in catching it alive after a short chase.
Gen. Scops. Sav.
Ear tufts large, Ear orifice moderate. Lateral margin of bill somewhat
curved. Cere not inflated ; nostrils oval, situated in the anterior margin of
the cere. Wings long, reaching nearly or quite to the tip of the tail ; 3rd
and 4th quills longest; tail short: toes generally feathered ; tarsi never naked.
I quite agree with Messrs. Sharpe and Hume, that it is most difficult to
understand the owls, especially the species of the Genus Scops which are
in every way the most difficult to identify.
Mr. Sharpe has, however, done something towards characterizing the
various species and had necessarily from want of a large series of skins to
make " races" or " subspecies." He says, " these races do exist in nature, and
they may be called by whatever name Naturalists please. "Varieties" " races"
" subspecies" " climatic forms" &c., but it has seemed to me better to keep these
forms distinct from one another, than to merge them all in one species and
thus to obliterate all records of natural facts which are plain enough to the
practised eye of the Ornithologist though difficult to describe in words."
87- Scops pennatUS, Hodgs.J.A.S. B. vi. p. 369; (pt.); Blyth,
J. A. S. B. xiv. p. 183 ; Str. Feathers, iii. 38 ; vi. 34 ; vii. 180 ; Murray, Vert.
Zool. Sind, p. 95. Ephialtes pennatus, Jerd. B. 2nd. i. p. 136, No. 74;
Murray, Hdbk , ZooL, fyc., Sind, p. 119; Sharpe, Cat. Striges, p. 53 (Sub-
Sp. B.) The INDIAN SCOPS OWL.
This little owl is very similar to S. giu, but of a greyer colour ordinarily.
Specimens from Sind are usually of the rufous phase. Jerdon describes both
phases, which I extract.
SCOPS. 89
Adult. Above ashy grey, more or less tinged with rufous or rufous-grey, the
feathers dark-shafted, finely mottled with brown and with a white subterminal
spot ; wings more rufescent and without the white spots, except on the
outer scapulars as usual, and some of the greater coverts ; quills rufescent,
with darkish double bars, the interval between the bars dusky or mottled, and
the light spaces or ground colour, on some of the outer primaries, rusty
white in some specimens, or it may be said that the quills are dusky rufescent v
mottled with pale bands ; the tail rufescent w r ith double bars, in some mottled
almost throughout ; beneath, the feathers are streaked dark brown, banded
with white, and mottled rufous-grey and brown, mostly grey on the upper part
and white on the lower part of the abdomen ; tarsal feathers barred and
mottled ; disk ashy white, with a few darker specks, and the shafts of the
frontal bristles white ; ruff marked with dark brown and rufous.
In the rufous phase, the upper parts are uniform bright golden chestnut red,
with black shafts, inconspicuous on the back, more distinct on the forehead,
ear plumes and shoulders of the wings ; outer edge of scapulars whitish ;
disk rufous with some of the feathers white-shafted ; ruff deep brown with the
outer feathers black tipped or black ; beneath deeply tinged with the hue of
the back, but with more or less white on the belly and under tail coverts ; the
breast and sides of the belly with brownish central black streaks, the latter
with transverse pencillings ; four faint bars on the inner webs of the tail
feathers, and the primaries also distinctly barred with dusky or mottled. The
young bird has all the feathers duller red, more black-shafted, and there is
much white on the lower surface; the disk too has a good deal of white,
scapulars white externally, with black tips, and the bars on the quills and tail
feathers are more distinct, brown and mottled. Bill dusky greenish ; iris pale
golden yellow ; feet fleshy grey.
Length. 7^- to 8 inches ; wing 5 to 6 ; tail 2 \ to 3.
Hal. Sind, Kutch, Rajputana, Concan, Deccan, South and Central India,
Bengal, Punjab, N.-W Provinces and Oudh ; Central Provinces, Guzerat,
Nepaul, Beloochistan and Afghanistan. Recorded also from Upper Pegu,
Malacca and Tennaserim.
In Sind it appears to be a winter visitant.
Except Mr. Thompson's note that this species breeds from March till
August in holes of trees, at no height from the ground, nothing is known of
its nidification or eggs. It is a common bird in the Gurhwal forests. Mr.
Hume says, in Lower Bengal he has occasionally obtained specimens by cap*
turing them in the " Jalmil" or Jalousie of his house where they resort to by
day.
88. Scops rufipennis, Sharpe, Sub. Sp. f. of the giu group, Cat,
Striges, B. M. p. 60. Scops pennatus, Jtrd. Madr. Jount.> xiii. pi. 2,
p. 119. The RUFOUS-WINGED SCOPS OWL.
12
90
There is a single specimen only of this species in the British Museum from
the Eastern Ghauts, collected by the late Dr. Jerdon and named by him
Scops pennatus; but Mr. Sharpe has separated it from among his large series of
Scops. He says, it is of the Scops gin group and closely allied to S. Malay anus
resembling it in the dusky grey ear coverts, but distinguished by the absence
of the white ocellations on the hind neck and of the bars on the centre tail
feathers, and more especially by its rufous quills. The following is his descrip-
tion of the type in the British Museum,
Adult. General aspect of upper surface more uniform than is usual in
species of this genus, being of a dusky greyish brown, the feathers being black-
ish in the centre, but scarcely to be called streaked, excepting on the fore part
of the crown, where the black shafts are very broad and distinct, all the feathers
of the upper surface so finely pencilled with dark brown as to appear almost
uniform, with here and there a few sandy-coloured mottlings, more distinct
on the head, to which they impart a slightly spotted appearance ; the collar on
the hind neck very distinct, some of the feathers being barred with fulvous and
crossed with narrow bars of blackish ; on the scapulars the blackish cross lines
are a little more coarsely defined than on th back, washed with orange buff, and
having the outer web pure white, tipped with black, forming a conspicuous-
shoulder patch ; wing coverts greyish like the back, the vermiculations very
faint and often obsolete on the greater series, which have rather large white
spots on the outer web ; the median coverts coarsely vermiculated with sandy
buff ; the feathers with blackish shaftstreaks ; the least series rufous with obscure
blackish cross vermiculations ; the outermost of the greater series, and the pri-
mary coverts strongly rufescent, almost chestnut in tone, the latter finely vermi-
culated with blackish ; innermost secondary quills colored like the back, and
finely vermiculated in the same manner, their centres streaked with dusky
blackish along the shaft ; the rest of the quills rufous, barred with dusky brown ;
these bars are more or less vermiculated ; the inner webs almost entirely
dusky brown barred with pale rufous inclining to yellowish on the inner web \
the rufous bars on the outer web of the primaries inclining to white, and pro-
ducing somewhat a chequered appearance ; upper tail coverts exactly like the
back ; the centre tail feathers likewise strongly resembling the upper surface
inasmuch as they are without any distinct trace of cross bars ; the outer feathers
dark brown, vermiculated with sandy rufous, and crossed with seven bars of
rufous ; the subterminal one very indistinct and lost in the vermiculations at the
tips, the light bars inclining to white on the outer edge of the external web ;
loral plumes whitish ; the shafts black, and produced into long hair-like bristles ;
feathers over the eye buffy white, tipped with blackish ; sides of face dusky grey,
indistinctly varied with fine cross lines of dull brown ; behind the ear coverts
a tolerably distinct ruff of orange-buff, and the feathers broadly tipped with
black, this ruff extending across the throat, but the feathers here finely barred
with blackish ; chin feathers dull white ; chest dull orange buff j the feathers
' ' PS - 91 '
broadly centred with black and crossed with a tew narrow zigzag lines of
brown and vcrmiculalcd with the same at the tips, many of the feathers inclin-
ing to white ; on the breast and the rest of the lower parts the white predomi-
nates, many of the feathers only having a few zigzag markings of brown, on
many of them a strong tinge of rufous with broad black central streaks ; some
of the flank feathers slightly washed with grey ; under tail coverts almost
entirely white, except an arrow-shaped mark of rufous or brown near the
tip ; leg feathers buft'y white, the tarsus slightly streaked with brown ; under
wing coverts fulvous, those near the edge of the wing mottled with brown ; the
lower series ashy brown with yellowish white base, the quills being also ashy
brown below, but inclining to rufous near the tips, the bands being entirely of
this colour, and fulvous only near the base of the inner webs.
Length, 8 inches ; wing 5-1 ; tail 2'7 ; tarsus 0*85. (Sharpe).
Unique. A single specimen from the Eastern Ghauts, Madras. Nothing
is known of its habits or nidification. I am, however, strongly inclined to
group this as a variety of S. spiolcephalus.
89. SCOPS brUCii, Hume, Stray Feathers, vol. i. p. 8 ; Murray,
Handbook, Zool. -c., Sind, p. 119; Sharpe, Cat. Striges, vol. ii. p. 63;
Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 495 ; Sir. F. vol. ii. p. 491 ; iv. 254; vii. 352 ;
Descr. ix. 36, 312 376-452. The STRIATED SCOPS OWL.
Cheeks and feathers under the eye greyish white, excessively fine and
indistinctly barred with brown ; the lores and stripe running up from them
to the top of the eye creamy white. The longer feathers that meet over the
base of the upper mandible tinged brownish, a few tiny dark brown feathers
on the eyelids. Chin and throat creamy white, with very narrow central shaft-
stripes towards the tips and excessively finely vermiculated with brown. Feathers
of the ruff, which is inconspicuous, very pale buff, narrowly edged with dark
brown. The whole of the forehead, crown, back of head, back and sides of
neck, back, scapulars, wing coverts, rump, and upper tail coverts, very pale
buff or creamy white, so minutely and closely powdered with pale brown, that
looked at from a little distance, the feathers appear to be a uniform pale earthy
brown. Every feather has a narrow central dark-brown stripe, some of the
outer scapulars have inconspicuous patches of buff on their outer webs, and
the ground colour of the feathers on each side of the crown immediately
above the eye is slightly paler; but beyond this the whole of the upper
plumage above described is singularly uniform in tint and appearance, and is
absolutely devoid of those white spots and blackish brown or buff dashes and
streaks so characteristic of the other Indian species. The primaries are pale
dingy buff, with broad transverse brown bars, which towards the tips are with
the ground colour mottled and freckled over, the ground colour with brown,
and the bars with dingy fulvous. Nearer the base of the feathers, the light
bars are on the exterior webs pure pale buff, while the daik bars continue
92 BUBONID^:.
freckled as already described. On the inner webs, the dark bars are nearly
uniform and unmottled, while the light bars are pure and unmottled towards
the edge of the webs, and suffused with brown towards the shafts. The
tertiaries and the tips of the secondaries approximate closely to the plumage
of the back and coverts. Of the breast and abdomen, the ground colour is
similar to that of the upper parts, but the brown powdering is coarser, so that
more of the ground colour is seen, and the dark brown central shaft stripes are
somewhat broader; towards the vent, on the flanks and lower tail coverts, the
ground colour becomes almost pure white, and the brown powdering very sparse,
while the shaft stripes are reduced as on the back and wing coverts to well-
marked dark lines. The short dense tibial and tarsal plumes are brownish
white, each little feather with its dark central shaft stripe. The axillaries and
wing lining are cream-coloured or yellowish white, entirely unstreaked and
unmottled.
The legs and feet, including the base of the toes, densely feathered;
terminal portions of toes with small transverse scutse, slate-coloured ; claws
black, well curved, slender, and very sharp ; toes very slender, but pads largely
developed, so as to make a broad sole ; exterior toe more or less versatile ;
irides bright yellow ; bill dusky.
Male, Length. 9 inches ; expanse 22 inches; wing 6-4 inches; tail 3-25
inches ; tarsus i *45 inches ; foot greatest length i '87 inches ; greatest width i '75
inches; mid-toe to root of claw O'8 inch ; its claw straight, 0*39 inch ; hind toe
0*35 inch; its claw straight, O'28 inch; inner toe 0*67 inch; its claw straight,
0'4 inch. Bill straight from forehead to point including cere, which is ill-
defined, 07 inch, from gape 073 inch ; height at front at margin of cere 0*29
inch, wings when closed are even with the end of tail. Lower tail coverts
reach to within 0*9 inch of end of tail. The third and fourth primaries are the
longest ; the first is 075 inch, and the second is 0-08 shorter. The exterior
tail feathers are 0*3 inch shorter than the central ones. Weight 4 oz. (Hume,
Stray Feathers, vol. i., p. 8.)
Mr. Vidal obtained this species at Khed in the Southern Concan, and
the Rev. Mr. Fairbank near Nuggur. Major Biddulph records it from Gilgit,
and I have myself taken specimens in Southern Afghanistan, where it is not
uncommon and breeds in April; eggs 3 in number, pure white, round, 177
X ro inches. It nests in holes of old Pistacia Kinjuk trees, on the Khojak,
and below. Every orchard after dusk is alive with them, and they make night
hideous with their melancholy cry.
90. SCOPS SpilOCephaluS, Blyth, J. A. S. JB. xv., p. 8 ; Eume,
Nest and Eggs, Ind. B. i. p. 66; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br. Mus. p. 63. Scops
pennata, Hodgs. J. A. S. B. vi. p. 369, partim. Phodilusnipalensis, Gray,
Handl. JB. i. p. 53. Ephialtes gymnopodus, Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 390;
Jerd. Ibis. 1871, p. 347. The BARE-FOOT SCOPS OWL,
SCOPS. ( J3
Forehead and a broad stripe over the eye pale rufous white or fawn colour.
Some of the feathers with a few minute brown spots towards the tip ; loral
bristles pale fawn color, more rufous towards the tips, which are black.
Feathers under the eye and ear coverts pale fawn color, more or less tinged
rufous, and freckled, mottled or imperfectly barred with brown. Top of head,
back of neck, back, scapulars, rump and upper tail coverts, also lesser win^
coverts with a more or less dark rufous fawn ground, very finely freckled with
dark, in some almost blackish brown. An irregular ill-defined, broad, white,
or yellowish white half collar at the base of the neck ; most of the exterior
scapulars with the outer webs white or yellowish white, and tipped dark brown.
Tail rufous fawn with from 7 (Hume) 9 (Sharpe) somewhat freckled transverse
brown bars, 8 of which are distinctly traceable on the centre feathers. (In
the specimen from the Kumaons a single one 8 only are traceable on all
the feathers.) Quills rufous fawn, broadly barred and clouded with dusky
brow r n, which suffuses the, greater portion of the inner webs near the
tips. Carpal joint of wing whitish. Chin and throat rufous white or pale
fawn. Some of the feathers of the throat with narrow, somewhat irregular
transverse brown bars ; the feathers of the ruff tipped with the same.
Breast, abdomen and flanks pale rufous white or fawn color, thickly freckled
and fermiculated with dark brown, thickly on the breast and sparingly on
the abdomen and flanks. Tarsal and tibial plumes ferruginous or rufous
white, spotted, or obscurely barred with dusky. Wing lining and auxiliaries
silky yellowish white.
Length. 7 to 775 inches; wing 5-4 to 5-6; tail 275 to 3-1 ; tarsus \'2 to
1-25. (Hume).
Hal. The Himalayas, in the neighbourhood of Mussoorie, Kumaon,
Gurhwal, below Simla and Nepal.
Captain Hutton says this species occurs in the Himalayas near Mussoorie
at an elevation of five thousand feet, and nidificates in hollow trees, laying 3
pure white eggs of a rounded form, on the rotten wood, without any preparation
of a nest. Diameter of egg 1-19 x I 'cinch. The nest was found on the igth
March. Scops gymnopodus follows in order, but it is not possible to admit
the species as Indian without further proofs. Mr. Sharpe himself doubts its
Indian habitat, as Mr. Reeves' specimens on which the species is founded
came from Malacca and China.
91. Scops Simla, Hodgs. As. Res., xix., p. 1 75 ; id. in Gray's Zool. Journ.
p. 82 ; Blyth, J.A.S. B. xiv., p. 1 82 ; Jerdlll. Ind. Zool. pi. xli ; Sharpe, Cat.
Strips, vol. ii. p. 67. Ephialtes sunia, Gray, Cat. Mamm., <r., Nepaul;
Coll. Hodgs., p. 51 ; Ho^sw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 418. Ephialtes Bakkanuuiui,
Blyth, Ibis. 1866, p. 255. Scops pennatus, Hume, Nest and A^.v, ///,/.
B. i. p. 65. Ephialtes pennatub, Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 386. HODG-
SON'S SCOPS ChvL.
94 BUBONID/E.
Adult. Above clear cinnamon rufous, nearly uniform, most of the feathers
\vith a narrow central shaft line of black, a little broader than on the crown ;
scapulars externally yellowish buff or pure white, with a black subterminal bar ;
wing coverts rufous like the back with the same dusky black shaft lines,
broader on the greater series, which are white at the tips of their external webs ;
the spurious quills externally whitish, broadly barred with dark brown ; pri-
mary coverts, cinnamon, with a spot of yellowish white near the tip of the
outer web, the inner web blackish brown ; quills dull cinnamon rufous with
faint cross-bars of brown, almost obsolete on the innermost secondaries, less dis-
tinct on the outer ones, but plainer on the primaries, many of the light inter-
spaces on the outer webs of the latter inclining to whitish ; tail cinnamon, the
centre feathers nearly uniform, with only faint indications of narrow blackish
cross-bars, these are broader and more distinct on the outer feathers,
the exterior ones having slight indications of wnitish spots on the light inter-
spaces ; lores white, the elongated bristly shafts blackish at tip ; over the eye a
patch of white feathers narrowly margined with black at their tips ; sides of
face cinnamon with silvery white shaft lines to the feathers ; behind the ear
coverts a distinct ruff of deep cinnamon feathers broadly terminated with
black ; plumes on the chin whitish ; chest cinnamon, some of the feathers
buffy white at the tips, with broad mesial streaks of black ; rest of under
surface of body for the most part white, broadly streaked down the centre with
black, barred with cinnamon and freckled and grizzled with zigzag lines
of blackish. Under tail coverts white, slightly washed with cinnamon at the
tips, and with few indications of a central dark brown streak. Under wing
coverts yellowish, those near the edge of the wing rufous mottled with brown.
Edge of wing white. Bill dusky horn ; feet fleshy brown. Iris bright yellow.
Length 67 inches to 7-5 ; wing 5-3 to 57; tail 2-5; tarsus 0*910 ro
(Sharpe.)
The above is a description by Mr. Sharpe, taken from a Nepaul skin collected
by Mr. Hodgson.
Mr. Sharpe observes that some specimens show considerable differences,
principally on the breast and abdomen, both the Penang and Madras speci-
mens having the central black streaks very indistinct on the under-parts, while
they vary inter se in the mottling of the abdomen. Mr. Sharpens description
answers exactly to a specimen of Scops very near pennatus, now in the
Kurrachee Museum, collected at Kurrachee, except that the tibial and tarsal
plumes are unspotted white, also the under tail coverts ; another specimen has
the tibial and tarsal plumes rufous fawn, with faint indications of small brown
spots ; the primaries too have the outer webs broadly barred with yellowish
white and dark brown.
Hab. India generally, ranging down the Malayan Peninsula as far as
Penang. Recorded from Madras, Penang, and Nepaul; also Sind, the Punjab,
SCOPS. 95
and the lower ranges of the Himalayas to Darjeeling, and everywhere where
psiifititus occurs, I cannot from the series I possess of these Scops suffi-
ciently separate them.
In my opinion it bears the same relation to pennatus as plumipes of the
Himalayas does to S. let tin.
92. Scops plumipes. Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 397 ; Sharpe, Cat.
Striges, B. M. p. 85, The PLUME-FOOT SCOPS OWL.
This species, if it is to be distinguished at all, or specifically separated from
the next (E. lettia} may be distinguished by the toes being feathered to the
base of the toes, the general tone of colouring as shown by Mr. Hume darker,
and as a rule less rufous or buffy, and the dark blotches on the head, back,
ruff, breast and abdomen more conspicuous.
Length. 9^5 to lo-inches ; \ving 6'7 to 7.3; tail 3; tarsus r6 to 1*7 ; horn
from gape 0*92. (Rough Notes.)
Hab. Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, and the Himalayas (Murree, Kotegurh
and Gurhwal).
According to Mr. Hume, S. plumipes has been found breeding at Kotegurh.
A female and 4 eggs were taken from a hole in a tree on the i3th May.
The eggs are intermediate in size between those of Athene brama and A.
cutuloidcs but more spherical. They are pure white and slightly glossy, and
vary in size from 1-25 inches to 1-28 in length, and from ri to 1*5 inches in
breadth, and not quite as large as some of those he possesses of E. griseus,
Jerd.
93. Scops lettia, Hodgs. As. Research, xix. p. 176; Sharpe Cat. Striges.
p. 85 ,- Hume, Nest and Eggs, Ind. B. i. p. 67. Ephialtes lempiji, Gray. Cat.
Ala mm. fyc. t Nepaul Coll. Hodgs. p. 5 I ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 138 ; id. Ibis. 1871,
p. 256. Ephialtes lettia, Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 393 ; Oa/es, B. Br.
Burmah, ii. p. 155. The NEPAUL Scops OWL.
Forehead, a broad streak over the eye running down the interior web of the
aigrettes, feathers under the eye, most of the ear coverts, loral bristles and
chin white, with a greyish or yellowish tinge, most of the feathers tipped or
imperfectly barred with dark brown. Top of the head, back of the neck, exterior
webs of the aigrettes, back, scapulars and tertiaries, also the lesser wing coverts,
rump and upper tail coverts with a rufous fawn, or in some buffy yellow
ground color, everywhere except on the outer webs of the scapulars, and in
a broad half collar at base of neck, very closely and finely freckled or irregularly
barred with minute zigzag lines of dark brown. Many of the feathers, especially
of the head and aigrettes, with large (teep brown blotches towards the tips,
confined in the aigrettes to the outer webs. Outer webs of quills rufous fawn
or buffy yellow, palest on the first few primaries, and with 56 broad irregular
96 BUBONID/E.
mottled and imperfect transvese brown bars which extend to the inner
webs. Outer webs of secondaries also buffy and much freckled and mottled
with brown. Tail brown, with 5 6 imperfect and irregular transverse rufous
fawn bars, the interspaces much freckled. Throat and ruff white, suffused with
rufous fawn towards the tips ; those of the throat with 2 3 very narrow trans-
verse brown bars towards the end, and those of the ruff broadly blotched at
the tips with deep brown. Breast and abdomen white, pale yellowish or rufous
white, closely and irregularly barred with delicate wavy brown lines, many of
the feathers with dark brown shaft stripes or lengthened blotches. Vent and
the lower tail coverts white with or without an imperfect bar or two towards the
tip ; tibial and tarsal plumes white or slightly rufescent, with a few indications
of narrow brown cross markings. Under wing coverts yellowish white, mottled
with cross lines of dark brown near the edge of the wing, which is white. Feet
yellowish fleshy ; bill yellowish horny, brown at the tip and on the side of
upper mandible and the edge of the lower.
Length. 8-5 to 10*5 inches; wing 6-3 to 7*2; tail 3*2 to 3-3 ; tarsus 1*4 to
I -5 ; bill from edge of cere O*6 to 0*7.
Hab. Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Bengal, Concan, South India, Malabar,
British Burmah, Nepaul and Sikkim. Recorded as most plentiful at Kumaon,
Darjeeling, Dhurrumsalla, Kotegurh, Simla and Gurhwal. It is recorded
from Arrakan, and according to Gates is common over the greater part of
Pegu. Captain Ramsay procured it at Rangoon and on the Karenne Hills.
Of the habits of this species very little is known, Like 'most Scops Owls
it issues from its retreat at sunset. It is known to breed in the valley of Surjoo
between Petoragurh and Almorah in Kumaon, and Oates says, he found a nest
in March. The nest according to Hume, Rough Notes> was a few small sticks
or twigs, amongst which a few feathers were interspersed, and was placed in
a narrow cleft on an overhanging precipice. Eggs 3 in number, very spherical
in shape, pure white and very glossy, varying in size from 1*33 to 1*38 in
length, and from ri8 to 1'2 in breadth. .
94- Scops lempiji, Horsf. Tr. Lin. Soc. xiii., p. 140; Sharpe, Cat.
Striges, p. 91 ; Blyth, J.A. S. B. xv. pt. i. p. 182. Ephialtes lempiji, Gray,
Gen. B. \. p. 38 ; Wall. Ibis. 1868, p. 24 ; Hume, Str. F. ii. p. 469 ; id. 1st
list. B. Pegu, vol. iii. pp. 14, 28 ; Hume and Davison, B. Tennaserim, vol. vi.
p. 35 ; Ball, Ganges to the Godavery, vol. vii. p. 201 ; vol. viii. B. West half
Malay Pen. ; Bingham, B. Tennaserim, vol. ix. p 147 ; Oates, B. Br. Burmah,
ii. p. 156. HORSFIELD'S SCOPS OWL.
Above clear sandy brown, coarsely vermiculated with wavy cross lines of.
black, many of the feathers with broad but irregularly formed streaks of black ;
scapulars more or less sandy buff on the outer web, the cross lines apparent on
the tips of the lower ones, but nearly absent on the upper scapulars, some of
which are entirely sandy buff on both webs; round the hindneck a toler-
ns. 97
ably distinct collaret of sandy buff feathers, only varied with blackish
markings towards the tips of the feathers; crown of head blackish in the
centre, the plumes laterally rufous buff with very narrow black cross lines.
Forehead and a broad streak on each side of the crown sandy buff, the
feathers narrowly streaked with black along the shaft and varied towards the
tip with a few blackish cross lines; the ear tufts (i inch long) which form part
of the light lateral band on the sides of the crown being pale sandy buff,
slightly varied with zigzag lines of black towards the tips, which are very broadly
black ; over the eye a patch of buffy white feathers each terminally margined
with a narrow line of black ; lores sandy buff with whitish bases ; sides of face
sandy buff, indistinctly barred across with narrow lines of dusky black, the
hindermost ear coverts rather broadly tipped with the same ; behind the ear
coverts an indistinct ruff of sandy buff feathers extending across the centre
of the throat, many of the plumes narrowly barred across with blackish lines
and all rather broadly tipped with black ; rest of under surface of body entirely
sandy buff, varied with narrow cross lines of dark brown, the chest with broad
central spots or streaks of blackish brown, much narrower and more linear on
the abdomen and flank feathers ; under tail coverts nearly uniform sandy buff
with a few wavy lines of blackish near the tips of the feathers ; leg feathers
sandy buff, the tarsal plumes crossed with distinct wavy blackish cross lines,
under wing coverts sandy buff, the inner ones nearly uniform, the outermost
mottled or barred with dark brown near the edge of the wing, which is whitish,
the lower series entirely ashy brown ; the inner lining of the quills nearly
uniform ashy brown, barred with yellowish white near the base of the inner web,
and with sandy buff near the tips of the feathers. Upper wing coverts darker
than the back, being blackish brown, the spurious quills externally notched
with sandy buff, the innermost of the least series sandy buff, mottled with
zigzag blackish lines, the greater series dark brown widely notched with sandy
buff towards the tip of the outer web ; primary coverts blackish brown with
indications of sandy buff bars, thickly obscured with blackish vermiculations ;
quills dark brown, barred with lighter or ashy brown on the inner webs, these
light bars being represented by corresponding ones of sandy buff on the outer
webs of the primaries, giving a chequered appearance to the external aspect
of the wing ; the secondaries outwardly sandy buff, vermiculated with lines of
dark brown, the innermost sandy brown mottled and vermiculated exactly like
the scapulars ; rump and upper tail coverts darker sandy brown than the back,
thickly obscured with blackish vermiculations ; tail dark brown mottled with
sandy buff, nowhere forming very distinct bars and particularly broken up
towards the tips of the feathers ; on the outer ones the bars are a little more
distinct, about eight being distinguishable, all the light Markings everywhere
somewhat obscured by brown vermiculatioas. (Sharpe).
Length. Adult Females : 8-75 ; wing 6*6. Males : Length 8-5 ; wing 5-8 to
6'4 ; tail 3'2$ ; tarsus (not plumed the whole way, the junction of the toes always
13
98 BUBONID^.
bare) 1*25; bill yellowish at tip, plumbeous at base; iris brown, tinted with
olive ; feet and eyelids purplish brown.
Hal. Borneo, Bangka, Java, Sumatra, Malayan Peninsula, ranging north-
wards in the Tennaserim Provinces of British Burma and Nepaul, and occurring
in the N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Kutch, and the Concan.
In vol. iii. of Stray Feathers Capt. Fielden says that this little ow r l appears able
to lower its ear-tufts, and that he has always seen them erected, standing out
much like a cat's ears ; also, that they appear to live in holes of trees during the
hot weather, and during the rains are to be seen on the shady side of bamboo
clumps or on fallen bamboos partly buried in long grass. According to Capt.
Fielden, this species is very tame and does not fly out of range of shot when
disturbed, and is chiefly found near watercourses in Thayetmyo. Hume afid
Davison in vol. vi. of Stray Feathers give as localities in Tennaserim, the
Karen Hills (Rams), Pahpoon, Tavoy, Pabyin, Mergui, Tennaserim Town,
and Bankasoon, generally distributed throughout the better wooded portions
of the Province. Mr, Sharpe like Mr. Hume unites the Malaccan and Suma-
tran forms. The Tennaserim forms Mr. Hume says, are not separable, and are
clearly lempiji of Mr. Sharpens Catalogue, characterized by the completely un-
feathered toes. Capt. Bingham in vol. xi. of Stray Feathers mentions having
taken three eggs of this species from a hole in a tree from 15 to 20 feet from
the ground. The eggs were white, round and nearly glossless, and were laid
on the bare wood in a natural hollow in the branch.
95. SCOPS malabariCUS, Jerd. Madr. Journ. x. p. 89 ; Sharpe, Cat.
Striges, p. 94, Sub-Sp. B. ; Str. F, vol. v. p. 135 ; Bourdillon, B. S. Travancore,
S. F. vol. vii. p. 34; Hume, Str. F. vol. vii. p. 361. Descr. Scops griseus,
Jerd. Madr. Journ. xiii. pt. 2, p. 119. Scops lettoides, Blyth, J. A. S. B.
xiv. pi. i. p. 182. (ex. Jerd. Ms.} Ephialles malabaricus, Hume, Rough Notes
ii. p. 402; Jerd. Ibis. 1871, p. 348. Scops indicus, Gmel. Stray Feathers,
v. 135 , vii. pp. 359, 506. Scops bakkamama, Forst. ; Hume, Nest and Eggs,
Ind. B. p. 69. Ephialtes griseus, Hume, Rough Notes, p. 398; Murray,
Hdbk., ZooL, $r., Sind, p. 12 1. THE MALABAR SCOPS OWL.
A prominent tuft of disunited-webbed, bristly white feathers (with dark
naked tips to the shafts, and traces on those nearest the eye of dark
cross bars,) on each side of the upper mandible at its base ; a faint tinge of
buffy at the anterior angle of the eye ; rest of the lores, feathers below and
behind the eyes, including ear coverts, loose-webbed, silky and greyish white
with traces of faint minute transverse brown bars ; chin white ; the feathers of
the extreme tip somewhat bristly and curving upwards round the lower man-
dible ; across the throat and upwards, immediately behind the ear orifice, as
far as the base of the aigrettes, a band of creamy or pale buff feathers, with
numerous minute, transverse, wavy brown pencillings and bars ; those from
the aigrettes to the sides of the throat with conspicuous dark brown tippings,
which from the denning line of the disc, and a few of those in the centre of
VI*
the throat with similarly coloured spots at the tips ; forehead and a broad
supcrcilium running- up the inside webs of the aigrette feathers, and a curved
band at the back of the head, extending from the point of one aigrette to the
point of the other, a silvery grey or greyish white, the feathers with dark brown
shafts and numerous minute transverse pencillings of that colour, and some of
them with terminal spots ; centre of forehead, top of head, a triangular space
surrounded by this grey band, a rich dark brown, purest on the centre of the
forehead, with small' twin spots or imperfect transverse bars and mottlings, to a
greater or less extent, of pale buff ; the outside webs of the aigrettes are similar,
as are the feathers of the band outside and contiguous to the curved grey band,
which latter seems continuous with the dark line of the outer webs of the ai-
grette, while the former seems to start immediately above the centre of
the eye; below the dark band at the base of the neck, is another band
of very similarly marked feathers, but whereas the dark brown predomina-
tes in the former, the buff much predominates in the latter. The back, rump,
upper tail coverts, scapulars, wing coverts, except the greater ones of the
primaries, a mixture of pale brownish grey and pale buffy, with dark brown
central streaks, and numerous transverse wavy brown pencillings and mot-
tlings* In the outside line of the scapulars the buff is very pure, and in some
positions conspicuous, and while the rump, upper tail and lesser wing coverts
are dingier and greyer, the centre of the upper back and the median and
secondary wing coverts show more of a pale buff ; the primary greater coverts
are very dark brown with broad transverse buffy mottled bars ; the quills are
darkish brown, with numerous broad transverse greyish more or less dingy
white bars, much more conspicuous on the outer webs ; with the exception of
a few bars on the upper portion of the outer web of the earlier primaries,
which are unmottled and slightly tinged with creamy, all the rest of these bars
are closely mottled and pencilled with brown ; the second, third and fourth
primaries are just perceptibly emarginate on the outer webs, and the first to
the fourth are conspicuously notched on the inner webs ; the sides of the neck
behind the dark line, the breast, sides, abdomen and thigh coverts, a sort of
creamy grey, very soft and silky, the feathers with narrow rich brown central
streaks and numerous minute irregular, wavy, transverse pencillings ; greater
portion of wing lining, vent feathers and lower tailcoverts, silky greyish white,
the latter, some of them, with dark central streaks towards the tips; tarsal
feathers silky greyish white, with a faint buffy tinge towards the joint, and with
several narrow, somewhat irregular transverse brown bars ; tail feathers greyish
brown with imperfect transverse mottled bars of very pale dingy buff, and with
the interspaces, too, more or less mottled with the same colour. Toes and
claws pale greyish brown. Soles creamy white ; pads and papillae much deve-
loped and soft ; irides brownish yellow or dark brown ; bill dark brown ; cere
dusky grey.
Length 7-88 to 9 inches; wing 5 -6 to 675 j tail 2-5 to 3- 37; tarsus ro6to rig.
BUBONID/E.
The above is Mr. Hume's description of Scops indicus, Gm., which, he says
(on page 506, vol. vii. Sir. F.} is identical with Scops griscus (jiialabaricus of
Sharpe, Cat. Striges, B. M.) and Scops bakkamcena of Forster. Sharpe, how-
ever, does not in his references to the literature of this species allude to the
names given by Gmelin and Forster.
Jfab.S'md, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Central India, Madras,
Malabar Coast, Travancore, Ceylon, Eastern and Western Ghauts, North
Guzerat, and Ratnagiri (S. Concan). Like the preceding species, it occurs
in Sind, but is uncommon, and affects wooded districts only.
Breeds in holes of trees ; nest commonly lined with leaves ; eggs white,
glossy and spherical. Nests have been taken during March and April in Sind,
Central Provinces (Etawah) and near Hansi.
96. Scops sagitatUS, Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. ii. p. 98; Oates,
B. Br. B urinali,, vol. ii. p, 156 ; Hume and Davison, S. F. vi. p. 35 ; Hume,
S. F. viii. p. 83. Ephialtes sagitatus, Cass. Journ. Acad. Philad. ii. p. 90,
pi. 12. THE LARGE MALACCAN SCOPS OWL.
The whole upper plumage a rather rich chestnut ; the wings barred on the in-
ner webs with brown and the tail irregularly banded with the same ; each
feather of the upper plumage with small arrow-head fulvous marks in the centre,
and some narrow wavy black lines across ; the forehead for a depth of nearly an
inch, a broad supercilium and the inner webs of most of the feathers of the
eartufts white ; the shafts of the feathers of the forehead nearly black ; the tips of
the tufts and the top of the head a darker chestnut than the back, and without any
marks- The long feathers on the sides of the neck, indicating a ruff, whitish,
broadly tipped with blackish ; lower webs vermiculated with brown ; the breast
with small dark brown shaft spots and a narrow vermiculation ; abdomen and
vent with some rather large distinct black shaft spots on the feathers.
Bill, feet and claws, bluish white; cere pale bluish green; irides deep brown.
(T)avison). Ex. Oates.
Length. loto ii'S inches; wing 7-15 to 7*2; tail 4-5 to 5; tarsus 1*2 to 1*25,
Nab. Malewoon in South Tennaserim ; the Southern slopes of the Mooleyit
Mountain. (Davison)wi& Malacca. Of its habits and nidification nothing
is known.
97- Scops balli, ffume, Sir. F. i. p. 53 ; Sharpe, Cat. Striges, vol. ii.
p. IOO. Ephialtes spilocephalus, Ball. Str. F.i. p. 53. BALL'S SCOPS OWL.
Adult (type of species). General color above rufous chocolate, with a few
fine nearly obsolete vermiculations of black, the whole upper surface with more
or less concealed spots of rufous buff, very minute on the crown, but much
more distinct on the back, where they form almost bars, all the light
spots having a blackish margin ; scapular feathers externally barred with
white, the interspaces very pale, and inclining to ochraceous j wing coverts
SCOPS.
colored like the back, the bases dark brown, the tips chocolate rufous,
with rather more distinct vermiculations of black, the spots very plain, and
forming notches on the outer web of some of the greater series ; primary coverta
exactly like the other, brown at base, rufescent at tips, but without the
light spots; quills dark bro\vn, nearly uniform on the inner web, and
chocolate rufous at the tips of the primaries, and on the outer webs of
the secondaries, which are minutely notched with fulvous ; the primaries
very distinctly chequered with white on the outer webs, the innermost second-
aries spotted with rufous buff, resembling the scapulars ; tail dark brown
near the base, crossed with about six bars of dull rufous, these becoming
obsolete towards the tips of the feathers, which are rufous chocolate, very
finely vermiculated with black ; the outer feather externally notched with
fulvous, and all the feathers of the wings and tail barred with fulvous on the
inner web, especially towards the base ; forehead and feathers over the fore
part of the eye creamy white, narrowly tipped with brown ; loral plumes rufous,
the shafts ending in black hair-like bristles, barred obscurely with black ;
ear coverts rufous chocolate, barred and tipped with black cheeks fulvous, all
the feathers tipped, and some of them barred across with dull black j general
colour of under surface rufous sandy obscured with grey, and finely vermicu-
lated with blackish cross lines, the bases of the feathers, especially those of the
flanks, strongly rufescent, broadly barred with fulvous, inclining to white near
the tips of most of the feathers ; and before this whitish tip, appears generally
a slight indication of a diamond-shaped spot of black, evidently the remains
of a streak ; all the above markings, though distinct on the abdomen and
flanks, are less plainly characterized on the chest, which is consequently more
dusky ; leg-feathers orange tawny, narrowly barred with dark brown ; under
wing coverts fulvous, slightly marked with brown and spotted with sandy buff
near the edge of the wing, which is whitish; the lower series dark brown,
fulvescent at base, resembling the inner lining of the quills, which are dark
brown, notched on the outer web and barred on the inner with fulvous. Total
length 7-5 inches ; wing 5-45 ; tail 3-2 ; tarsus 1-15. (Mus. Ind. Calc.)
Obs. Another specimen, very kindly lent me by Mr. Hume, differs consider-
ably from the one described. It is not such a deep rufous in color, and is
much more thickly spotted both above and below, recalling Scops spilocephalus ;
the under surface is much paler and greyer, the white bars very large and
distinct and extending even on to the chest. Total length 7-5 inches ; wing
5-6; tail 3-2 ; tarsus 1*15.
Hab. Andaman Islands, Nepaul. Mr. Sharpe again observes that, " it has
been suggested by Mr. Hume, that the bird from the Andamans, named
Scops modestus by Lord Walden, must be the young bird of 6". Ballt, and
I confess that until I examined and compared the types, I entertained a
similar impression. Lord Walden, however, having kindly lent me the original
specimen of S. modes lus for examination, I have come to the conclusion
102
BUBONID^E.
that the two species are quite distinct. Lord Walden has two specimens
precisely similar ; and they seem to me to represent the young of some
species of the S. malayanus type. Immature they certainly are; but they
present too many differences for me to refer them to S. Balli. The type of
the latter has been lent to me by Mr. Hume, and as the wings and tail in .
modestus are doubtless those of the adult bird, I draw attention to the follow-
ing characters which as it seems to me must separate the two ; for in no other
species of Scops is such a difference known between the young and the adult
Scops Balli.
Adult. Greater wing coverts and
secondary quills dull brown, exter-
nally rufous chocolate, with minute
vermiculations of black, and a few
small notches of fulvous.
Primary coverts nearly uniform
blackish brown, vermiculated with
rufous chocolate at the tips. Pri-
maries dull brown, rufescent at
the tips, notched with white on the
outer web, the interspaces inclining
to rufous chocolate.
Tail for the most part rufous
chocolate, like back, with indications
of lighter bars, the outer feather
externally notched with whitish.
Scops modes tus,* Juv.
Greater wing coverts and second-
ary quills alternately barred with
sandy rufous and dark brown, the
latter bars rather broken up into
vermiculations, especially on outer
margin ; the greater coverts with
white spots near the tip of outer web,
not present in the secondaries.
Primary coverts and primaries dull
brown on inner web, but regularly
banded with sandy rufous and dark
brown on outer web ; some of the
primaries with whitish notches.
Tail regularly banded with dark
brown and sandy rufous, the dark
bars somewhat broken up into vermi-
culations on the centre feather.
Again, the feathering of the tarsus is very different, not extending nearly so
far down the leg in S. Balli as it does in S. modes/us.
The above is Mr. Sharpe's description in its entirety of this rare species.
98. Scops modestuS; Wald. Ann. and Mag. N. History, vol. xiii.
p. 123, 1874; Ibis. 1874, p. 129 ; Sharpe, Cat. Striges, B. M., pp. 101-102.
The following is Lord Walden's description, taken from the Annals and
Mag. Nat. History, p. 12 (1874) :
*Scops Modestus. Wald, Ann, & Mag. N. H. xiii., p. 12. id. et Ibis. 1874, p. 129.
CARINE. 103
Stiff loral bristles pure white at base, some tipped with fulvous, some \vith
dark brown or black ; those of the chin pale fulvous, nearly white ; over each
eye a distinct broad whitish band formed by pure white feathers narrowly
tipped with yellowish brown, which again in some is narrowly fringed with
black ; some nearest the eyes also edged throughout their length with
yellowish brown. Feathers of the head and nape, pale yellowish rusty, each
traversed by three or four narrow irregular light brown lines. Interscapulars
and feathers of the back and rump, colored and marked like the plumage
of the head and nape, but the brown transverse bands are broader and fewer ;
scapulars the same, but a few more or less pure white, mottled towards
the tip with the prevailing tints ; ear coverts and cheeks principally white
with brown and very fulvous markings ; throat feathers albescent with one or
more narrow brown cross bands ; a half collar below the throat, of feathers
marked and colored like those of the nape ; breast feathers tipped with brown*
a sub-terminal band of pale fulvous, then a brown band followed by a much
broader pure white band ; abdominal feathers white, tipped with an irregular
ocellated mark, centred with pale rusty fulvous and encircled with brown, then
a broad white band, with a basal and narrower brown band in many of the
abdominal feathers, the ocellated markings are replaced by an irregular cross
band of mixed fulvous and brown ; under tail coverts white, with faint subter-
minal fulvous brown bands ; tarsus clothed with white feathers faintly barred
with pale brown ; ground color of the primaries and secondaries brown, each
quill traversed by three or more pale rufo-fulvous narrow bands more or less
complete, the brown intervals towards the apices of the primaries and on their
outer webs much freckled with rufo-fulvous; on the outer web of the second,
third and fourth primaries, the pale rufo-fulvous bands change to fulvous white
or pure white ; under wing coverts greyish white ; median rectrices marked
and colored like the apices of the primaries ; lateral with clear rufo-fulvous
bands running through, all tipped like the median shoulder edge, with white ;
tarsi feathered to within an eighth of an inch of the base of the toes; fourth
and fifth quills equal ; third slightly longer than sixth.
\Ving475inches; tail 2-37; tarsus ro; middle toe with nail ri2 ; bill
from nostril (in a straight line) 0-65.
Hab. Port Blair, S. Andamans. Occurs also in Nepaul.
Nothing is known of the habits or nidification of this species.
Gen. Carine. Kaup.
Cere swollen ; ist primary much lengthened ; 5 ln escolloped on the outer
web like the fourth ; hind tarsus plumed ; nostril pierced near the anterior
margin of the cere ; bill short, curved from the base, hooked ; lower mandible
notched.
lOi
99. Carine brama, Tern. PI. Col. \\. pi. 68; Sharpe, Ibis. 1875, p.
258; Cat. Slrigcs, p. 139. Noctua indica, Franki. P. Z. S. 1831, p.
115. Athene brama, Llyth, Ann. N. H. xii. p. 93; Grey, Gen. B. i.
p. 34; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 141, No. 76; Murray, Ildbk., Zool., $v.,
Sind; Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 404; Murray, Vert. Zool., Sind, p. 99;
Reid, Cat. Lucknow Prov. Mus. THE SPOTTED OWLET.
Adult. Above greyish brown, each feather with two white spots ;
scapulars barred with white, more broadly on the outer webs ; wing coverts
concolorous with the back, and spotted with white ; primaries and their coverts
brown, externally notched with white, and barred on the inner web ; upper
tail coverts and tail brown, also barred with white ; head and hind neck
closely spotted with white ; lores, eyebrow, chin, a demi-collar and patch on the
breast pure white ; ear coverts brown, the feathers tipped with greyish ; fore
neck white, the tips of the feathers brown, forming a brown band between the
white patch of the breast and foreneck ; rest of under surface white, barred
transversely with brown ; under tail coverts, tarsal plumes, and under wing
coverts pure white, the latter streaked with brown ; cere dusky ; bill greenish
horny ; toes sparsely covered with stiff bristles ; irides bright yellow.
Length. 9 inches ; wing 6; tail 3 to 3-5 ; tarsus i'4.
Hab. India generally to the foot of the Himalayas and Nepaul. Extends
into Beloochistan, Persia, Afghanistan, Burmah and Ceylon. Extremely com-
mon in Sind, the Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Rajputana,
Jodhpoor, Kattiawar, Central India, the Central Provinces, Kutch, Guzerat,
Concan, Deccan, and South India.
Breeds during February, March, and April wherever found in holes of
old trees, or in old buildings and clefts of rocks ; nest scantily lined with
leaves and feathers. Eggs 4-5 in number, pinkish when fresh, white when
blown, of a satiny texture. In shape oval and varying in size from 1*15 to
1-45 in length, and from 0-93 to ri in breadth.
The species always issues from its hiding place at about dusk, when it
may be seen perched either on the branch of a withered tree, or on the
telegraph wire. Barnes, in his Birds of the Bombay Presidency, says if they can
affect an entrance beneath the eaves of a bungalow they do so, and there
rear their families ; in such cases they become an intolerable nuisance, being
noisy disagreeable birds, a.nd not easily driven away. Lt. Barnes has even
taken the eggs of this species from holes in haystacks.
In the Mahratta Country it is known as Pinglee. Mr. W. F. Sinclair, the
Collector of Alibag, says it has a habit of hovering over one spot and dropping
on its prey 'like a kestrel or kingfisher. He has noticed this in the dry bed
of the Sabarmati near Ahmedabad, and thinking them (there were 5 or 6) king-
fishers, went out to see what they were catching on the sand.
HETEROGLAUX. JQ5
Carine glaux occurs in Kandahar, and probably in Beloochistan, but there
is no information as to its occurrence anywhere in India. At*-- c / ST* 7 f^^/l
100. Carine pulchra, Hume, Str. F. i. p. 469 ; id. op. at. iii. p . 39 ;
Sharpe, Cat. Striges, p. 140; Subsp.a. id. Ibis. 1875, p. 258; Hume, Sir. F.
Birds of Pegu, iii. pp. 14, 39; iv., p. 47. THE LESSER SPOTTED OWLET.
Mr. A. O. Hume characterizes this species as closely allied to Carine
brama, but much smaller, the color of the upper surface usually a darker and
purer brown, and the white markings smaller. Sharpe, however, gives a detail-
ed description of an adult male from Lieut. Wardlaw Ramsay's collection,
which I transcribe.
Adult Male. General color above slaty brown with more or less concealed
spots of white, very small on the head, where they are plainly defined ;
hind neck barred with white, forming an indistinct kind of collar ; scapu-
lars barred across with white, broader on the outer web ; wing coverts dark
slaty color, externally notched with white, the median and greater series with
large rounded spots of white on the outer web ; the primary coverts and quills
dark slate color, notched on the outer web and barred on the inner ones with
white ; tail slaty brown crossed with 6 narrow bars of white, rather broader
on the outer feather ; forehead and eyebrow white ; the lores developing into
hair-like bristles ; fore part of cheeks whitish ; ear coverts dark slaty, barred
across with white ; entire throat white, extending backwards in a triangular
patch below the ear coverts; a black mark running down the sides of the neck,
rest of under surface white, barred with ashy brown, the bars fainter on the
lower flanks ; leg feathers and under tail coverts pure white, also the under
wing coverts, the lower series of the latter ashy brown at tip ; inner lining of
quills ashy brown below and barred with white ; bill brownish ; the tip and
cu linen greenish yellow.
Length. 7 to 8 inches ; wing 5-4 to 5-5 ; tail 3* i to 3*5 ; tarsus ro5 to ri.
Hab. Burmah and Pegu ; very common at Thyetmyo and Prome, and Dr.
Anderson obtained specimens of it in independent Burmah.
Mr. Gates in S. F. iii., p. 39, (Hume) remarks that this is possibly the
noisiest of all the small screech owls. They are continually quarrelling with
each other at night, and even in the day time, a pair will commonly come out
ui >ome hole in a tree and screech away for a quarter of an hour.
Gen. Heteroglaux. Hume.
Si/e medium ; head small ; disc imperfect ; nostrils situated in the centre of
the cere. Ear orifice smaller than the eye, circular, without operculum, wings
short: first four primaries conspicuously notched on the inner webs ; 4th
primary longest ; tarsi short, stout, densely covered with feathers ; upper
surface of toes thickly covered with stiff bristly shafted feathers.
101. Heteroglaux Blewitti, Hume, Sir. F. i., 467; Ball op. dt.
1 1, p. 382 ;. Sharpe, Cat. Striges, B. M. p. 141. BLEWITT'S HETEROGLAUX.
106 BUBONIDjE.
Forehead, top and back of head, back and sides of the neck, scapulars and
interscapulary region an uniform rather dark earth brown ; feathers of the
back of the neck and scapulars with a white bar about midway, but not
visible when the feathers are in repose ; lores, a line over the eye, another broad
one under the eye, and a triangular patch immediately behind the eye white ;
bristles of the lores with the terminal halves black, longest bristles reach the
tip of the bill. From the gape runs a stripe backwards, enveloping the
whole of the ear coverts, in color a rather dark earth brown obsoletely barred
with albescent ; chin and throat and the sides of the lower mandible below the
stripe pure white ; a dark brown band across this, from the base of the lower
mandible on one side to the base on the other ; wings hair brown, darkest on the
primaries, secondaries and their greater coverts, and more nearly concolorous
with the scapulars, the lesser and median coverts and tertiaries. Quills with
4 5 conspicuous white spots on the outer webs, and corresponding imperfect
bars on the inner webs, which are pale brown towards the tips, and pure white
higher up ; winglet almost blackish brown and similarly marked. Primary
greater coverts similar, the rest of the greater and some of the median coverts
with very large conspicuous white spots near the tips on the outer webs ; lesser
and most of the median coverts unspotted. Rump and upper tail coverts
uniform brown. Tail hair brown, tipped white, and with three conspicuous
transverse white bars, a fourth, less perfect one concealed by the upper tail
coverts. Breast white, broadly tipped with hair brown. Abdomen, the tibial
and tarsal plumes, toe feathers and lower tail coverts pure white ; sides of
abdomen, sides, and flanks broadly banded with hair brown.
Length. 9-5 inches; expanse 22-5; wing 5-8; tarsus 0*91. Bill straight
from nostril to point 0*55 ; tail from vent 2^9.
Hab. The Central Provinces. Frequents the densest forests of the Western
portion of the Tributary Mehals.
Gen. Ninox- Hodgs.
Head small ; disc obsolete ; bill short, cere large ; wings long and pointed, the
distance between it and the tip of the tail equal to, or less than the tarsus ;
distance between tip of first primary and that of the third equal to, or greater
than the length of tarsus. Tarsus not twice the length of the middle toe,
feathered toes clad with bristles.
102. NinOX lugllbris, Tickell, J. A. S. B. ii. p. 573; Sharpe,
Cat. Striges, p. 154; Stray F. vol. iv. p?tfS;all Avifauna Chota
Nagpur S. F. ii p. 383 ; id. iv. p. 285, 286, 374; id. v. 13, 413; id. ix. p. 42,
377; Reid, B. Lucknow S. F. x. p. 17; id. Cat. B. Prov. Mus. Lucknow,
Barnes, B. Bom. Pres. p. 77. Ninox Nepalensis, Hodgs. Madr. Journ. v. p.
24, pi. 74- Otus lugubris, Jerd. Madras Journ. x. p. 87. Ninox sculellatus,
Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 5 iii ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 147; Hume, Rough
Notts, p. 420. THE BROWN HAWK OWL.
AVIFAUNA OP BRITISH INDIA
ASIO ACCfPfTRINUS
Li*,.
S. Press
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH I
NINOX AFFINIS, Beavan.
Mirvt.ern. Bros. HtK
NINOX. 107
Adult female, Above ashy brown, the head very much greyer, the sides
of the face and neck being decidedly light grey; forehead, lores, forepart of
cheeks and chin very conspicuously white, the loreal plumes with hair-like
black shaft lines ; feathers round the eyes greyish ; scapulars marked externally
with large bars of white, not very distinct and often half concealed ; upper-
wing coverts ashy brown like the back ; the outer median coverts and the
primary coverts deeper and more inclining to sepia brown ; quills dark brown,
a little deeper than the back, barred across with light ashy or greyish brown,
inclining to whitish on the outer web of some of the primaries and inner
secondaries, most of which are narrowly tipped with white ; under surface of
body white, the throat yellowish buff, streaked longitudinally with greyish
brown ; the chest broadly streaked with rufescent brown, the abdomen spotted,
and each feather subterminally barred with the same ; under-tail coverts pure
white, basal ones with a few brownish bands ; tail very pale greyish brown,
inclining to white at the base and also tipped with white, and crossed with six
blackish brown bands ; leg feathers rufous brown, very slightly mottled with
whitish cross markings ; under-wing coverts white, barred across with dark
brown, the outermost almost entirely brown, the edge of the wing white ; the
greater series dusky greyish brown barred withbuffy white, thus resembling the
inner lining of the wing, which is greyish brown barred with buffy on the inner
web, these bars inclining to fulvous near the base ; cere and bill green, the
tip of the latter dusky ; feet greyish or reddish yellow ; iris bright golden yellow.
Length. 13-5 inches ; wing 9*15 ; tail 57 ; tarsus i'35.
The adult male is smaller than the female, and has only five blackish bands
on the tail.
Length. 11-5 to 12-5 inches; wing 8-5 ; tail 5*3 to 5*6; tarsus PI to
1-15; bill ro.
Hob. The Indian Peninsula and the Himalayas, Punjab, N.-W. and Cen-
tral Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Concan, Deccan, and Nepaul.
1O3. NinOX affinis, Beavan, Ibis, 1867. pp. 316, 334 ; Hume, Rough
Notes, p. 421; Walden, Ibis, 1874, p. 129, pi. v. ; Hume, Stray F, 1874,
p. 152; Sharpe, Ibis, 1875, p. 159; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. ii., p. 155.
The ANDAMAN HAWK-OWL.
PLATE.
All the upper surface rufous brown ; bases of the lax feathers slaty and showing
through in many places ; chin albescent ; throat, breast, and abdomen rufous ;
breast and flanks albescent near the margins of the feathers, rufous at the tips
and darker near the shaft; vent and under-tail coverts white; thighs, tarsi, and
under-wing coverts rufous; toes covered with bristle-like feathers, albescent
brown in colour. Quills brown, barred with darker brown and washed with
rufous on the outer web ; primary coverts sepia brown. Upper-tail coverts dark
15
108 BUBONID^E.
brown, barred with fulvous; tail dark brown with 56 bars of darker brown,
Head and ear coverts greyish chocolate, nostrils and base of upper mandible
covered with stiff, white, black-shafted, lax feathers ; face and a part of the
forehead albescent. Bill yellowish or yellowish horny, slaty towards the base ;
feet and irides pale yellow. Axillaries pale buff or orange chestnut, barred or
not with brown.
Length. 10 inches ; wing 6'6 to 6-9; tail 4-3 to 4-5 ; tarsus i'O; bill from
gape o\8.
Hal. Port Blair, the Andamans, British Burmah and the Nicobars.
Mr. Hume describes this species from specimens received from Col. Tytler
and Mr. Sharpe from specimens in Lord Walden's collection. It is no doubt
very closely allied to N. scutulata, but differs from it in some very material
particulars, especially in the markings on the abdomen and flanks, which have
a streaked appearance, also in the general tone of colouring of the upper parts
and in size, being much smaller (10 inches against 12-5). It is said to affect
heavy forests and jungles. Mr. Davison says (S. F. ii. 153), he saw a bird fly
off a stump, hover in front of a frond of a cocoanut palm for about four or
five seconds and return to its original perch, from which it would take short
circular flights, dart straight up, and again swoop almost to the ground,
hawking like a Caprimulgus, and capturing small moths.
104- NinOX SCUtulata, Raffl. Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 280; Jerd. B.
Ind. i. p. 147; Armstrong, Sir. F. iv. p. 373 ; Hume, Rough Notes, p. 420;
Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus., ii. p. 156; Bl. and Walden B. Burmah, p. 67;
Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 84; Kdham Ibis, 1881, p. 37. Athene scutulata, Gray,
Gen. B. i. p. 35 ; Wall. Ibis, 1868, p. 22. Ninox hirsutus, (Tern), Hume S. F.
\\\. p. 40; id., 1874, pp. 141. 469, et 1875, p. 441. Ninox Burmanica, Plume,
S. F. iv. p. 285 ; Hume and Damson S. F. vi. p. 40 ; viii. p. 84 ; ix. p. 245.
Ninox innominata, Hume, Str. F. iv. p- 286 ; v. p. 16. The BROWN HAWK-
OWL.
Head, sides of the face and also of the neck chocolate brown ; forehead,
lores and chin whitish with mesial dark streaks. The whole upper surface,
wing coverts and tertiaries dark chocolate brown, the scapulars with large
concealed white spots ; primaries and secondaries dark brown, barred with white
on the inner webs ; a few of the primaries edged with rufous ; throat rufous
streaked with brown ; breast rufous chocolate, each feather edged with white ;
rest of under surface rufous chocolate, barred with white. Tail ashy brown,
paler at tip and with 56 dark bars, the basal one concealed. Under-tail
coverts pure white ; under-wing coverts and axillaries rufous, barred with white ;
edge of the wing whitish.
Irides bright yellow ; cere dull green ; bill bluish black ; culmen and tip of
lower mandible yellowish green ; feet pale yellow.
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA
. .
NINOX OBSCURA
Mtr\t.ert\ Bros li
NINOX. 109
Length. \\ to 12'$ inches; wing 8 to 875; tail 4 to 5-5; tarsus ri
to 1-15.
Hab. Rare in the Punjab, and N.-W. Provinces, also in Rajpootana and the
Deccan. Common in all the more wooded countries, as the Carnatic, the
Malabar and Rutnagherry coasts and Ceylon ; also in Central India, Lower
Bengal and the Himalayas, extending through Assam, Burmah, Malaya to
Nepaul, and to China and Japan. The Brown Hawk-Owl frequents the skirts
of dense forests. It is nocturnal in its habits, issuing forth at dusk. It seats
itself generally on stumps of dead trees whence it swoops, or rather skims along
the surface of the ground or water in search of insects, which are its chief food ;
Jerdon says, and occasionally mice or reptiles. It has a peculiar call which
it frequently utters at night, resembling, as Tickell says, the cries of a
strangling cat ; Buchanan likens it to the cry of a hare when caught by hounds,
and Elliott, " the cries of a child." Gates says its note resembles the word
Whoo-wuk, repeated several times.
Nothing is known of its nidification.
105- Ninox ObSCUra, Hume, Str. F. i. pp. ii, 421 ; Ball, Sir. F.
i. p. 55 ; id. J. A. S. R. xxxix. 1870, p. 240; \ Va Iden, Ibis, 1874, p. 129,
pi. iv ; Hume, Sir. F. ii. p. 153 ; Sharpe, Ibis, 1875, p. 258 ; id. Cat. S friges,
. M. p. 177; Gumey, Ibis, 1854, p. 171.
PLATE.
Lores and forehead, yellowish white; tips of bristles in front of and below
the eye black ; cheeks, ear coverts and sides of neck deep chocolate brown ;
chin whitish. Whole upper surface a rich, uniform chocolate brown, darker
on the head and nape ; throat yellowish white with a rufous brown patch ;
rest of under surface of body reddish or rufous chocolate, darker on the fore-
neck and breast, paler on the flanks and abdomen, the former with some
imperfect, and concealed fulvous bars or spots. Under-tail coverts buffy white,
barred with dark brown ; under-wing coverts like the back, with a rufescent
tinge in some specimens. Primaries like the back, but margined on the outer
web with buffy white or whity brown, their coverts blackish ; tail dark
brown narrowly tipped with whitish, and with 34 narrow bars of yellowish
brown. Bristles on the sides of the toes dark brown. Cere and culmen
greenish slate j iris bright yellow ; feet pale yellow ; claws black.
Length.- \ \ to 12 inches ; wing 7-55 to 8'$ ; tail 4*75 to 5 ; tarsus i to ii ;
bill at front '75.
Hab. The Islands of the Bay of Bengal, Nicobars, Port Blair, and the
Andamans.
Mr. Gurney notices this species in his article on "Eastern Owls," and says
it bears a curious similarity in the nearly uniioi m fuscous colouration of its
under pails to the more southern N. Theomacha, from which it is readily dis-
110 BUBONID^E.
tinguishable by its larger size and darker abdomen, as well as by the tail having
4 5 dark (3 4 yellowish white) bars and also bearing a white tip,
Lord Walden in the Ibis for 1874, p. 129, notes, that the fourth primary of a
<$from South Andamans, slightly exceeds the 3rd and is the longest ; the third
exceeds the 5th ; and Mr. Gurney, from examination of three specimens (i $
and 2 ? 9 ) also from the same locality, remarks that the male bird exhibits
the curious peculiarity of being longer in the wing than the two females
(8*80 inches against 8-20 and 8*40 inches of the two females).
Mr. Davison, the Curator of Mr. Hume's Museum, and one of the most
energetic and experienced collectors in India, secured two specimens of this
bird at Port Monat, S. Andamans. He says, he knows next to nothing
about the habits of the species, and adds that the first specimen he saw flitted
by him and settled on a small tree close to the water's edge. On the following
evening (iSth April), he secured a second specimen which was seated on
the stump of a tree. It rose as he approached, took a long sailing circular
flight and returned to its perch. The hoot, he says, is a peculiar one, quite
unlike that attributed to the Common Hawk -Owl. It is a low, subdued, but
clear double note.
Gen. Glaucidium. Boie.
Nostrils tubular in the middle of a swollen cere ; wing short and rounded,
the distance between it and the tip of tail much greater than the length of the
tarsus, which is feathered and is as long as the mid toe; ist quill shorter than
the next four, emarginate ; 4th and 5th about equal. Tail rounded.
106. Glaucidium brodiei, Burton, P. z. S., 1835, p. 152 ; Sckl.
Mus. P. B. Striges, p. 38 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 146, No. 80 ; Hume, Rough
Notes, ii. p. 417; Sharpe,Ibis, 1875, p. 259; Sir. F.vi. 39; ix 148. Athene
brodiei, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xi. p. 163; Gould, B. Asia pi. xxii ; Oates* B
'British Burmah, ii. p. 159. The COLLARED PIGMY OWLET.
Head, back, wings and tail dusky brown, banded rather broadly on the
head and narrowly on the back with white or fulvous white ; forehead with
small spots of the same. Hind neck with a fulvous collar and a patch of
black on each side. A white shoulder patch formed by the white markings on
the outer web of the scapulars. Primaries dark brown with notches of white
on the outer web ; secondaries the same, the bars on the inner ones larger.
Upper-tail coverts dark brown, barred and spotted with white or fulvous white.
Tail tipped with whitish and with 7 8 bars across. Lores and supercilium white,
the lores intermixed with black bristly feathers. Chin and fore neck white,
separated by a dark band ; rest of under surface brown with pale fulvous or
white bars ; under- wing coverts white, in some tinged yellowish with some few
brown markings near the edge of the wing. Bill pale greenish yellow ; toes a
deeper yellow ; irides bright pale yellow.
Length, 6*5 to 7 inches; wing 3*45 to 375 ; tail 275 to 2'8 ; tarsus O'8.
GLAUCIDIUM. HI
Hab. Northern India, the Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Bengal, Assam, the
Himalayas, and Nepaul. Besides the latter it is noted from Mussoorie
and Darjeeling, also from Amherst, Mergui and Tennaserim, from Tavoy
northwards.
Mr. Hume says this pretty little owlet though nocturnal in its habits is very
watchful by day ; when seated motionless it appears as a knot or excrescence
on the branch, but " point in its direction," or the moment your eyes are on
it, it is aware that it has been recognized and darts away. It is said to be as
daring as the Falconets. Breeds during May and June, making little or no nest
in the hollow of trees. Nest usually lined with feathers. Eggs 3 4, nearly
round, and pure white. Feeds on young birds, mice, and insects. The
flight of this bird, Mr. Thompson says, is rapid and vigorous. Glaucidium cas-
taneonotum, Bly., occurs in Ceylon^ and may be found in Travancore
or some part of Southern India. G. castonopterum, a Javan species, is said
to occur in Tennaserim, but of this there is no reliable information, and
Mr. Hume surmises that if such a bird should be found in British Burmah,
it will prove a distinct species. The coloration of the Javan bird is a deep
chestnut with the usual barrings and a chestnut streaked abdomen. Wing
5*7 inches.
107. Glaucidium radiatum, Tick. J. A. S. B. ii. p. 572;
Sharpe, Ibis, 1876, p. 259; Walden, Ibis, vol. vi. 1876, p. 343; Sharpe, Cat.
Slriges B, M. p. 2 1 7. Athene radiala, Bly . J. A. S. B. xv. p. 281 ; Jerd.
B. Ind. i. 143, No. 77 ; Ball Sir. ii. p. 383 ; Sir. F. iv. 373 ; vi. 36 ; Hume,
Rough Notes, ii. p. 409 ; id. Nests and Eggs Ind. B. i. p. 70,- Vidal, B.
South Concan, Sir. F. p. 39. The JUNGLE OWLET.
Above dusky brown, barred with rufous buff or rufescent whitish, rather
broader on the hind neck ; outer web of scapulars whitish with a few dusky
spots or bars. Wing coverts rufescent, the bars broader than on the back. Edge
of the wing white. Some of the outer webs of the greater coverts with
large white spots; primaries and their coverts and secondaries dark
brown, banded with rufous, the bands on the secondaries narrower than those
on the primaries; tail dark brown narrowly tipped with whitish and with eight
narrow white bands; chin, throat, and cheeks whitish ; rest of under surface
barred, except the centre of the body, which is barred transversely with dusky
and whitish, the bars on the sides of the breast rather fulvous. Under-tail
coverts white, with brown spots. Bill and feet greenish horny ; iris golden
yellow ; claws dusky.
Length. 8 to 8-5 inches ; wing 4'9 to S ', tail 2-85 to 3 ; tarsus 1*0.
Hab. India generally, from the Himalayas southwards through the Penin-
sula, but not extending far below the Neilgherries. Recorded from the N.-W.
Provinces, Bengal, the Central Provinces, the Concan, Malabar and Travancore,
112
also Rutnagherry, South India on the Neilgherries, British Burmah (?) and
Nepaul. Whether this species is distinct from Malabaricum or not, has not
been quite settled. Much has been written on the various phases of plumage
of both these species, and it is argued that this is due to climatic influence.
Sharpe, however, keeps the northern and southern forms distinct, calling Mala-
baricum a sub-species of radiata. I have not had a sufficient number of speci-
mens of the two forms, and hence cannot give an opinion. I follow Sharpe in
keeping both separate till some one with enough materials will decide the points
raised.
The Jungle Owlet breeds in the early part of the summer in holes of trees,
during April, May, and June.
The eggs are pure white, round, and measure 1-2 by ro. The young are
generally fully fledged by the end of June. It is easily tamed, and in confine-
ment will eat readily of raw or cooked meat, insects, frogs, &c. Both adults
and young are excessively noisy, and when teased make a peculiar hissing
chattering tremulous noise. The cry, according to Mr. R. Thompson, is a
too-roo-roo-roo, &c., drawn out to a considerable length, and resembles that of
the Common Goanna or Monitor Lizard.
108. Glaucidium malabaricum, Biy.J. A. S. B. xv. p. 280,
et. xix. p. 500; Jerd. B- India, i. p. 144, No. 78; Hume, Rough Notes, ii.
p. 413; Sharpe, Ibis, 1875, pp. 6, 259; id, Cat. Striges. E. M. p. 2l8.
Athene castanoptera, Ely. J. A. S. B. xiv. p. 184. Sir. F. iv. 372; v.
201. The MALABAR OWLET.
Head, neck, and interscapulars uniform lightish rufous with narrow close
dusky bars ; wings the same, but the colour deeper and the bands broader ;
primaries dark rufous, the first three barred throughout with dusky, the rest
mostly unspotted or obscurely banded at the base and distinctly at the tip ;
secondaries barred throughout with rufous and dusky ; outermost scapulars with
large white spots forming a shoulder patch. Under surface of body barred
throughout with rufous and dusky on the breast and dusky and white on the
belly and flanks. Vent and under-tail coverts pure or buffy white ; upper-tail
coverts dusky barred with white ; tail dusky tipped with white and crossed
with nine other bars of white. Under-wing coverts white with a few brown
markings near the edge of the wing ; the greater series with dusky tips, tibial
and tarsal feathers white, with a few remains of dark bars. Bill and claws
black ; irides yellow.
Length. 7*8 to 8 inches ; wing 4*5 to 4'8; tail 2*5 to 2^9 ; tarsus o - 9.
Hab. Southern India. Recorded from the Malabar Coast, Cochin,
Wynaad, Southern Mysore, Travancore, Madras and the Cone an.
Habits like the last.
GLAUCIDIUM. ll;j
Mr. Frank Bourdillon, writing to Mr. Hume, says, this is a resilient in
Travancore, preferring the low jungles, though he has often heard one as hi^h
as 2,500 feet in heavy jungle. Feeds during the hour after sunrise and before
sunset. Mr. Hume observes that all the specimens got from Travancore are
typical MalabaHcum with the upper parts strongly ferruginous.
109. Glaucidium CUCUloideS, Gould, Cent. Him. E. pi. 4; Sharpe,
Ibis, 1875, p. 259 ; id. Cat. B. Br. Mits. ii. p. 219 ; Hume, and T)av. S. F. vi.
p. 37 ; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 84 ; Eingham, S/r. F. ix. p. 148 ; Oates, Str. F.
x. p. 183; id. B. Br. Burmah, ii, p. 162. Noctua cuculoides, Vig, P. Z. S.,
183 1, p. 8. Athene cuculoides, Jerd. B. Ind., i. p. 145, No. 79; Hume
Rough Notes, ii. p. 414 ; id. Nests and Eggs, p. 71 ; id. Str. F. iii. p. 39 ;
Wardlaw-Eamsay , Ibis, 1887, p. 454; Marshall, E. Chumba, N.-W. Himalaya,
p. 408. The LARGE-BARRED OWLET.
Whole upper plumage and wings brown, closely barred all over with ochra-
ceous ; ear coverts, sides of the neck, a band across the throat and the whole
breast similarly banded. A broad moustachial band reaching to the ear
coverts, and a large patch on the foreneck white ; outer webs of some of the
scapulars and outermost wing coverts with large patches of white ; centre of
abdomen, vent and under-tail coverts white, the sides of the former and flanks
streaked with rufous ; auxiliaries and under-wing coverts pale buff. The
latter with a few brown streaks ; tail blackish, tipped with white and with six
bars of the same colour ; thighs in front rufous ; iris bright yellow ; eyelids
greenish plumbeous ; cere brown ; bill pale green, the tip of the upper man-
dible yellow. Legs greenish yellow ; claws brown.
Length. 87 to 8-9 inches; wing 5-7 to 5-8; tail 3-2 to 3-8; tarsus i to
TO2 ; bill from gape 0-9. Females larger.
Hab. The Himalayas to Nepaul, extending to Burmah and Siam. Found
in Assam, Arracan, and Tenasserim, and also in China. Recorded from the
Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Bengal, the Central Provinces, British Burmah, and
Nepaul. Spread all over British Burmah and along the lower ranges of the
Himalayas, and generally throughout Northern India. Breeds in the Himalayas
from March to May, laying 3 4 eggs, which are pure white and glossy. In
shape almost spherical to broad ovals, and measure from i^S to 1*48 X 1-17
to 1-24 inches. The nests are made in holes of trees, without any lining. The
species inhabits forests, gardens, and bamboo groves or large orchards.
G. Whitelyi is another species found as yet only in Japan and China, and is
believed to occur in Burmah.
Sub-Family II. SYRNIIN^E. HOOTING OWLS.
Wings moderate, somewhat rounded ; tarsus feathered- Head larger than
in the last ; ear conch larger than the eye, with large operculum shutting in
the ear; facial disk distinct ; wings long ; 2nd and 3rd quills longest.
114 BL 7 BONID^E.
Gen. Asio. Briss.
Characters, same as those of the Sub-Family.
110- AsiO OtUS, Lin. S. N. i. p. 132; Sharpe, Cat. Striges, p. 227.
Otus vulgaris, Fle??img, Brit. An. p. 56 ; Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 40; Gould. B.
Eur. pi. 39; Jerd. Birds Ind. i. p. 125, No. 67 ; Loche Exp. Sci. Alger.
Ois. p. 96; Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 363 ; Murray, fTdbk., Zool. t 8fc. t Sind,
p. 121. Murray Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 99. Otus communis, Less. Traite.
p. no. The LONG-EARED OWL.
Head, neck, and breast yellowish brown, or tawny yellow, with mesial dark
brown longitudinal streaks to the feathers, many of which are margined
whitish and pencilled with dusky brown ; ear-tufts I if inch, brownish black
in the middle, edged tawny, the upper edge of the inner web whitish ; fore-
head finely mottled, whitish, dusky and ferruginous ; face dusky white with
hair-like lines of black ; feathers round the eye blackish ; ear coverts yellowish,
tipped with dusky brown ; facial ruff white, the feathers tipped with black ;
chin white ; throat with stiff feathers in continuation of the ruff, spotted and
centred with dark brown ; rest of under surface orange-buff, sometimes
whitish, with a broad mesial streak of dark brown, the feathers of the abdomen
having also dusky frecklings. Under-wing coverts buffy or light tawny, a few
of the feathers narrowly lined with brown. Back dusky brown, much mottled
with orange-buff and whitish ; wing coverts and scapulars with a large oval
spot on the outer web. Edge of wing white ; wing underneath yellowish
white, the dark bars on the inner webs distinct. Primaries dusky brown, with
bars of tawny or reddish yellow, the tawny interspaces towards the tips of the
feathers narrow, and vermiculated with brown ; the tips entirely brown.
Secondaries greyish white, barred with dusky ; the margins of the inner webs
buffy ; upper-tail coverts yellowish brown, edged and vermiculated with dusky
brown. Upper-tail coverts white, the shafts towards the tips of some of the
feathers with a broad dusky spot. Tail tawny buff or yellowish brown, cross-
ed by seven bands of dark brown and vermiculated near the tip, the outer
feathers with ten narrow dark brown bands. Tarsal plumes tawny or yellowish
buff and unspotted. Bill of a dusky horn colour. Irides orange yellow.
Length. 13*5 to 14 inches; wing 1175; tail 6; tarsus r6.
. Throughout Europe, across Siberia to Japan and China (Sharpe) ;
the Himalayas from Nepaul to Cashmere, N.-W. Provinces, the Punjab and
Afghanistan. It it also recorded from Eastern Turkistan, N. Africa and
Egypt. In Sind it is a winter visitant. Nothing is known of the breeding
of this species in India. Mr. Hume, however, in Rough Notes, says he has
reason to believe it is a permanent resident of the forests of the interior of
the Himalayas. Yarrell and others assert that it does not make a nest for itself,
but occupies the deserted habitation of some other bird, as the crow, ringdove,
ASIO. 115
<&c. The eggs are four in number, white, oval and smooth, 17 by 1-29. The
young are hatched by the end of April.
111. AsiO accipitrinUS, Pall. Reis. Russ. Reichs. i. p. 455 ; Sharpe,
Cat. Stn'ges, p. 225. Strix brachyotus, Forst. Phil. Trans. Ixii. p. 384 ; Gm.
S. N. i. p. 289. Otus brachyotus, Steph. Gen. Zool. xiii. pi, 2, p. 57; Jerd.
B.Ind. i. p. 127, No. 68; Gurney, Ibis^ 1868, p. 150; Hume, Rough Notes,
ii. p. 364; Murray, ZooL, fyc., Sind, p. u8. Asio brachyotus, Me Gill.
Br. B. iii. p. 461. Asio accipitrinus, Newt. Ed. Yarr. Brit. B. Shelley, B.
Egypt. THE SHORT.EARED OWL.
PLATE 1
Adult. Head, neck and back dark brown, the feathers broadly margined
with ochraceous buff; the scapulars much paler on their outer margins,
and with brown irregular markings, which form ovate spots of whitish
buff. Secondaries brown, mottled with ochraceous buff and tipped and mar-
gined on the inner web with whitish buff ; primary coverts dark brown with a
iew ochraceous spots. Quills ochraceous buff, tipped whitish and with dark
brown bands, which are distinct on both webs. Upper-tail coverts ochraceous,
faintly edged with a darker shade ; under-tail coverts pale fulvous, with a
mesial dark streak on some of the feathers ; tarsal plumes unspotted ochra-
ceous. Ear-tufts 0-5 inch long; chin whitish, in some specimens buffy. Ruff
whitish, or whitish buff, and speckled with spots of brown ; plumes above the
-eye whitish buff, with mesial dark brown streaks ; facial aspect dull white, the
lores brownish ; feathers round the eye black ; ear coverts ochraceous, with
narrow black shaft-lines. Breast and entire under parts ochraceous buff
streaked with dark brown mesially, these streaks narrowing into linear shaft
lines on the lower breast and abdomen. Under-wing coverts buffy white, with
a few dark streaks. Tail dark brown, whitish at tip, and with 6 bars of ochra-
ceous buff mottled with brown. Cere and bill brownish black.
Length. 1410 15 inches; wing 13; tail 5 to 6 ; tarsus 175. Female,
length 15'5 inches; wing 12*5; tail 67; tarsus 1*85.
Hab. Throughout Europe, and nearly all India ; it occurs in Beloochistan,
Persia, Egypt, East Turkistan, Gilgit (Cashmere) and Nepaul; also in the
Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Central and Southern India, Kutch,
Ouzerat, Rajputana, the Concan and Deccan. In Sind it is a winter visitant,
and is not uncommon, especially in the Northern and Central parts, keeping to
low jungle and long grass.
This is another species of whose breeding in India nothing is known. In
England it is known to lay its eggs on the ground in long grass. Eggs 3 4
in number, smooth and white, 1*67 + f* 2 9 inches. Breeds in April and
May. In India it is found in long grass. It is a migrant coming in about
the beginning of winter.
16
116 BUBONID^E.
Gen. Symium. Savigny,
Head not so large as in the Striges. No ear-tufts ; toes thickly feathered,
with hair-like bristles or entirely bare ; feet stout. Ears moderately large and
operculate.
212. Syrnium Butleri, Asia ButleH, Hume, Str. F, vii, 1878,
p. 316; Tristram, Ibis, 1880, p. 245. THE MEKRAN Wooo-OwL.
Chin, cheeks, entire space inside the ruff white, tinged fawny below and
behind the eye ; some few of the loral bristles dark-shafted towards their tips,
but inconspicuously so ; feathers of the ruff across the throat and as far as
opposite the gape, are grey brown, margined throughout their length pretty
broadly, and tipped with cream colour, more rufescent and fawny towards the
tips ; the rest of the feathers of the ruff from gape round and behind the eye are
very peculiar ; when examined closely they are rather pale, French grey on one
surface, warm brown on the other, and obscurely tipped with rufescent
fawn ; forehead, crown, occiput and nape pale rufescent fawn obscurely
mottled with dusky brown ; when the feathers are closely examined, the
basal portions are bluish dusky, the rest pale rufescent fawn or buff with an
obscure ill-defined dusky brown bar, some little distance from the tip, and
another imperfect bar or spot of the same colour near the tip; lesser-wing
coverts from the carpal joint uniform smoky brown, somewhat intermediate
between a hair brown and an earth brown ; scapulars, back, median and
greater-wing coverts dull pale rufescent fawn, clouded and streaked with
brown, most of the secondary, median and greater coverts having more or less
pure white spots or blotches on the outer webs near the tips. First primary
almost uniform brown, edged creamy white on the outer web, and a mottling
of the same towards the middle of the inner web near the base ; rest of the
quills lighter brown, regularly barred with pale fawn colour, duller and shaded
with grey brown on the inner webs towards the tips becoming white away from
the shaft towards the bases ; tail tipped with nearly pure white, and exactly of
the same character as the quills, but the bars on the two central feathers are
reduced to mere blotches on either side of the shaft ; breast and abdomen
.creamy, the sides of the breast with a few indistinct transverse dusky bands,
and those of the latter with narrow brown shaft stripes. Entire wing-lining,
basal portions of the quills, vent, lower-tail coverts, legs and Jeet pure white ;
lower surface of the tail grey brown barred with white.
Bill and cere blackish horny; culmen and tips of both mandibles pale
yellowish horny ; feet greenish olive.
Length. 14 inches ; wing 9-95 ; tail 6; tarsus 2-05; bill from gape 2'O;
from margin of cere to point o'6.
JJab. Oormara on the Mekran Coast.
SYRNIUM. 1J7
This bird has been included in the Indian Avifauna owing to the country in
which it was first discovered, being under British Administration. Oormara
is only about 60 miles from Kurrachee, the seaport of Scinde, and it is
not unlikely it may be found to occur there. Of its habits and nidification
nothing is known.
113. SyTnium niviCOllim, Hodgs. in Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 82 ;
Blyth,J. A. S. B. xix. pp. 185, 550; Jerd. B., Ind. i. p. 124, No. 66;
Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 359 ; Sharpe, Cat. Striges, iii. p. 250. THE
HIMALAYAN WOOD-OWL.
Above mottled dark brown and fulvous, the outer webs of the scapulars
white or with a fulvous tinge, and forming a conspicuous shoulder patch.
Quills brown with whitish interrupted bands; tail brown with 8 9 bars of light
brown marbled towards the tips ; sides of the neck and eyebrows also with
a good deal of white ; chin whitish ; disc greyish mottled with brown,
slightly darker round the eyes ; ruff with a few brown markings ; lower parts
mottled with brown, white and fulvous bars and lines ; tarsal feathers narrowly
barred brown, and the toes feathered to nearly the tips, where there are 2 3
moderate transverse scales. Irides dark brown ; bill pale fleshy yellow ;
cere faintly brown.
Length. 16 to 18 inches; wing n to 127 ; tail 7 to 77 ; tarsus 2 102-15.
Hab. The Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, and from Murree (the Himalayas),
extending into Western China. Mr. Hume has had it from Darjeeling and
Kotegurh, and Capt. Marshall got one at Kussowlie, at a 'height of only 5,000
feet above the sea.
The species is allied to the European 5. Aluco ; the difference is in the
smaller size of Aluco, and the proportionally larger and stronger bill and claws
of the Indian species.
Nothing appears to be known of its nidification. 1
114. Syrnium Sinense, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp. p. xvi. Strix seloputo,
Horsf. Trans. Lin. Socy. xiii. p. 140. Strix pagodarum, Tern. pi. col. 230.
Bulaca sinense, Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 357. Syrnium sinense, Sharpe,
Cat. Striges, B. Mus. ii. p. 261 ; Hume, S. F. iii. p. 37; id. and Davison
S. F. vi. p. 28 ; Oates, S. F. vii. p. 45 ; llume, S. F. viii. p. 83 ; Bingham,
S. F. ix. p. 146 ; Oates, S. F. x. p. 182 ; id. B. British Burmah t ii. p. 164.
THE MALAYAN WOOD-OWL.
Forehead, chin, and facial disc rather bright ferruginous without marks ;
lower edge of disc whitish ; a large patch on the throat pure white ; a space
between this patch and the chin ferruginous ; ear coverts black, barred slightly
at the lower end with ferruginous ; top of head and neck very dark
chocolate brown, each feather with two white spots on either web, the spots
becoming larger as they recede from the front of the head ; ^kles of the neck
118 BUBONID^E.
darker, the spots turning into bars ; the back, scapulars, rump and upper-
wing coverts chocolate brown, paler than on the head ; the back with large
white bars ; the lesser-wing coverts with a few white spots ; the greater-wing
coverts with large white spots on both webs ; the rump barred with white ; the
scapulars with large bar-like drops of white ; the exterior feathers, which are
usually concealed, being almost entirely white, with ferruginous brown bars ;
primary coverts, plain rufous brown, the general colour of the wings much
the same as that of the upper plumage, but duller ; the primaries and
secondaries barred with fulvous on both webs, except on the first four pri-
maries, where the outer webs are barred with whitish ; the tertiaries broadly
barred with white, turning to rufous bars at the bases of the feathers ; tail
much the same tint as the back, the central rectrices very sparsely barred with
whitish (probably disappearing with age), the others barred narrowly on the
outer and broadly on the inner web with fulvescent white ; all the rectrices
tipped with dull white ; the lower plumage with the under-wing coverts white
with numerous bars of dark brown ; bases of the feathers which are very much
decomposed and bright fulvous in colour, show through the plumage in
patches ; the bars on the thighs narrower and more numerous.
In the young the whole upper plumage is white, barred with chocolate brown,
the tips to the tail feathers very white and broad ; the whole lower plumage
white, closely barred with brown ; thighs plain fulvous white ; facial disc as
in the adult.
Bill and cere dark horny brown j the mouth flesh colour; iris dark brown;
edges of the eyelids pink ; toes brown ; claws dark horn.
Length. 18 to 2O'5 inches ; tail 7*6 to 9; wing 14-4 to 15*6 ; tarsus 2^15
to 2- 3 ; bill from gape 1-5 inches.
Hab. British Burmah, Java, Siam, Cochin-China, Borneo, and Penang ;
distributed over Pegu and Tennaserim. Common near Kyrikpadien and the
towns of Pegu and Rangoon. Capt. Fielden procured some at Thayetmyo,
and Mr. Davison and others in the extreme south of Tennasserim, while Capt.
Bingham heard its note in the Thoongyeen Valley. According to Gates the
species frequents ever green forests and groves of trees near pagodas and
ruined temples or monasteries. It is strictly nocturnal in its habits, and feeds
principally on insects. During the day it roosts on a high branch well
protected by leaves. Of its eggs I have no record, but Gates says he took the
young birds in March, and that the eggs appear to be deposited in a roomy
fork of some large tree, at no great height from the ground.
115. Syrnium ocellatum, Less. Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 289; Gould, E.
Asia pt. xxii.; Sharpe, Cat. Striges, ii. p. 263. Bulaca ocellata, Hume, Rough
Notes, ii, p. 383 ; id. Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 61. Syrnium sinense, Blyth,
J. A. S. B. xi. p. 162; Jerd. B. Jnd. i. p. 123. Bulaca sinensis, Gray, Cat.
Ace. 1844, p. 43 ; Plyth, Ibis, 1865, p. 29. THE MOTTLED WooD-OwL.
SYRNIUM.
General colour above rufous-orange, the feathers of the crown and hind-
neck mottled with black and white, each feather having a double white
spot at the tip, preceded by a distinct black bar ; back greyer, each feather
being orange at the base, but for the terminal half crossed with distinct
zigzag bars of dark brown, the interspaces being white, thickly mottled
with brown vermiculations ; the scapulars externally white, crossed with narrow
brown bars, forming a conspicuous shoulder patch ; wing coverts coloured
like the back and mottled with grey in the same manner, the greater
series rather whiter than the rest ; primary coverts dark brown with a few
zigzag markings of ashy grey on the outer web. Primaries dark brown,
barred across with lighter brown, these bars nearly obsolete on the inner web
and represented by an ashy spot on the outer one, the spots clouded and
obscured by brown vermiculations, the inner webs orange for the basal half
with brown cross bars ; secondaries for the most part ashy white like the back,
vermiculated with brown ; the tips of the feathers brown, crossed in the same
way with ashy whitish bars, there being altogether 8 9 in number on the tail ;
sides of the face greyish-white, mottled all over with minute black bars, the
ear coverts orange in the centre ; facial ruff dark chocolate brown, many of the
feathers spotted with white, those on the lower parts inclining to orange and the
plumes under the chin being white with narrow black bars, in both instances
assimilating to the adjacent parts of the body; chin and the patch on the fore-
neck white, the plumes on the latter with a few narrow terminal bars of dark
brown ; rest of under surface white, narrowly barred with dark brown, the
whole of the feathers orange at base, this colour showing conspicuously on the
chest ; leg feathers as well as under-wing and tail coverts white, barred with
dark brown ; the greater series of under-wing coverts blackish with light,
orange-buff bases, thus resembling the inner lining of the wing which is orange-
buff for the greater part of the inner webs of the feathers, the ends being brown
barred across with lighter brown ; bill horny black, pale and greyish on
lower mandible ; cere dingy, a dirty pinkish, brownish or yellowish horny.
Varies a good deal. Bare part of toes pale greenish brown ; soles yellowish
white ; iris brown, light in some species, and deep or dark in others.
(Hume.)
Length. 17-9 to 21 inches;' wing 13*0 to 13*9; tail 7-4 to 8-5 ; tarsus 2*05
to 2-4.
Hab. Throughout the greater part of India, east of the Sutlej, and of the
Indus below its junction with the former, and west of the Ganges. It is
recorded from the Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Central and Southern India, the
sub- Himalayan Valleys, the Central Provinces, Kutch, Kattiawar, Guzerat,
Mount Aboo, the Concans and Deccan. According to Jerdon in the
Carnatic, in parts of Mysore and the forests of Malabar, but not in Ceylon
nor in Lower Bengal.
120 BUBONID^E.
This beautifully plumaged species is only found in well-wooded districts at
no great elevation. Its hoot is loud, harsh and resonant. Of its nidification
little is known. The normal number of eggs is two, deposited, like as in
the previous species, in large depressions or in the fork of trees, generally
peepul or mango at about from 10 to 20 feet from the ground. There is no
nest, so to speak, but a little dry touchwood, and a few dead leaves. The eggs
are round, oval, white, and in some instances with a delicate creamy tinge.
In length they vary from 1-94 to 2-1 inches and in breadth from 1-63 to 175.
The months in which the young are hatched are generally April and May,
sometimes at the end of March. Lieut. Barnes, however, says he took full
fledged nestlings from a large hole in a tree at Saugor, Central Provinces, as
early as the 22nd February.
116. Syrnium newarense, Hodgs. Asia/. Res. xix. p. 168; Hume,
Rough Notes, ii. p. 348 ; id. Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 60 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i.
p. 122, No. 64. THE NEPAUL BROWN WOOD-OWL.
Upper parts rich brown, quill and tail feathers barred whity brown, under
surface pale rusty, with numerous narrow brown bands ; inner scapulars the
same ; throat white ; rump and upper-tail coverts also faintly barred ; forehead,
crown and occiput deep blackish brown ; the stiff bristle-like feathers in front
and above the angle of the eyes dark-shafted ; legs and feet densely feathered
to the last joint of the toes ; bill greenish horny, bluish towards base ; cere (?)
plumbeous.
Length. -21-5 to 24 inches (28 ? Sharpe); wing 15-2 to 15*5 ; tail 9-75
to 1075 ; tarsus 275 to 3.
Hab. N.-W. Provinces, the Himalayas, and Nepaul. Recorded from
Simla, Koteghur, B. Burmah (?), Bussahir, Kumaon, and the Neilgherries (?)
This species, Mr. Hume says, so far as he knows, lays in May. He saySj
"contrary to what might have been expected, the nest was placed on a shelf pro-
jecting from the face of a low precipice ; immediately above it projected a
large point of rock from which depended a perfect curtain of bushes which
reached the tops of the trees growing at the foot of the precipice. The nest,
according to the Paharees, with Mr. Hume, was composed of sticks with a few
feathers intermingled. The nest contained (6th June), three very young birds.
Mr. Hume like other Ornithologists, who have of late years worked at the subject,
doubts the distinctness of this species from S. indranee. The following re-
marks are his, and the quotations too from his invaluable Scrap-book, which
gives some very material information in regard to measurements of such of the
specimens of this species in his possession, from which it will be seen that the
dimensions very little exceed those given by Dr. Jerdon for Indranee, and fall
short of those which he gives for Newarensis. A Burmese skin differed in none
of its dimensions by more than a mere fraction from the skin of an old and a
young male j he adds that notwithstanding Mr. Blyth's opinion." I nevertheless
121
still hold, that the distinction of size is, to say the least, neither so constant nor
so material as has been asserted, and has by no means been so established as
to render ( if Dr. Jerdon's measurements of the Southern race are reliable), a
specific separation of the Northern and Southern birds, certainly requisite. Dr.
Jerdon gives the wing of Southern species at from 13 to 14 inches.
The Burmese bird has them 14*8 ,,
The two Simla specimens (Young) 15*2 ,,
Theadult I5'5
A Bussahir specimen l6'2
A large Kumaon one 16-7 ,,
While Dr. Stohckza wrote to say, that a specimen 2 1 inches in length had
wings a little over 18 inches, and a Himalayan specimen from Baron Hugel
was decidedly smaller, the wing measuring 15 inches. The species affects well-
wooded localities, but so far as Mr. Hume's experience goes, affects small pre-
cipices on the sides of wooded hills. It is like sinense, strictly nocturnal in its
habits, and feeds on large insects.
I have not sufficient material to give an opinion either way ; Mr. Sharpe too
has not given his opinion, and has placed S. indranee as an inhabitant of the
Peniusula of India, Ceylon and the Malayan Peninsula.
With Mr. A. O. Hume's large Museum at his elbows, it is hoped, the
question will soon be worked out. In the meantime it would be well to keep
Sykes' Indranee as a distinct species.
117- Syrnium indranee, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 82; Horsf. and
Moore, Cat. B. M. E. I. Co. i. p. 83 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 121, No. 63; Holdsw*
P. Z. S. 1872, p. 415 ; Hume, Sir. F. 1873, P- 429 ; Legge, Sir. F. 1874,
p. 349 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. M. p. 282. Bulaca indranee, (Kaup,) Hume,
Rough Notes, ii. p. 347. THE SOUTHERN Wooo-OwL.
Above hair brown darkest on the head and neck ; the greater coverts,
scapulars, and tertiaries banded with white, the outer scapulars being almost
white with brown bars ; rump and upper-tail coverts also faintly barred with
fulvous ; quills brown, barred with pale fulvous on both webs, and, with narrow
whitish bars and a white tip ; disc black round the eye, with a pale whitish
upper edge or supercilium, rufous externally ; ruff brown with some white
markings; beneath pale fulvous white, narrowly and closely barred with
brown ; quills and tail beneath dusky brown, with white bars ; bill pale
greenish; irides deep brown ; claws horny reddish.
Length. 191021 inches ; wing 1310 14 ; tail 8 to 9 ; tarsus 2'5; midtoeand
claw 2-5 ; toes feathered three quarters of their length, with strong scuta
beyond ; wings reach nearly to the end of tail. The above is Dr. Jerdon's des-
cription. He gives the habitat as " throughout Southern India, in Ceylon and
the Malayan Peninsula, not yet in Burmah. Refer to notes for distribution
under S. neivarejise.
122 STRIGID/E.
Family STRIGID^E.
Hinder margin of sternum entire, with no distinct cleft ; inner margin of
middle claw serrated. Head large, densely feathered. Eyes surrounded with
a circle of radiating feathers ; between the anterior portion of the facial area a
frontal patch of small stiff feathers always present. Bill short, covered by stiff
bristles. Feet feathered to the toes.
Gen. StriX- Linn, (in pt.)
Nasal fossae large ; nostrils lunate. Wings reaching far beyond the tail ; tail
short, slightly rounded ; 2nd quill longest ; tarsi scantily feathered.
118. Strix flammea, Lin. S. N. i. p. 133 ; ^m-. Man. d'o. \. 91 ;
Gottld, B. Eur. i. pi. 36; Murray* Vert., ZooL, Sind, p. 101. Strix Javanica,
Gm. S. N. i. p. 295 ; Jerd. Mad. Journ. x. p. 85 ; id. Birds of Ind. i. p. 117,
No. 60 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Indian Birds\ Murray Hdbk., Zool.,fyc.+
Sind., p. 1 19. Strix indica, Blyth, Ibis, 1860, p. 25 ; Hume, Rough Notes, ii.
p. 342 ; id. Sir. F. 1^73, p. 163 et 1875, p. 37. THE INDIAN SCREECH OWL.
Head pale buff, mottled with light grey, each feather tipped with a white spot
and edged darker. Neck silky white, sometimes tinged yellowish and with
small brown spots ; the ruff the same, with darker tips ; chin, throat, and
breast, and under parts white, the feathers of the breast and abdomen with
-small black specks. Scapulars and back pale buff, mottled with grey, each
feather with a terminal dark-edged white spot. Primaries buff on the outer
web and paler on the inner, edged with white and baned with brown, the outer
STRIX. 123
web finely speckled. Tail pale buff with 45 dark bars, tip whitish, and the
inner web of the lateral feathers pure white. Under tail coverts and tarsal
plumes white; under wing and thigh coverts white with small dark spots;
facial disc pure white with a rufous spot in the corner of each eye. Bill yellow-
ish white , irides black ; cere flesh coloured.
Length. 13 to 14 inches ; wing 1 1 ; tail 2-5 ; tarsus 2-5 to 275.
Bab. Throughout Europe, India, Beloochistan, Afghanistan and Ceylon,
extending through Burmah. Gates says it is abundant in Pegu and Arrakan,
andCapt. Bingham records it from near Moulmein. In Burmah it is found chiefly
in woods. It breeds in holes of trees or in the ground. Eggs 5 in number.
119. Strix Candida, Tick. j. A. s. B. ii. p. 572 ; Jerd. in. ind. o.
pi- 3; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 118, No. 61 ; Gould B. Asia, pt. xxiv. ; Sharpe,
Cat. B. M. ii. p. 308; Glaux Candida, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xix. p. 513 ; Ball,
Str. F. 1874, p. 381 ; Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 345 ; id. Nests and Eggs,
Ind. B. p. 60. Strix Candida, Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 83 ; Gates, Str. F.
x. p. 181. The GRASS-OWL.
The whole of the plumage, with median and greater wing coverts, dark glossy
brown, the feathers yellow at the base, this colour being more or less mixed with
the brown, according to the disarrangement of the plumage ; each feather with
a small spot of white near the tip ; lesser wing coverts pale orange-buff spotted
with brown ; tail buffy white ; the central feathers completely barred across
with dark brown, the others successively less barred, the outermost feathers
being nearly pure white ; the quills in general orange-buff, barred with brown,
and the tips also brown ; the whole of the face and sides of the neck white ; a
patch of black in front of the eye ; whole lower plumage pure white ; the
abdomen, under wing coverts, sides of the breast and body spotted with brown ;
irides very dark brown ; bill horny ; legs livid. (Jerd.)
Length. 14 to 14-5 inches ; tail 5-2 to 5-5 ; wing 13-3 ; tarsus 3-1 to 3-2.
Hab. India, Burmah, Upper Assam, and the Indo-Chinese sub- region ;
also the Phillipine Islands and N. Australia. Jerdon says he procured it on
the Neilgherries at about 6,OOO ft. elevation, also in the Carnatic and in
Central India. According to Tickell (Jerd.), it is found throughout Bengal
and the Upper Provinces. In Burmah Colonel Lloyd got it at Toonghoo.
In Eastern Bengal it is common, and lays its eggs on the ground during
November and December. In Dehra Dhoon a young bird was shot by Mr.
R. Thompson during March and April. As its English name implies, it lives
in long grass.
Gen. PhodihlS hid. Geof. St. Hilaire.
Facial disc irregular, the area above the eye being not equal to that below
it. Wings rounded, reaching to nearly the tip of the tail ; 1st quill equal to the
loth , tarsus frail ieied, inner toe longer than midtoe ; outer toe reversible.
17
124 STRIGIDjE.
120. PhodilUS badiUS, Horsf. Tr.Lin. Soc, xiii. p. 139 ; id. ZooL
Research., Java, pi. 37; Isid. G. St. Hilaire, An. Sc. xxi. p, 201 ; Jerd. B.
Ind. i. p. 1 19, No. 62 ; Wall. Ibis. 1868, p. 26 ; Gray, Hand. 1. B.\. p. 52 ;
Gould B. Asia, pi. xxii. ; Walden, Ibis, 1872, p. 365 ; Hume, Rough Notes, ii.
p, 346 ; ztf. Str m F. 1873, p. 429 ; Hu?ne and Dav. S. F. vi. p. 27 ; Hume,
S. F. viii. p. 83; Oates, S. F. x. p. 181 ; id. B. Bur??iah, ii. p. 166; Sharpe,
Cat. B . B. M. ii. p. 309. The BAY SCREECH OWL.
Forehead and anterior half of the crown, delicate pinkish white ; remainder of
the crown and nape very deep chestnut ; the whole upper plumage, wings, and
tail lighter chestnut ; quills banded black on the inner web ; the first two or
three on the outer web also ; the first primary and first primary-covert as well
as the winglet with their outer webs white and with broad transverse dark
bars as on the quills ; tail with more or less perfect bars on both webs ; the
feathers of the other parts each with a small black mark, and those of the
greater wing coverts, scapulars and tertiaries with some white shaft spots ;
feathers round the eye deep chestnut ; disc whitish, marked with chestnut ;
under surface fulvous pink, sparingly spotted with brown, except on the tarsi
and under-tail coverts ; bill fleshy white ; toes pale livid ; irides brown.
Length. uto 12 inches; wing 7-3 to 7-5; tail 3-3 to 3-5; tarsus 1*7 to
I -9. Females slightly larger.
Hab. Nearly all India to the North, ranging through Burmah, Pegu, Java
and Borneo, the Eastern Himalayas and Ceylon. Mr. Thompson records it
from Dehra Dhoon, and Jerdon obtained specimens at Darjeeling and Khasia
Hills. In Burmah Captain Fielden obtained it at Thayetmyo, and Captain
Wardlaw-Ramsay at Toonghoo and on the Kharen Hills, east of Toonghoo.
Nothing is known of the habits of the Bay Screech-Owl, nor anything of its
nidification. The natives assert that it approaches the tiger, with the same
familiarity as Pastor Jalla, Horsf., does the buffalo, and does not fear to
alight on the tiger's back.
Asio otus.
PHODILUS. 125
In beginning the second Order, ?;/,?., the Passer if or mes, or Perching Birds, I
follow Mr. Bowdler Sharpe in the arrangement of the orders and sub-orders, as-
well as the various divisions and sections which this most extensive group can-
not but contain. Mr. Sharpe explains that the system of classification for the
higher groups of Passerine birds followed in his work is that of Professor A. H.
Garrod, who, after an exhaustive consideration of many points in their anatomy,
has established his classification on several characters after devoting his atten-
tion to the characters given by Professor Sundevall and Dr. Elliott Coues. For
the lower groups he follows as far as possible the divisions of Professor
Sundevall's "Tentamen" without adopting their exact order. All the great
ornithologists have been consulted, and such authorities as Professor Garrod,
Mr. Wallace, Professors Baird and Ridgeway have helped him in his great work,
which cannot but be of the greatest assistance to students and working ornitho-
logists. In regard to Genera, though following Sharpe, it will be necessary in
this work to modify their characters to a certain extent.
ORDER II. PASSERIFORMES.
Perching birds, with a nude oil gland and colic caeca. Cf. Garrod, P. Z.
S., 1874, p. 119; (Sharpe, Cat. Pass. B. B. Mus.)
SUB-ORDER I. PASSERES.
Anomalogonatous birds with the second, third, and fourth toes directed for-
wards and the hallux backwards ; \heflexor longus halliicis muscle independent
of the flexor perforans digitorum, the caeca coli short but at the same time
of characteristic shape ; oil gland nude ; palate aegithognathous ; tensor
patagii bre vis, specialized and quite peculiar. (Garr.)
DIVISION I. ACROMYODI.
Sub-Division I. Passeres Normales.
Section A. Turdiformes. Typical or Thrush-like Passeres, with 10 pri-
maries, the first more or less markedly reduced in size. (Cf. Wallace.)
GROUP I. COLIOMORPH/E.
Bill stout, generally of large size, not deflected at all or very little so. Chin
angle produced before the line of the nostrils ; cutting edge of lower man-
dible simple ; tongue thick and fleshy, the tip horny, slight, divided or split
in various ways ; feet in most, strong and large, with the claw of the midtoe
oblique. (Cf. Sund. Av. Tent.) ; Sharpe, Cat, Pass. B. B. Mus.
Family .
Bill without a distinct sub-terminal notch in the upper mandible ; hallux
strong ; its claw not as long as the midtoe and claw. Toes normal.
126
Many of the birds which constitute this family are nearly alike in their
plumage and habits. It includes the Rook, the Raven, the Magpie, the
Crows, the Jackdaw, the Chough, and others. Members of this family are
found in almost every part of the known world. While some feed on earth-
worms, insects as well as reptiles, others act the part of scavengers by feeding
on putrid flesh and removing noxious matter. Though restless and noisy the
crows especially they are active and sagacious, and have strong propensities
for thieving. In general the family constitutes many which are readily tamed
and taught to talk or articulate words. As for the Corvus genus, every one
could testify to their voracious habits. They have been known to commit such
havoc in some countries, that it became necessary to set a price on their
heads. They are monogamous, and live in a kind of society. They moult
only once a year.
Gen. Trypanocorax- Bp.
Wing never falling short of the tip, more than the tenth of tarsus ; face
and nostrils bare.
121. Trypanocorax frugilegus, Linn. S. N. \. p. 150; Gould,
Birds Eur. iii. pi. 24- McGillivray, Brit. B. i. p. 535 ; Yarrel BriL B. ii.
p. 91 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 302; Hume, Ibis, 1871, p. 404; Shelley, B.
Egypt, p. 159; Blanford t East. Persia, p. 263; Sund. Meth. Av. Tent. -
The ROOK.
PLATE.
Whole plumage above black glossed with purple ; richer on the head and
neck, and with a greenish shade on the eyes and ear coverts ; forehead, lores,
base of the bill, nostrils and forepart of the cheeks, also the throat, bare,
being covered with a scabrous skin. Under surface dull purplish black.
First quill shorter than the second, which again is shorter than the fourth.
Females similar to the male. Bill and feet black ; irides blackish brown.
Length. \& to 18 inches; oilmen 2'2 ; wing 12 to 12*2; tail 7-4 to 7-5 ;
tarsus 2-1.
The whole of Europe ranging into Persia, the Punjab, N.-W.
Provinces, Afghanistan, and Cashmere.
The rook is so well known that its habits scarcely need description. It is well
known to be gregarious. Cultivated districts are its chief haunts. Grain and
insects especially form its chief food ; and no doubt the farmers are fully
repaid for so much of the seed that they lose, by its clearing their farms of wire,
worms and cock-chafers (Melolantha vulgaris).
Rooks live together in large societies, and build on trees close to each
other, and frequently in the midst of populous towns. They occupy the same
nests from year to year. The nests are built of sticks and twigs, cemented
CORVUS. 127
with clay mixed with tufts of grass. The eggs, 4 5 in number, are a ]:iK-
green, blotched and spotted with darker and lighter patches of yellowish and
greenish brown. As among the ravens and crows, pied varieties are not
uncommon.
Gen. CorvUS- Lin.
Bill straight, large, compressed, a little swollen laterally, convex and curved
towards the point, its edges cutting. Nostrils in a more or less distinct groove
covered by bristly plumes, the space between the tips of which and the eye is
less than the uncovered portion of the bill.
122. CorVTIS COrax, Linn. S. N. i. p. 155 ; Tern. Man. de. Orn. i.
107 ; Parrel! , Dr. JB . i. p. 498 ; Jcrd., B. Ind. ii. p. 293 ; Sir. F. vi p. 63.
The RAVEN or GREAT CORBIE CROW.
PLATE.
Above glossy steel black, the feathers greyish at base ; wings duller
and with bronze reflections, their coverts and the secondary quills purplish at
base, the secondaries purplish externally. Primaries steel black ; tail purplish,
the two outer tail feathers nearly steel black ; head like the upper surface of
body; face, and the long lanceolate hackles silky black, glossed with a
purplish brown. Entire under surface of body glossy blue-black, shaded with
purple ; bill and legs black ; irides brown.
Length. 2,2 to 25 inches; oilmen 2-9 to 3^4 ; wings 165 to 16*6 ; tail 10
to i \'2 ; tarsus 2*5 to 2'8.
Hab. The whole of Europe, Northern and Central Asia, North America,
and Mexico, ranging into Cashmere, N.-W. Himalayas, Upper Sind, Punjab,
and Afghanistan, as a migrant. Morris says its geographical distribution is
soon told. He is a citizen of the world (barring the greater part of M*a).
His sable plumage reflects the burning sun of the Equator and his shadow
falls upon the regions of perpetual snow ; he alights on the jutting peak of the
most lofty mountain and haunts the centre of the most untrodden plain,
" No ultima thule," is a terra incognita to him. He is known since
the day of Noah as a deserter, and there is scarcely a worse-abused scavenrer
in the present day. Although fulfilling its place in the economy of Nature, it
is quite partial to poultry, lambs, rabbits, and the like.
Of its nidification, Morris says it commences about January. Incubation
20 days. Nest composed of the same materials as those used by the preceding
species, and all crows. Eggs, 4 7 in number, of a bluish green colour,
blotched with stains of darker or brown.
123. CorvUS umbrimiS, (Hedenb.) Sundev. (Efv. K. vet. Akad. Fork.
Stockh. 1838, p. 199; (ex Hedenb. Ms.)', Heugl. Orn. N. O. A/r. pp. 505,
125 ; Shelley, B. Egypt, p. 158; Dresser, B. Eur, pi. xxxiv., xxxviii. ; Blf.
128 CORVID^E.
East, Pers.; Murray, Sir. F. vol. vii. p. 113; Hume, Str. F. vii. p. 120;
Murray, Hdbk., ZooL, #v., Sind, p. 173. Corvus infumatus, Wagn. Munch,
gel. Anz. 1839. Corvus corax, Horsf. and Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. 1. Co. ii
p. 552 ; Murray, Vert. ZooL, Sind, p. 175. THE AFGHAN BROWN-NECKED
RAVEN.
Head and neck glossy umber brown, also the ear coverts, sides of the face
and sides of the neck, the latter scarcely glossed ; lores, incumbent nasal
bristles, feathers round the eye, at base of bill and at the gape, black ; back,
scapulars, wings, wing-coverts, upper tail- coverts and tail glossy black with a
violet blue gloss ; chin, throat and breast dark glossy umber brown ; rest of
under surface brown, glossed with purple on the breast, flanks, abdomen and
vent ; under tail coverts glossy purplish black ; axillaries and under wing
coverts purplish black ; bill and legs black ; irides dark brown.
Length. 21-5 to 23 inches; wing 15 to 16-4 ; tail 8'6 to 9; tarsus 2-9; bill
at front 2*9 to 3.
Hob. This fine Raven occurs during winter in the northern parts of Sind,
where it is not uncommon at Larkhana and Jacobabad from December to
March. It has hitherto been known from N. E. Africa, Palestine, and Beloo-
chistan, about as far as 62 East long. Its occurrence at Jacobabad extends
its range to nearly 69 East long. Occurs also in Beloochistan, S. Afghanistan,
Punjab (Ferozepore), Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Cashmere (Gilgit).
124. CorvUS lawrencei, Hume, Lahore to Yarkand, p. 235 ; id.
Str. F. vol. i. p. 205 ; Adam, t. c. p. 385 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B.
p. 408 ; StoL S. F. 1864, p. 474; Ball. S. F. 1875, p. 207 ; Murray, Hdbk.
ZooL, fyc., Sind, p. 172; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vol. iii. p. 15. The
INDIAN RAVEN.
Uniform blue-black throughout, with a purplish tinge on the throat and
upper breast ; feathers of the chin and throat lanceolate ; bill black ; incum-
bent bristles in front extend to beyond more than half of the length of the
bill, which is much arched ; irides dark brown or grey brown ; legs black.
Length. 2375 to 24*75 inches; wings 16*3 to 17-4, when closed reach to
about from 0*3 to 0*5 of the end of the tail; bill at front 2-8.
Hab. Sind, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Kutch, Kattiawar, Rajputana, Beloo-
chistan and Afghanistan; found in some numbers in Upper Sind and usually
in flocks of from 30 to 50 at the beginning of winter, when a great number are
to be seen dead under the trees about Jacobabad and Shikarpoor.
Gen. ColoeuS.Lin.
Tarsus longer than culmen, which is more or less shorter than the head ; face
feathered ; nostrils covered by bristles.
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA.
COL^US MONEDULA
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA.
CORONE CORN1X.
CORONE. 129
125. Coloeus monedula, /,///, s. N. i. p. 156; jerd. B. Ind. \\.
p. 302; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 414; Scully, Str. F. 1876,
p. 258 ; Blanf. East Pers. p. 263. The JACKDAW.
PLATE.
Crown of the head, blue-black, forming a cap ; back of neck and nape fine
hoary bluish grey; rest of the plumage black ; the primaries and innermost
secondaries glossed green, also the tail on the edges of the feathers ; under-
wing and tail-coverts greenish black ; first quill shorter than the second, which
again is shorter than the third, the third and fourth sub-equal; bill, legs and
feet black.
Length. 13 inches; bill 1-35 ; wing 9-5 ; tail 6'i ; tarsus 17.
Hab. Europe and Africa, ranging into Persia, Afghanistan and the Punjab.
The ]ackda\v is an active and sprightly bird, and like most of the family to
which it belongs noted for thievery. It is readily tamed, and soon learns mi-
micry. Jackdaws are social birds, and live, like the Rook, in large communities.
They feed on insects, shellfish, putrid matter, and almost any garbage. They are
not particular as to the site they build on, cliffs, roofs of buildings, hollow trees,
and even chimneys quite suit them. The nest though built of sticks is lined
with wool, hair, or other soft material. They lay 4 5 eggs of a pale bluish
white colour, spotted with grey and brown. The young are hatched by the
end of May. Nothing is known of the nidification of the Jackdaw in India.
Gen. Corone. Kaup.
Differs from Corvus by the first primary being longer than the foremost
secondaries, but not longer than the inner. Nasal bristles directed horizon-
tally over the nostrils ; tarsi stout, scutate.
126. Corone COmix, Linn. S. N. i. p. 156 ; Mac GUI. Kril. B. i.
P- 529 5 Jfrd., B. Ind. ii. p. 298 ; Scully, Sir. F. 1876, p. 156; Blanf., E.
Persia^ p. 262; Str. F. vii. p. 406, 517; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus., vol. iii.
p. 31. Corone cornix, Kaup. Nat. Syst. p. 99. Corone capellana, Sclater,
P. Z. S. 1876 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vol. iii. p. 32. THE HOODED CROW.
Adult. Head, foreneck, and breast glossy blue-black ; wings and tail the
same, but with purplish and steel green reflections ; wing coverts blue-black ;
auxiliaries greyish ; upper tail coverts purplish brown, the edges grey ; thighs
dusky black ; rest of the plumage drab-grey ; bill and legs black ; irides
dark brown.
Length. 17 to 18 inches; wing 12*2 to 12*5 ; tail 7'5 to 7'S ; culmen 2-35
to 2'4; tarsus 2-2 to 2*25.
Hab. Great Britain, Central and Southern Europe, Beloochislan, Afghan-
istan, Persia, and the Punjab.
130
In Mesopotamia (Fao), this species appears to be the lighter drab, or nearly
white form, which, according to Sharpe, is Corone capellana, Sclater, but,
examining a series the lighter or whitish colour is not so apparent as to separate
it as a distinct species. According to Sharpe, it has also been found in the
Deccan ; this must surely be an error, or the bird is very rare.
Wherever the Hooded Crow occurs, it always keeps about towns and villages.
Its habits are those of C. splendens. In India (e.g.), Punjab, it is a migrant,
while in Persia it remains throughout the year. In Beloochistan it is fairly
common above the Bolan Pass, but during the autumn only.
127. Corone splendens, Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. viii. p. 44 ; Tern,
PI. Col. ii. pi. 425 ; Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 315 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 298 ; Hume,
Str. F. vol. viii.; Murray, Hdbk. Zool., &c., Sind, p. 173. Corvus impudi-
cus, Gray, Handlist B. ii. p. 14; Hume, Str. F. i. p. 206; Str. F. ii.
pp. 418, 493 ; Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 176; Oates B. Burma, p. 398.
Corone insolens, Hume, Str. F. 1875, p. 144 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vol.
iii. p. 34 ; Oates B. Burma, vol. i. p. 399. The COMMON INDIAN CROW.
Nasal bristles, crown of head, lores, sides of face, chin, throat, back, wings
and tail glossy black with purplish, or steel blue reflections ; lower abdomen
flanks, vent, under tail and thigh coverts dull black ; nape, hind neck, sides,
of the neck, and part of the upper back a greyish drab ; breast and upper part
of the abdomen dark ashy; under wing coverts and auxiliaries dull black ; bill
and legs black ; irides deep brown.
Length. 16 to 17 inches; wing n to 11*25 ; ta ^ 7 5 bill at front ri2.
Hob. Throughout India to the foot of the Himalayas and Ceylon, Assam,
B. Burmah, Tennaserim and Malacca.
The Indian House Crow like its congeners, is extremely social, and lives
about towns feeding on almost anything and everything ; dead mice, rats,
putrid flesh, fruit, &c., in fact, is a general scavenger. Breeds from the middle
of March to the beginning of June, laying generally four eggs of a greenish,
colour, marked with various shades of brown. The nest is made of twigs,
lined with grass, hair, rags, or any other soft material.
I do not separate splendens and insolens. From an examination of a large
series of insolens sent to me by Mr. Calthrop fromTonghoo, Karenne, and other
parts of Burmah and Tennaserim, I have come to the conclusion that it can-
not be specifically separated from splendens. If shades of colour, especially of
grey and brown are to constitute species, Ornithology will soon reach a state
of confusion, from which it will never be extricated. Races and sub-species,
sound well, but both help to make what never should be.
128. Corone COrone, Linn. S. N. i. p. 155 ; Mac Gill, Br. B. i.
P- S 1 ^; Jerd., B. Ind. ii. p. 295; Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. p. 410;
Scully, Str. F. 1876, p. i$6; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 36. The
CARRION CROW.
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA.
COROME CORONK
CORONF.
Whole plumage above and below glossy blue or steel black, glossed with
green ; the throat with purplish ; tail purplish black.
Length. 19 to 19-5 inches; wings 12-16 to 13-3;; tail 7*8 to 8; oilmen
2*15 to 2*25 ; tarsus 2-5.
Hab. Throughout Europe ; ranging into the Punjab and the N.-W. Pro-
vinces, It has as yet only been found in the Punjab, and on the borders of
the N.-W. Provinces.
The Carrion Crow, as its name implies, feeds on all sorts of animal food, alive
and dead. Young pigeons, chickens, sparrows, Crustacea, shellfish, fruit,
vegetables, frogs, mice, and insects, it is very partial to, as well as garbage.
House refuse of every kind does not come amiss to it. It is a predaceous bird,
and a relentless destroyer of everything it can devour. Its sense of percep-
tion, too, is very acute. Nidificates on rocks or on trees, during March. Nest
of twigs, cemented with clay, and unsparingly lined with rags, grass, hair, wool,
or any other soft material within its reach. Eggs 4 6 in number, greenish
spotted, and streaked with various shades of brown.
129. Corone macrorhynchus, Wagl. Syst. Av. Corvus, sp. 3;
Hume, S. F. v. p. 461 ; Legge, Birds, Ceylon, p, 346 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 105.
Corvus Levaillantii, Les traite, p. 328; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 411 ; id. S.
F. ii. p, 295 ; Anderson, Yunnan Exped. p. 589. Corvus culminatus {Sykes),
Jerd, B. Ind. ii. p. 295. Corvus Vaillantii (Less), Bl. B. Bur?n. p. 86; Oa/es,
S. F. v. p. 159. Corone macrorhynchus, Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 38 ;
id. Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 39; Oates B. Br. Burmah, i. p. 397. The INDIAN
JUNGLE CROW.
Whole upper plumage deep black glossed with purple, blue and green ; bill,
legs, and feet black ; irides dark brown.
Length. 1910 21 inches; tail 7'6 to 9*2; wing i2'2 to 14; tarsus 2*3;
bill from gape 2*3.
Hab. The whole Continent of India, Ceylon, Andaman Islands, the Indo-
Burmese countries and China, extending to Eastern Siberia. Southerly it ex-
tends down the Malayan Peninsula to Sumatra, Java, Borneo and Timor.
In India it is found in Sind, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Rajputana,
Central India, the Central Provinces, Concan, Deccan and South India, also
in British Burmah and Nepaul.
It will be seen that Levaillanti has been made a synonym of macrohynchus.
Sharpe makes the former a Sub.-Sp., but it must not stand thus. Hume has
worked out the Crows to some purpose, and like him, I am of opinion, that
these two cannot be specifically separated. Except from Kutch and Guzerat,
I have had specimens of this species from all parts of India for examination,
and not less than 13 from various parts of Burmah and Tennaserim, and
though in a few the pale bases to the feathers are apparent, in others it is either
absent, (though from one locality) or distributed here and there over different
parts of the body. This may be a sign of nonage.
18
132
The Jungle Crow does not affect forests only, but it also frequents towns
and villages, associated with the House Crow. Nesting and breeding season
the same ; also the eggs, though slightly larger.
Gen. Nucifraga. Briss,
Outer secondaries longer than the inner ; bill conical, nearly straight ;
tip blunt; base of bill with short incumbent feathers, under which the nostrils
are hidden.
130. Nucifraga hemispila, Vigors, P. z. S. 1830, p. 8; Gould.
Cent. Him. B. pi. 36; Hodgs. in Gray's ZooL Misc. p. 84; Gray, Cat. B.
Nepal ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 304; Hume, Nests and Eggs, 2nd. B. ii. p. 415 ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 54, The NUTCRACKER.
Crown of the head black ; bristles over the nostrils blackish, streaked with
white ; lores white ; sides of face and neck blackish brown, streaked with white ;
throat and under surface of body chocolate brown ; the chin streaked with
white ; the breast tipped with triangular spots of white, the abdomen uniform
brown. Under tail coverts white. Back and scapulars brown, streaked on the
mantle with white ; lower back, rump and upper tail coverts brown, the latter
glossed with greenish ; wings glossy greenish black ; under wing coverts dark
brown, the outermost tipped with white ; tail greenish black, all the feathers
except the two central ones with a broad white tip increasing in width till the
outermost is white for the terminal half. Bill and feet horny black j irides
reddish brown.
Length. 16 inches; wing 8-4; tail 6*6; tarsus 1*75; culmen r8 (Sharpe).
Hab. The Himalaya Mountains. Recorded from Bengal (Darjeeling),
Sikkim, N.-W. Himalayas and Nepal.
The Himalayan Nutcracker like its congeners lives on fruit, seeds, berries
and insects generally. Nuts and other hard seeds it fixes in the crevice of a
tree, and pecks at it till the shell is broken. It nests in holes of trees, and
lays from 5 to 6 eggs, of a yellowish grey colour, spotted with lighter or darker
shades of brown.
fit rHt&M&J* vvn^ttl
Gen. Pica Sriss.
Wings short ; tail long, graduated, the centre feathers longest. Head not
crested. Eye without a nude space. 1st primary sinuated and ending in a long
point. Bill as in Corvus, but more slender.
131. Pica rustica, Scop. Ann. i. p. 38 ; Dresser Birds Eur. part xxii. ;
id. Ibis, 1875, p. 238 ; Blanf. Zool. E. Persia, p. 264. Corvus pica, Lin. S. N.
i. p. 157 i Wilson Am. Orn. iv. p. 75, pi. xxxv. fig. 2. Pica caudata, Keys. u.
Bias. Wtrb. Eur.ip. $$', Gould, Birds Eur. iii. pi. 216. Pica bottanensis,
Deless, Rev. Zool. ii. p. loo ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 305, No. 668. Pica pica,
Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. vol. iii. p. 62. The MAGPIE.
7?
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA.
PICA RUSTIC A
UROCISSA.
PLATE.
Head, crown, neck and nape glossy purplish black, with a shade of shining
deep green on the crown ; chin and throat black, the shafts of some of the
feathers greyish white ; breast above black ; below white ; back black with
shining deep green reflections ; wings blue, the outer edge, primary coverts
and external web of primaries green ; shoulders white ; primaries black with
an elongated patch of white on the inner web of each of the first ten feathers ;
secondaries and tertiaries fine blue. Tail of bright iridescent blue and purple
shades terminally, green at the base and tipped dusky ; the inner webs of all
except the centre pair purplish black ; rump and upper tail coverts purplish
black. Under surface of body pure white ; lower abdomen and under tail
coverts purplish black, also the thighs and under wing coverts.
Bill and legs black ; irides brown.
Length, 16 to 16*5 inches ; wing 7-6 to 8'2 ; tail 97 to 10*5 ; tarsus 1*9 to
2 ; culmen 1*4 to 1*5.
Hab. Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. Found in Spain, France, Italy,
Belguim, Sweden, Asia Minor and Siberia ; also in India, China, Japan and
the United States. It is common also in Upper Beloochistan, along the
BolanPass ; on the Khojuk,or Amran range of mountains; throughout Afghan-
istan, and the highlands of Persia, in British Burma, at Bhamo and on the
Khakyeen Hills and in Nepaul.
Of the Magpie much need not be said. Even the schoolboy has it for his
lesson. It is a sly and wary bird, as well as crafty ; while being always on the
alert, its chatter and noise at the sight of almost any creature warn other
birds. The wing being short and rounded it has to fly with quick flappings
of its wings. Its food is chiefly insects, fruit and seeds. Nidification begins
in spring. The nest not unlike that of the crow is made of strong sticks and
twigs, cemented with mud and lined with grass, fibres, &c., and domed on
top, leaving an aperture on one side for entrance and exit. Eggs 68,
pale bluish white, spotted all over with grey and greenish brown.
Gen. UrociSSa- Cab.
Wings short and rounded ; tail with the two centre feathers longer than the
others, but not spathulate at tip. Head not crested. Eye without a nude space,
Bill stout, much curved. Nostrils not densely feathered.
132. Urocissa occipitalis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv. p. 26 ; Jerd. B.
Ind. ii. p. 309; Hume, Nest and Eggs, p. 419 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii.
p. 70 ; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 105 ; Scully, Str. F. viii. p. 327 ; Bingham,
Sir. F. ix. p. 191 ; Gates B. Br. Burmah i. p. 400. Psilorhinus magnirostris
JBl. J. A. S. B. xv. p. 27: Urocissa magnirostris, Bl. B. Burma, p. 88;
134 CORVID^E.
Hume, Str. F. iii. p. 144; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. jr; Wardlaiti-
Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 460; Hume, and Davison, Sir. F, vi. p. 385 ; Anders.
Yunan Exped. p. 592 ; Hume, *SYr. F. viii. p. 105. Urocissa sinensis (Lin.),
Jtrd. B. Ind. ii. p. 30. The BLUE MAGPIE.
Above pale purplish brown. Head, throat and foreneck, also the breast
black ; a large patch of white on the nape continued down the back of the
neck ; some of the feathers of the crown tipped with white ; rest of under
surface of the body, also the tinder wing and tail coverts silky white, in some
with a purplish tinge ; wings brown, the first two primaries edged with blue,
the next five edged with blue above the emargination and with bluish white
below and tipped with white, the other primaries and secondaries almost
entirely blue on the outer web, the tertiaries blue on both webs ; back, scapulars
and rump azure blue ; the wing coverts brighter. Upper tail coverts azure
blue, tipped with black and with a subterminal band of bluish white ; flanks
and thighs light bluish grey.
Bill coral red ; legs reddish crimson or orange ;. irides brown.
Eyelids greyish white ; claws horn colour.
Length. 20 to 24 inches ; wing 7-5 to 8 ; tarsus 1-9 to 1*95 ; tail 17 to 18-;
culmen r6.
Hab. The Himalayas, extending to Nepaul, Burmah and Siam. Gates ob-
tained it in Thayetmyo, Captain Ramsay at Tonghoo, Davison at Pahpoort,
Capt. Bingham in the Thoungyeen valley. It has also been found in Arrakan,
Sikkim, Nepaul, Kumaon and in the Valley of the Sutlej.
The Blue Magpie is said to be easily tamed, and to bear confinement well
as a cage-bird. Although a forest bird it affects camps and villages. It feeds
chiefly on the ground. It breeds during March and April, making a nest
constructed of twigs and branches and lined with grass and slender twigs on
the topmost branches of trees. Eggs 3 4, white, with streaks and spots of a
claret colour. (Oates.)
U. magniroslris has been made a synonym of Occipitalis, as there does not
appear to be any marked difference, either in size, or colour. Taking the bill
alone, of the several examples of both species sent to me by Mr. A. O. Hume
the difference is scarcely a tenth, while most have it of the same length as
oedpitalis. The colour of the irides, too, as given by several ornithologists,
also of the legs, cannot be accepted as distinctive characters, being variable in
most birds at certain seasons.
133. Urocissa flavirostris, Biyth. J. A. S. B. \. p. 28; Cat. Mus.
Hein. Th. i.p. 87; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 310; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind.
B. p. 419 ; Henderson and Hume, Lahore to Yar~kand, p. 242. Cissa cucullata,
Gould. B. Asia, part xiii. The YELLOW-BILLED BLUE-MAGPIE.
Head, neck, and mantle deep black ; a nuchal patch of white glossed with
light blue 5 under surface ashy grey, paler on the abdomen and under tail
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH ITSTDIA
DENDROCITTA OCCIPITALIS
Minter-n. Bros, litk .
DENDROCITTA. ]35
coverts ; under wing coverts yellowish. Edge of the wing and upper wing
coverts washed with lavender. Upper surface lavender, tinged with azure
blue; wings the same; primaries externally greyish for their apical two-thirds,
the secondaries tipped with white; upper tail coverts azure blue with a
narrow subterminal bar of bluish white and tipped with black ; tail azure blue,
broadly tipped with white ; all but the two centre feathers subterminally barred
with black. Legs orange yellow ; bill yellow ; irides brownish red.
Length 20 inches; wing 7-3 ; tail 16 ; tarsus 1-9; culmen 1-45.
Nab. The Himalaya Mountains, Nepal, Sikkim, Darjeeling, Kumaon,
Kooloo, Ladakh, and Cashmere. (Sharpe.)
Gen. Dendrocitta. Gould.
Base of the culmen unfeathered ; middle tail feathers broad at the ends ;
nostrils concealed by incumbent feathers ; 5th and 6th quills longest ; secon-
daries nearly as long as the primaries.
134. Dendrocitta rufa, Scop. Del. Fauna el Flor. Jnsubr. ii. p. 86 ;
HartL Syst. Verz. p. 63; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. 314, No. 674; Murray, Vert.
Zool. Sind, p. 177 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 76 ; Gray, Handlist B.
Br. Mus- ii. p. 8 ; Hume, Sir. F. i. pp. 206, 386 ; Murray, Ildbk. Zool., fyc.,
Sind, p. 174. Crypsirrhina pallida, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv. p. 30. Dendrocitta
pallida, Blyth, Cat. Mus. A. S. B. p. 336 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 3 15, No. 675.
The COMMON INDIAN MAGPIE.
Adult. Head, neck all round, part of upper back, chin, throat, breast and
ear coverts dark sooty brown, paler on the upper back ; lores blackish brown ;
back and scapulars orange brown ; rump and upper tail coverts bright orange
or yellowish buff; abdomen and under tail and thigh coverts, like the rump,
orange, yellowish buff or dark ferruginous ; primaries and secondaries black ;
tertiaries black, greyish white on their outer webs ; wing coverts white ; edge of
the wing and under wing coverts greyish white ; tail greyish white, or grey, the
centre feathers elongated much beyond the rest, and all broadly tipped with
black ; bill black ; legs slaty ; irides blood-red.
Length. 16 17 inches; wing 5-9; tail 10; tarsus i 45 ; bill at front i to
1*25. The young is much paler throughout, and has the tail feathers tipped
whitish buff.
Had. The whole of India, through Assam and Burmah to Tennaserim and
Cashmere; Sind, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Bengal, Southern India, Travan-
core, Central India, Kutch, Kattiawar, Rajputana, Concan, and Deccan.
The common Indian Magpie is an inhabitant of forests as well as of open
country, and is usually found in small flocks of 5 or 6. It nests on trees, select
ing the highest, and generally in the vicinity of water, for what reason it is
136
difficult to say. The nest is constructed of twigs, usually of thorny trees, and
lined with grass, fibres, or other such soft materials. It breeds from April to
June. The eggs, generally four and sometimes five in number, vary much in
colour, size, and markings ; typical eggs may be said to be of a dirty greenish
white colour, richly blotched with reddish brown, purplish, or umber brown.
In size they also vary from 1-15 to ri8 X 0-85 to 0*87.
135. Dendrocitta frontalis, Mcdeli., P. Z. S. 1839, P l6 3 ;
Jerd. B. hid. ii. p. 317, No. 677 ; Sharps, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 780.
Crypsirrhina frontalis, Blytli, J. A. S. B . xii. p. 933 ; xv. p. 30. Crypsirrhina
altirostris, -Blyth, J. A. S. B. xii. p. 932. The BLACK-BROWED MAGPIE.
Hinder part of head, entire hind neck, mantle, sides of the neck, foreneck,
and breast whitish grey ; rest of head, sides of the face, entire throat, bastard
wing, primary coverts, quills, tail, bill and feet black ; upper surface orange
chestnut ; lower surface of body bright orange chestnut, deeper on the lower
tail coverts ; thighs and under wing coverts grey, washed with orange ; upper
wing coverts blue grey ; iris brownish red.
Length. 14 inches; wing 5*15 ; tail 9-3; tarsus T2 ; culmen 1*05.
Hab. The Himalayas. Recorded from Nepaul and Darjeeling ; also Sikkim
and Assam.
Nothing is known of its habits and nidification.
136. Dendrocitta leueogastra, Gould. P. Z. S. 1833, P- S7> et -
Tr. Zool. Soc. I. p. 89, pi. 12 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 317, No. 678 ; Hume, Nests
and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 424, No. 678 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 79 ;
Sir. F. iv. p. 402. The WHITE BELLIED MAGPIE.
Crown of the head, sides of face, cheeks, throat, foreneck, tail, terminal third
of the two long central feathers, wings (except a white star patch at base of
primaries), thighs, under wing coverts and bill black ; back and scapulars
orange brown ; hind crown, hind neck, rump, upper tail coverts, under surface
of the body (except the under tail coverts, which are rufous), a band across the
inner lining of the quills white ; basal two-thirds of the long central tail
feathers grey ; bill black ; legs and feet dark plumbeous ; irides blood-red.
Length. 1710 18 inches; wing 5*5 to 5 P 8; tail II to 1 1*5 ; tarsus 1*25 ;
culmen 1-3.
Hab. Southern India, Malabar Coast and the Neilgherries ; also Peria
Forests, Wynaad, where it is said to be abundant. Jerdon gives Coorg
and Travancore, also, as countries where it is found.
137. Dendrocitta himalayensis, Biyth. Ibis, 1865, p. 45 ; Hume
Str. F. 1874, p. 480; id. Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 423; Blyth B. Bur.
p. 88; Sharpe, Cat.B.Br. Mus. iii. p. 79; War -dlaw- Ramsay ', Ibis, 1877,
p. 459; Hume and Davison, Str. F. vi. p. 386; Hume, Str. F. vii. p. 106;
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA.
DENDROCITTA BAYLEYII, Tytler.
Mint em. Bros, litti..
DFNDROCITTA. ]37
Scully, Str. F. viii. p. 329. Dendrocitta sinensis, (Lath.) Jerd. B. Ind. ii.
p. 316. Dendrocitta assimilis, Hume, Sir. F. v. p. 117 ; flume and Dan i son,
Str. F. vi. p. 386 ; Hume, Str. F. vii. p. 519; viii. p. 106 ; Rdd, Cat. Birds
Provincial Mus. i. p. 123. The HIMALAYAN TREE MAGPIE.
Forehead, lores and feathers above the eye black, also the wings and their
coverts ; also all the primaries except the first two, with a white spot at the
base ; the terminal third of the two central and other tail feathers black, the
basal two-thirds of the former and bases of the latter ashy, or greyish white.
Sides of the head, chin, and throat dark sooty brown, paling on the sides of
the neck and breast ; nape and upper back, rump and upper tail coverts ashy ;
rest of back and the scapulars brownish buff, abdomen and flanks cinereous ;
thighs blackish ; vent and under tail coverts chestnut or orange ; under wing
coverts glossy black ; bill horny grey, blackish in some ; irides reddish brown ;
legs dusky black.
Length. n to 13 inches; wing 5-4 to 5'5 ; tail 8*7 to 8*9; tarsus Pi to
1-15 ; culmen 1*3.
Hab. The Himalayas. Has been found in Nepaul, Purneah, Darjeeling,
Kumaon, and the mountains of Arrakan. According to Capt. Ramsay it occurs
on the Tounghoo Hills and in Karenne. Davison procured it on the Mooleyit
mountains in Tennaserim. It occurs also in Assam, Cachar, in the hills
of Eastern Bengal, N.-W. P., Oudh, and the hills of Southern India. Jerdon
says, " Horsfield got a specimen from Madras; that on the Himalayas it is
very abundant from 4,000 to 7,000 feet, and that it is found in the more open
forests and near cultivation and villages." Like its congeners it is a noisy bird,
and has a variety of notes similar in character to those of D. rufa. Feeds on
insects and fruit. It breeds from March to June, making a nest of sticks and
roots, partially cemented with clay and lined with fibrous grass. Capt. Ward-
law- Ramsay found a nest on the Karin Hills which contained two eggs : Jerdon
says he had nests of the Himalayan Magpie brought to him at Darjeeling, and
that the number of eggs are three or four, of a pale greyish fawn colour with a
few pale reddish brown spots and blotches, sometimes very indistinct. Hutton
also took the eggs at Mussoorie. He describes them as " dull greenish ash
with brown blotches and spots somewhat thickly clustered at the larger end."
The eggs no doubt, like those of the Corvinae family, vary much both in colour
and markings, as well as in size and shape.
138. Dendrocitta Bayleyi, Tythr, J. A. S. B. 1863, p. 88;
Beavan, Ibis, 1867, p. 329; Ball, Str. F. 1873, p. 75.; Hume, Str. F. 1874,
p. 245 ; Walden, Ibis, 1874, p. 145, pi. vi. ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii.
p. 82. BAYLEY'S BLUE TREE MAGPIE.
PLATE.
Adult Male. Back and scapulars dull tawny brown, becoming slightly
more orange on the rump ; head black shading off into leaden grey on the
138
hind neck and on the upper breast, the rest of the under surface bright
orange chestnut ; thighs blackish ; under wing coverts blackish, the inner ones
shaded with grey ; wings above black, the lesser and median coverts slightly
shaded with leaden grey; a very distinct alar speculum, caused bj the outer
webs of all the secondaries, except the innermost, being white at the base ;
upper tail coverts leaden black ; tail entirely black, with a slight leaden grey
shade near the base. (Sharpe.)
Bill, legs, and feet black ; iris bright yellow, sometimes golden, yellow.
(Hume.)
Length. 12*5 inches; wing 4/55 ; tail yy ; tarsus I ; culmen I.
The adult female differs from the male in being slightly duller coloured.
The young are coloured like the adults, but not so bright ; the head and throat
'browner, the chest reddish brown instead of grey.
,
^c Hab. Andaman Islands (Port Blair South Andamans), British Burmah^
<^ and NepauL,
Of its habits and nidification nothing is known.
Gen. Crypsirhina VieilL
Tail long, the two central feathers exceeding the rest ; head not ornamented
with a distinct crest ; eye without a nude ring ; nostrils densely feathered,
forming a crest of velvetty feathers covering the base of the culmen.
139. Crypsirhina varians, Lath. Ind. Om. Suppl. p. xxvi. ;
Walden, P. Z. S., 1866, p. 552 ; Sly. B. Bur. p. 88 ; Hume, Str. F. iii.
p. 146; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 83; War 'dlaw- Ramsay ', Ibis, 1877,
p. 459; OafeSt Sir. F. v. p. 159; Hume and Dav. Str. F. vi. p. 386; Hume,
S/r. F. viii. p. 106. The BLACK RACKET- TAILED MAGPIE.
The whole plumage metallic bronze green, tinged with bluish on the head ;
the forehead, lores, a circlet of feathers round the eye and a spot at the
base of the lower mandible velvetty black. Wings brown, the outer webs of
the primaries greenish, the other quills more or less entirely suffused with
green ; tail black, overspread with a metallic green lustre. Bill and feet black ;
irides bright blue.
Length. 13 inches; wing 4-6 to 47 ; tail 7-8 to 8 ; tarsus ri ; culmen i.
Hab. Java, Burmese countries from Tennaserim northwards and eastwards
also to Cochin^ Found in Lower Pegu, whence it extends to Bassein.
Davison procured it in Mergui. Malacca and the Province of Wellesley are
other countries where it has been met with. According to Blyth it occurs in
Lower Siam, and also in Cochin-China.
The Racket-tailed Magpie affects secondary jungles. It is said to be com-
mon in gardens, and wherever found has always been noticed in pairs. Breeds
from May to July. Nest cup-shaped, generally made on a bamboo branch.
Eggs 2 3 r whitish, marked with brownish.
CISSA. 139
140. Crypsirhina cucullata, Jerd. Ibis, 1862, p. 20; i/umf, Str.
F. iii. p. 147 ; Ely. B. Burma, p. 88 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 84;
Wardlaw- Ramsay, Ibis, 1887, P- 459; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 106. The
HOODF.D RACKET-TAILED MAGPIE,
Head, chin, throat, primaries and their coverts black ; neck with a collar of
ashy white. Upper plumage, wing coverts and tertiaries vinaceous grey; under
surface the same, but more rufous ; central tail feathers black, the others like
the back paling to whitish at the tips; secondaries black, edged with ashy
white ; under wing coverts and inner bases of the quills whitish ; irides blue ;
eyelids plumbeous ; bill black ; legs dark brown.
Length, 10*5 to 12-5 inches; wing 4 to 4*1 ; tail 6*8 to 7-8 ; tarsus 0-95.
The young differs from the adult in having the hood dusky ashy instead of
black; lores, ear coverts and chin blackish brown and the top of the head
darker brown ; no white ring round the neck, the grey of the plumage duller
and dingier, and the quills and central tail feathers altogether duller coloured
(Hume), basal portion of bill, edges of the eyelids and inside of the mouth
orange. (Gates).
Hab. Burmah and Upper Pegu. Has been noted from Thayetmyo, Palow
and Tounghoo. Affects bamboo brakes chiefly. Nothing is known of its
nidi'fication.
Gen.
Eye surrounded by a fleshy ring. Head crested.
141. Cissa ChinensiS, Bodd, Tab. PI. EnL p. 38; Sharpe, Cat. B.
Br. Mus. iii. p. 85 ; Hume, Str. F., viii. p. 106. Corvus speciosus, Shaw,
Gen. Zool. vii. p. 364. Cissa sinensis (Briss), Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 312 ; Bly.
B. Burma, p. 89 ; Cissa speciosa, Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 421 ; id. Str. F.
iii, p. 145 ; iv. p. 509; Bingham, Str. F. v. p. 85. The GREEN JAY.
General colour green (in life), pale blue (in skin). Head crested ; lores
feathers round the eye, extending in a band round the nape and forming a
nuchal collar black ; cheeks, sides of neck and under surface of the body light
green or blue ; wings reddish brown ; the least wing coverts green like the
scapulars ; all the quills dull brown on the inner web, the innermost secon-
daries broadly tipped with bluish white, before which is a subterminal bar of
black ; tail pale blue or green, the two middle feathers white at tip, the rest
broadly tipped with white and with a broad subterminal band of black; bill
and legs bright coral red ; bare skin round the eye vermilion (Jerd.) ; edge of
eyelid coral red ; rest of it yellowish brown (Gates). Iris dark reddish brown,
(Jerd.), blood-red (Gates & Sharpe).
Length. 15 to 15-5 inches; wing 5 '8 to 5-9 ; tail 7-8 to 8-5 ; tarsus 17 to
i'9 ; culmen 1-45 to r6.
19
140 CORVID^s.
ffab.The Himalayas, Assam, Sylhet, Arracan, Sikkim, Tennaserim,
Nepaul and the whole of British Burmah. Gates says from Arrakan down to
Mergui in Tennaserim. It is abundant on the Pegu Hills. Davison met with
it as far south as Meetamyo in Tennaserim ; Bingham also noticed it in the
Thoungyeen Valley, and Captain Wardlaw-Ramsay on the Karin Hills.
The Green Jay is essentially a forest bird, and is found either singly or in
pairs ; and according to Gates feeds principally on insects. They are frequently
tamed and caged, and Blyth says are very amusing and imitative. Gates found
the nest in April on the Pegu Hills ; a large cup-shaped structure made of
leaves and coarse roots and lined inside with fibres and fine roots. It was
placed in a small tree about 20 feet from the ground and contained three eggs,
which were greenish white, marked with yellowish brown.
The change which the plumage of this bird undergoes, both in life and in
death, though remarkable, has not yet excited the interest of physiologists as the
chameleon did. During life when newly moulted it is said to be of "a lovely
green colour, the wings bright sanguine red, and the bill and legs deep coral ;"
the green however changes both in life and after death to verdigris or dull blue.
Ctssa ornata is a Ceylonese form. Though Ceylon is a British possession, it is
not comprised in India, and hence the avifauna of that country, so well
written of by Capt. Legge, is omitted. It differs from Chinensis in having a
chestnut head and no black nuchal collar.
Gen. PlatysmuruS, Reich.
Tail moderately long and graduated, the two centre feathers not much longer
than the others ; nostrils covered by a dense tuft of bristles ; bill deep and
compressed.
142. PlatysmuruS leuCOpteruS, Tern. PI. Col. 265 ; Less. Traite
p. 341 ; Sharps, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 90; Tweed. Ibis, 1877, p. 318; Hume
and Dav. Sir. F. vi. p. 387; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 106. The WHITE-WINGED
JAY.
Whole plumage black, except a bar formed by the tips of the greater coverts
and the basal two-thirds of the central secondaries which are white ; fore-
head crested, the feathers recurved ; eye surrounded by scale-like black
feathers ; bill, legs, and feet black ; irides lake-red to crimson.
Length. 16 inches; wing 7'6 to 7*8 ; tail 7*8 to 8 ; tarsus 1*55 ; culmen
1-25.
Hab, Throughout the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, ranging into Tenna-
serim. Mr. Davison observed it in Tennaserim from Meetamyo down to the
extreme southern point at Malewoon. According to him, it " keeps entirely
to the forests, going about usually in parties of from four to six. They have a
GARRULUS. 141
deep rolling metallic note which they continually utter as they move
tree to tree. They are excessively restless, and always on the move flying at a
considerable height. They restrict themselves to the evergreen forests."
Gen. Garrulus. Briss.
Bill moderately compressed, short, thick, as high nearly as broad ; nostrils
covered with incumbent bristles ; wings and tail about equal in length ; secon-
daries moderately long ; second primary about as long as the secondaries ;
culmen decurved.
143. GarrulUS atricapilluS, Geoffr. St. Hilaire, Etud. Zool. fasc.
i. ; Dresser, B. Eur. part xx. Garrulus melanocephalus, Gene. Mem. Acad.
Torino, xxxvii. p. 298 ; Bree. B. Europe ; Blf. Eastern Persia, vol. ii. p. 265 ;
Hume, Sir. F. i. p. 206; Murray, Zool. &c., Sind, p. 173 ; Sharpe, Cat.
B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 97. The BLACK-HEADED JAY.
Adult Female. General colour above clear vinaceous, washed with grey ;
the rump and upper tail coverts white (wings and tail much as in G. cervi-
calis) ; wing coverts grey, the least coverts barred with chestnut, the median
series broadly chestnut at tip ; the greater series velvety black, the outermost
barred with blue and black ; the bastard wing and primary coverts cobalt
blue, narrowly barred with black ; quills brownish black, externally greyish
white ; the secondaries white for two-thirds of the outer web, with slight
indications of blue bars, the innermost black, inclining to chestnut on all but
the tip of the last secondary ; tail brownish black, bluish grey at base, and
barred with the same colour for more than half the length of the centre
feathers ; nasal bristles white, washed with vinaceous at the tip ; forehead,
feathers round the eye, a broad eyebrow and the sides of the face and neck, as
well as the throat, white ; a broad malar bar of black ; rest of under surface
pale vinaceous, deeper on the sides of the body and under wing coverts, and
inclining to buffy white on the centre of the abdomen, thighs and under tail
coverts.
Length. 12*7 inches ; culmen 1*2 ; wing 6' 7 ; tail 6.
Adult Male. Similar to the female but showing less grey on the back and
rather more on the chest ; the face and throat sometimes washed with a vinous
tinge.
Length. 14-5 inches; wing 7-6; tail 7; culmen 1-4. (Sharpe, Cat. B.
Br. Mus. vol. iii. pp. 97, 98.)
Hab. Sind, on the hills dividing Sind from Khelat (Hume). Syria and
Palestine eastwards into Persia (Sharpe). Mr. Hume, in vol. i. p. 206 of Stray
Feathers, states that he satisfied himself from the description given him of this
bird, that it occurs on the hills dividing Sind from Khelat. I have no specimen
from Sind, nor has Mr. Hume; but I give the above description of the bird to
help its identification if met with.
142 CORVID^E.
144, GaiTUluS leUCOtiS, Hume, Proc. A. S. B. 1874, p. 106; id.
Sir. F. ii. p. 443; Wald. in Bly. B. Burm. p. 89 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus-
iii. p. 99; War dlaw- Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p, 460 ; Hume and Davison, Str.
F. vi. p. 384; Hume, Sir. F, vii. p. 105. The BURMESE or WHITE-EARED
JAY.
PLATE.
Forehead and front of head white, with brown shaft streaks ; lores, sides of
the face, feathers above the eye, ear coverts, entire throat, rump and upper tail
coverts white ; crown and nape black, also the tail and a broad moustachial
stripe ; back ashy fawn colour, purer on the scapulars and lower back ; abdomen
and flanks ashy fawn colour ; vent and under tail coverts white ; under wing
coverts chestnut, the lower series ashy ; winglet, primary coverts and the outer
greater series barred with black and cobalt blue ; secondaries black, the basal
two-thirds barred with black and cobalt blue ; upper wing coverts chestnut ;
primaries black, margined with whity brown on the outer webs towards the
tip ; innermost secondaries deep chestnut at base ; tertiaries black, the inner
ones partly chestnut ; bill blackish horny, whitish at tip ; legs and feet flesh
colour ; irides wood brown (Davison).
Length. 12*5 to I2'8 inches; wing 67 to 6'8 ; tail 57; tarsus r6 to 17;
culmen 1*25 to r$.
Hab The Burmese countries, extending to Cochin-China.
The Burmese or White-eared Jay occurs in Burmah and Tennaserim.
Davison procured it at Kyouknyat and also on the Mooleyit mountains. Capt.
Bingham at Kaukarit and Capt. Ramsay near Tounghoo, where, he says, it is
generally distributed on the hills and plains. Davison says he found, it
usually in small parties, occasionally in pairs or singly, going about the tops
of trees, one occasionally perching itself upon the very top of some tree in the
self-sufficient way in which only a Jay can. The habits are quite those of
other Jays. Food, insects.
145. Garrulus bispecularis, Vigors, P. z. S., 1830, p. 7 ; Gould,
Cent. Him. B . pi. 38 ; Henderson and Hume, Lahore to Farkand, p. 242 ;
Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 307, No. 669; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B, p. 416;
Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. lOO ; Reid, Cat. B. Prov. Mus. Oudh, p 1 1 8.
Garrulus ornatus, J. E. Gray, in Hard. III. Ind. Zool. i. pi. 23. The
HIMALAYAN JAY.
Above vinaceous fawn colour, paler on the forehead, which is almost isabelline ;
moustachial streak black ; under surface of body pale vinaceous fawn colour,
the throat and abdomen paler ; upper and under tail coverts and thighs
white ; least wing coverts vinaceous chestnut, deeper on the median series
which are ashy black at base, the outermost having some transverse rays of
grey ; winglet and outer webs of the primary coverts barred with black and
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA.
GARRULUS LEUCOTIS, Hume.
Mintern Bros . KtK .
GRACULUS. 143
cobalt blue ; other coverts black ; the innermost chestnut with a black tip ;
primaries black, edged with white on the outer web ; secondaries barred ex-
ternally with black and cobalt blue for two-thirds their basal length; tail
black with indications of grey bars near the base; "bill dusky horny; legs
dull yellowish ; iris red brown." (Jerdon).
Length. 12 inches ; wing 6-35 ; tail 6 ; tarsus 1*55 ; culmen 1*15.
Hab. The Himalayas, fairly common in the N.-W. Provinces, and Bengal ;
also Sikkim, Ladakh, and Nepaul. It is recorded as being abundant about
Darjeeling.
146. Garrulus lanceolatus, Vig. P. z. S. 1830, p. 7 ; Gould, Cent.
Him. B. pis. 39, 40; Hutton, J . A. S. B. xvii. pi ii. p. 5 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii.
p. 308, No. 670; Hume, Nests and ggs, Ind. B. p. 417; Brooks^ Str. F.
1875, p. 253 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br.Mus. iii. p. 252. Garrulus vigorsii, J . E.
Gray in Hard. Ill, Ind. Orn. pi. 9. The BLACK-THROATED JAY.
Whole head, crest, face and nape black ; neck behind, and back pale
vinaceous grey ; throat blackish with broad lanceolate streaks of white, the
foreneck shading off into blue grey, with a few nearly obsolete whitish streaks ;
rest of under surface vinaceous red ; scapulars like the back ; quills and
bastard wing black, tipped with white, the primaries edged with grey, and all
barred with deep cobalt blue and black on the outer web, the blue increasing
on the outer secondaries and extending to nearly the tips of these feathers ;
primary coverts white, black basally and banded blue on the outer web of the
first two ; upper tail coverts grey ; tail blue, narrowly barred with black and
with a terminal white band ; under wing coverts greyish black ; bill horny ;
legs yellowish ; irides reddish brown. In the young, the white shafts of the
feathers on the throat are not developed.
Length. 12 to 13 inches; wing 5-7 to 6; tail 57 to 6 ; tarsus 1-25 to 1*5 ;
culmen I.
Hab. The Himalayas, extending to Ladakh, Nepaul and Cashmere. Com-
mon about Mussoorie, Darjeeling, and Simla in small parties of 4 to 6. Breeds
in May. The nest is a loose structure of twigs, roots, and fibres Eggs 34
in number, stone grey with a greenish tinge, spotted and streaked with dark
and dusky.
Sub-family II. FREGILIN^E.
Bill more or less lengthened, slender, arched and bright coloured ; nostrils
covered with plumes; wings long and pointed.
Gen. GraculUS. Koch.
Wings long, but not reaching the tip of the tail ; bill long, curved, slender,
compressed ; the base of lower mandible feathered ; the nostrils covered
with setaceous plumes ; 4th and 5th quills longest ; tarsus robust, strong.
144 CORVID^E.
147. GraCUlUS eremita, Koch, Syst. baier, Zool. p. 91 ; Reid, Cat. B.
Prov.Uus., Oudh, p. 122. Corvus graculus, Linn, Syst. N. i.p. 158. Gracula
pyrrhocorax, Scop. Ann. i. p. 42 (iiec. L.). Fregilus graculus, Cuv. Regne>
Anim., 1817, p. 406 ; Gould, Birds Eur. pi. 210. Pyrrhocorax graculus, Tern.
Man. i. p. 122; Dresser, B. Eur. pi. xxxvii. Fregilus himalayanus, Gould.
P. Z. S., 1862, p 125 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 318, No. 679. Graculus graculus,
Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. ii. p. 146. The HIMALAYAN CHOUGH.
Above and below black, glossed with purple and green ; wings black,
externally dull green ; tail dull greenish black ; bill deep vermilion or coral
red ; legs the same ; iris brown.
Length. 15 to 16 inches; wing n to 1275; tail 5'8 to 6-75; culmen
1-95 to 2*2.
Hob. Europe, Central Asia, N. and N.-E. Africa, the Himalayas, Beloo-
chistan, in the Bolan Pass, Afghanistan, Persia, the N.-W. Provinces of India,
Cashmere and Nepaul. In the Punjab and N.-W. Provinces it has been re-
corded from Kumaon and Darjeeling. Jerdon says it is found on the Hima-
layas in flocks, some of them emigrating with the Jackdaw to the plains of the
Punjab. Blanford met with it between Bampur and Narmashir in April, at not
more than 4,000 feet above the sea, and again in the higher parts of the Elburz
Mountains. The Chough is as full of curiosity and as noted for petty thefts
as its cousin, the Crow. It is easily tamed, but restless in captivity. It is
extremely shy in the wild state, and does great service in killing the grubs
which affect cultivation. Insects as grasshoppers, grubs of every kind, beetles
and grain are its chief food. Of its nidification in India nothing is known.
In England the nests are placed in clefts and cavities of inaccessible cliffs.
The eggs are 4 5 in number, dull white, spotted with grey and brown, rather
thickly at the larger end.
Gen. Pyrrhocorax. Vieiii.
Bill shorter and stronger than in Fregilus, also less curved, the tip of upper
mandible toothed, and the base of lower mandible bare of feathers; feet
robust ; wings reaching to nearly the tip of the tail.
148. Pyrrhocorax alpinus, Vieiii. N. Diet. d'Hist. vi. p. 568;
Gould. B. Eur. iii. pi. 218; Bly. Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 90; Jerd. B, Ind.
" P- 5 1 9> No. 680; Henderson and Hume, Lahore to Yarkand, p. 249;
Dresser, B. Eur. pi. xxxviii ; Ibis, 1875, p. 237; Scully, Str. F., 1876,
p. 162 ; Blf. East Peru. p. 263 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 149. The
ALPINE CHOUGH.
PLATE.
Glossy black all over, with iridescent tints ; bill yellow ; legs bright red or
dark vermilion red ; iris brown.
I- . S
l '. \ :/.--> %
j.
. '/../S- '
. ' 1 1 > < '
t
7SI
ORIOLUS. 145
Length.-^- 16-5 inches; wings 1075 to II>2 5; tail 6'8 to 7; tarsus 1-9 to
2 ; culmen 1*4.
ffab. Europe, ranging to the Himalayas, the N.-W. Provinces, the Pun-
jab, and Nepaul. )\\++, ^f(- Jr CM/ vf^Uu^^ J A*^
The Alpine Chough is plentiful between Simla and Mussoorie. It has also
been met with in Darjeeling and the higher parts of the N.-VV. Provinces, but
rarely in the plains of the Punjab. It is found in large flocks in the Himala-
yas, where it feeds chiefly on various fruits as the mulberry ; and breeds in
holes in rocks. Of the sub-family, FregilintK^ are three species of Podoces,
viz., Hendersoni, Hume, Ibis, 1871, p. 408; Hab. Yarkand ; Biddulphi
Hume, Sir. F. ii. pp. 503, 529, collected by Dr. Stolickza in Eastern Turkestan,
and humilis, Hume, Ibis, 1871, p. 408, obtained by Dr. G. Henderson in the
Sanju Pass, Yarkand. This last will probably be found to range to the
Himalayas.
Pam.
Bill long, strong, moderately broad at the base, hooked, and distinctly notch-
ed at the tip ; nostrils in front of the base of the bill and quite bare ; tail
rather short ; tarsi short ; feet small ; claws curved.
Gen. Oriolus. Lin.
Characters those of the family ; the culmen keeled ; wings with the 1st quill
very short, 2nd shorter than the third, which is the longest ; upper tail coverts
long. Lores feathered, but generally with a small bare space behind the eye.
Outer toe syndactyle. Nostrils lateral.
149- Oriolus galbtlla, Linn. S. N. \. p. 160; Naum. vogt. Deutsch
ir, tab. 61 ; Me Gill. Br. B. ii. p. 69 ; Gould. B. Eur. ii. pi. 71 ; Gray, Gen.
B. i. p. 232; Layard, B. South Afr. p. 135; Shelley, B. Egypt, p. 156;
Sharpe, Ibis, 1870, p. 215; id. Cat. Afr. B. p. 53; Hume, Str. F., 1873,
p. 182; Murray, Hdbk. ZooL, &c., Sind, p. 143; Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind,
p. 136. The GOLDEN ORIOLE.
ORIOLUS.
Adult Male. Golden yellow, a blackish brown spot between the eye and
the bill ; wings and tail black ; a yellow spot on the quills not far from the
middle of the wing when closed ; tail feathers terminated with yellow ; bill
reddish maroon ; iris red ; feet bluish grey.
Length. 10 to 10-5 inches; bill at front i ; wing 5-9; tail 3*1; tarsus
0.8.
Adult Female. Greenish olive above, greyish white with a yellowish tinge
below, where the plumage is marked by some white distant greyish brown
stripes or dashes disposed longitudinally ; wings brown, bordered with olivace-
ous grey ; tail olivaceous, tinged with black ; beneath yellowish with a brownish
black mark somewhat in the form of an irregular Y ; no dark streak behind
the bill and the eye.
The young of the year resembles the female, but the longitudinal stripes of
the lower parts are more numerous and deeper in colour ; bill blackish grey ;
iris brown.
It is said to breed in parts of Europe, laying generally four or five eggs,
white or purplish white, speckled with lake red and dusky.
Hab. The whole of Europe, S.-W. Asia, South Asia, South Africa and
Persia. A visitant in Sind during October and November.
150- OriolUS kundOO, Sykes, P. Z. S., 1832, p. 87; Gray, Gen. B.
i. p. 232 ; Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv. p. 49; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 107, No. 470 ;
Hume, Lahore to Yarkand, p. 167; Murray, Hdb. Zool. &c., Sind, p. 143 ;
Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 137; Reid. Cat. B. Prov.Mtts. N.-W -P. and
Oudh, p. 92. The INDIAN ORIOLE.
Adult Male. Bright golden yellow above and below; lores, feathers round
the eye and a streak through the eye black ; scapulars externally black ; the
edge of the wing and a bar formed by the primary coverts yellow ; the bases of
the primary coverts black ; quills black ; the primaries edged with yellow ;
secondaries with yellow tips ; tail with the central feathers black and narrowly
yellow tipped, the next pair black, with a broad yellow tip, the others black
at the base and yellow for the greater part of their terminal length ; under
wing and tail-coverts golden yellow ; bill deep lake red ; legs plumbeous ;
irides blood-red.
Length. 9 to 9*5 inches; wing 5*5; tail 3*5 ; tarsus 0-95. The female is
like the male, but with a slightly greenish tint.
Hab. Throughout India to Nepaul, Cashmere and Eastern Turkistan.
Probably a resident in Sind, but nothing is known of its nidification in the
Province. Specimens have been obtained in April, June, September and
December. The September birds were the young of the year.
ORlOLl 147
151. Oriolus diffUSUS, Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 197 ; Legge,
B. Ceylon, p. 355. Oriolus indicus, Jerd. III. Ind Orn. pi. 15 ; id. B. Iml. ii
p. 109, No- 471 ; Salvad Ucc. Born., p. 275 ; Hume, Str. F. vii. p. 132 ; Bl.
and Walden, B. Burnt, p. 139; Hume and Dav. Str. F. vi. p. 329; Hume,
Str. F. viii. p. 99; Gates, B. Br. Burnt, i. p. 211. Oriolus cochinchinensis,
Apud David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 132. The BLACK-NAPED ORIOLE.
Above and below bright yellow ; lores, and a band through and above the
eye continued to the nape, on each side black. Primaries and secondaries
black, tipped and edged narrowly with yellowish white, the latter more
broadly ; outer webs of tertiaries and a portion of the inner webs next the shaft
yellow ; primary coverts black, tipped broadly with yellow ; inner webs of
greater coverts black, also the winglet ; tail black, tipped with yellow ; the
central pair narrowly and the others progressively broader towards the outer
feathers.
The young have the feathers of a greenish tinge, and dark-shafted on the
breast and abdomen, the band on the nape indistinct ; tail greenish with
yellowish tips ; irides and eyelids pinkish ; legs and feet plumbeous ; bill pink-
ish red.
Length. 9*6 to JO inches ; wing 5-85 to 6; tail 3-85 to 4; tarsus I to
ro5 ; culmen 1-25 to 1*4.
Hab. The Indian Peninsula to Tennaserim, China, and Mongolia. Oates
says it appears to be a winter visitant to British Burmah. Blyth records it
from Arrakan. It is said to be common about Pegu, Rangoon, and in the Irra-
wady delta. Davison met with it in Tennaserim from Thatone to Male-
woon during winter. Jerdon procured it from the Malabar jungles, and men-
tions it as having been procured at Dharwar, and to be found near Calcutta.
The black-naped Oriole affects forests, large groves and gardens. It feeds
on fruit and insects, and is strictly arboreal in its habits.
152. Oriolus tenuirostris, Biy. J. A. S. B. xv. p. 4 8; Hume,
Str. F. iii. p. 131; Bl. B. Burm. p. 140; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii.
p. 198 ; Hume and Dav. Str. F. vi. p. 329 ; Plume, Str. F. viii. p: 99 ; Scully,
Str. F. vii. p. 298; Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 212. The BURMESE BLACK-
NAPED ORIOLE.
Similar to O. diffusus, but differs in having a more slender and slightly
smaller bill, the alar speculum larger, the tail feathers more broadly yellow
terminally, and the nape band narrower in width, -4 against 7 in O. diffusus.
Bill pale pink, black in the young ; inside of mouth fleshy ; legs plumbeous ;
irides crimson.
Length. 9-5 to 10 inches; wing 5*35 to 5*9; tail 3-5 to 37; tarsus I ;
culmen 1-3 to 1*35.
20
148 ORIOLID/E.
Hab. This species has a very wide range, especially in the Indo-Burmese
countries. It is spread over the whole Pegu division. Abundant in the
Thayetmyo districts. Wardlaw-Ramsay obtained it in Karenne, and Col.
Lloyd at Tounghoo. In Tennaserim it is rare. It is recorded from Arrakan,
also from Cachar, Munipoor, and Nepaul. (Gates.) Habits those of the last.
153. OrioluS andamanensiS, Tytler and Beavan, Ibis, 1867,
p. 326 ; Ball, Sir. F., 1873, p. 72 ; Hume, Sir. F. 1874, p. 227 ; Sharpe,
Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p 200. Oriolus Horsfieldi, Blyth, in Mouatfs Andaman
IsL p. 352 (nee Sws). Broderipus andamanensis, Walden, Ibis? 1873, p. 305.
The ANDAMAN ORIOLE.
Adult Male. General colour above and below brilliant yellow ; crown of head
yellow like the back, from which it is separated by a horse-shoe band of black,
drawn from the lores, enclosing the eye and passing round the nape ; wing
coverts yellow ; the greater series black on the inner web ; primary coverts
black, tipped with yellow ; but not very broadly ; rest of the wings black with
only a faint terminal edging of yellow to the quills, forming a little larger
spot on the inner secondaries ; central tail feathers black, tipped with yellow and
slightly washed with olivaceous near the base ; all the other feathers black at
base, which decreases in extent towards the outer tail feathers. (Sharpe.) " Bill
carneous or delicate pink ; legs and feet plumbeous, sometimes tinged with
green, the soles dirty grey; iris carmine ; the eyelids brownish red." (Hume.)
The adult female is duller in colour, and the yellow of the feathers decidedly
tinged with olivaceous. Bill in the young black.
Length. 9*5 inches ; wing 5-3 ; tail 4*1 ; tarsus 0*95 ; culmen i p 2.
Hal. The Andaman Islands ; Port Blair.
Nothing is known of the nidification of this species nor of Oriolus
macrurus, Blyth, a species found in the Nicobars. It is possible this latter will
be found in Burmah. A description is, however, given of the species.
Above and below bright yellow ; forehead yellow ; the lores, feathers round
the eye and remainder of head and nape black; wings black; wing coverts
yellow, the greater series black on the inner web ; primaries externally edged
with grey ; secondaries narrowly edged with yellowish near the tip, almost im-
perceptible ; primary coverts tipped with yellow forming an alar speculum ; two
centre tail feathers black with a narrow yellow tip, rest of the feathers yellow
with black bases, the extent of the black greater on the inner web; outer
tail feathers almost entirely yellow with a very little black near the base.
(Sharpe.) Bill carneous ; legs and feet plumbeous ; claws horny ; iris carmine.
(Hume.)
Length. u inches; culmen 1*4; wing 5*2 j tail 4*7; tarsus ri.
The young bird has the bill of a dull fleshy colour ; iris dull red-brown.
(Hume.)
ORIOLUS. 149
154. OriolUS XanthonotUS, Horsf. Tr. Lin. Soc. iii. p. 153; Tern,
pi. col. 214; Horsf. Zool. Res. Java; Stolickza, J. A- S. B. xxxix. pt. ii.
p. 317; Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 277; Sharpe, Cat. S. Br. Mm. iii. p. 213,
Tweed. P. Z. S., 1878, p. 616; Hume and Damson, Str. F. vi. p. 330;
Hume, Sir, F. viii. p. 99. Oriolus castanopterus, Blyth, J . A. S. B. xi.
p. 796; Oates B. Br. Burmah, i. p. 215. The SMALL BLACK-HEADED
ORIOLE.
Head, neck, chin and throat black ; breast, abdomen and flanks white,
streaked with black ; under tail coverts yellow ; sides of the breast tinged with
yellow ; axillaries grey ; under wing coverts black, margined with yellow ;
back, scapulars, lesser wing coverts, rump and upper tail coverts yellow ;
median wing coverts black, broadly tipped with yellow ; rest of the coverts and
all the quills black, most of them very narrowly edged with yellow ; tail black,
tipped with yellow, very narrowly on the central pair of feathers and progressively
increasing in extent on the outer feathers.
Length. 7-5 inches; wing 4*35 ; tail 3-1 ; tarsus 075; culmen 0*9.
Immature specimens have black edgings to the feathers of the back and
mesial dark streaks on the upper tail coverts.
The adult female has the whole upper plumage with the lesser wing coverts
and tertiaries olive yellow, and the feathers of the head with dusky striations ; lores
grey ; feathers round the edges of the eyelids yellow ; ear coverts olive yellow
with paler shafts ; chin and throat whitish ; breast, abdomen, and flanks
white, streaked with black ; under tail coverts yellow ; rest of the plumage
as in the male, but everywhere more dull. Legs and feet plumbeous ; bill dark
fleshy ; irides crimson.
Length. 8 inches; wing 4*4 ; tail 2'8; tarsus *8 ; culmen n.
Hab. Malacca, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Labuan, the Indian Archipelago,
Malay Peninsula, and the extreme south of Tennaserim, where it was pro-
cured by Davison.
Habits those of its congeners.
155 Oriolus melanocephalus, Lin. s. N. i, p. 160: Jerd. B.
Ind. ii. p IIO, No. 472 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 301 ; Bly. B.
Burm. p. 139 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 2 15 ; Oates, S. F. vii. p. 48 ;
Cripps, Str. F. vii. p. 99 ; Anderson, Yunnan Exped. p. 660 ; Hume, Str. F.
vii. p. 99; Legge, B. Ceylon, p. 57 ; Oales, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 214. Oriolus
Ceylonensis, Bonap. Consp. \. p. 347; Jerd B. Ind. ii. p. 311 ; Hume, Str. F.
i. p. 439. Oriolus Himalayanus, Legge, B. Ceylon, p. 358. The BLACK-
HEADED ORIOLE.
Above and below bright golden yellow ; head, chin, throat and upper breast
black ; scapulars and wing coverts bright yellow ; winglet and primary coverts
150
black, the latter yellow for their terminal half, forming a large alar speculum ;
upper wing coverts yellow ; first primary black ; the others black, tipped with
yellow, which increases in extent towards the secondaries, the innermost oi
which have the entire outer web yellow ; base of primaries yellow ; tail yellow,
the two central feathers with a broad subterminal bar of black ; the next on
either side with a patch of black.
The female is not unlike the male, but the yellow is less bright and has an
olivaceous or a greenish tinge. The young is duller in colour everywhere, the
forehead is streaked with black, the feathers of the crown and nape edged with
yellowish ; throat white, streaked with black. Bill lake red j irides rich red ;
legs plumbeous.
Length of adult male and female 9-5 to 10 inches; wing 5*4 to 5*55 ; tail
3 4 to 4 ; tarsus r to 1*05 ; culmen ri5 to 1*3.
Hal. Throughout the Peninsula of India, extending down the Malay Penin-
sula. Occurs throughout Burmah and Ceylon; also in Cochin- China and
Siam. It is found in the Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Bengal, Rajpootana, Cen-
tral India, the Concan, Deccan, South India, the Malabar Coast, the Carnatic,
Pegu, Tennaserim, British Burmah, the Andamans and Nepaul. I do not
follow Sharpe in separating O. ceylonensis, either as a distinct species of
or sub-species, nor Captain Legge in calling the larger form 0. hima-
lay anus. Mr. Sharpe (Cat. B. Br. Mus.) observes, that 0. ceylonensis
" although rather smaller than Himalayan examples, the alar speculum
is larger than in the Cingalese form, and he looks upon it as intermediate
between the continental and insular birds. O. ceylonensis is not at all
a good species, and perhaps in a large series would be found to be insepar-
able, which it certainly is from O. melanocephalus."
The black-headed Oriole affects both the densest forests and open jungles,
also orchards and gardens. Oates says, its exquisite call of five whistling
notes is one of the most charming sounds heard in the jungle, and it seems to
be uttered at all hours of the day and almost all the year round. It nests
from March to June, generally at a considerable height from the ground.
The nest is suspended between two twigs, and in shape is like a cup. The
materials used are leaves, fine twigs and vegetable fibres. Eggs 2 3, pinkish
white, spotted with black. It feeds chiefly on fruit. Jerdon says, the figs of
the Banian, peepul and other Fici\ also mulberry, blossoms, and buds.
156. Oriolus trailli, Vig. P. z. S., 1831, P . 175 ; jerd. B. Ind. ii.
p. 1 12, No. 474 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 222 ; Hume, Str. F. viii.
p. 99 ; Scully, Sir. F. v. p. 299. Psaropholus trailli, Jerd. and Selby, III.
Orn. iv. pi. 2O ; Ely. and Walden, B. Burm. p. 139. The MAROON ORIOLE.
Whole head, neck, chin, throat and wings glossy black ; rest of the plum-
age maroon-red.
DICRURUS.
The young have the crown and nape dark brown ; the back, rump, scapu-
lars and wing coverts also dark brown, each feather edged with rufous. Upper
tail coverts maroon-red, with black shafts ; the tail maroon-red, the greater
part of the central feathers and the edges of the outer webs of the other
feathers brown ; under surface white, streaked with brown. Bill pale bluish-
grey ; irides pale buffy-yellow ; feet plumbeous ; claws blue at base, pale
horny at tip. (Scully.)
Length. n inches ; tail 4-5 ; wing 6 ; tarsus I ; bill from gape 1-45.
Hal). The Himalayas, extending to Nepaul, Sikkim, Assam, Arrakan,
Burmah and Tennaserim. Occurs in Darjeeling, Nynee Tal, Bhootan, and
Kumaon. Rare in Burmah. Obtained by Capt. Wardlaw-Ramsay, at
Tounghoo, Karenne and on the Karin Hills.
The Maroon Oriole is said to be found in small flocks, keeping to high
trees. It has a fine loud mellow call. Feeds on insects, as caterpillars.
Family DICRURID/EDRONGO SHRIKES.
Bill rather large, wide at base, thick, culmen curved and keeled, tip notched ;
rictal bristles moderately developed ; nostrils basal, concealed by short plumes ;
tail usually long and furcate; outer feathers generally much lengthened.
Plumage generally black or steel blue.
Gen. Dicrurus. Viefri.
Characters same as that of the family. Tail nearly square, more or less forked,
the outer feathers not ending in a racket, nor curved upwards.
157- DicrurUS annectens, Hodgs. Ind. Rev. i. p. 326 ; Sharpe. Cat.
B t Br. Mus. iii. p. 231. Eclolius annectens, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xi. p. 173.
Dicrurus balicassius (nee Lin.}, Blyth^J. A. S. B. xi. p. 175 ; id. xv. p. 298 ;
Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 430, No. 279 ; Hume, Str. F. 1874, pp. 209, 474; Ely.
and Walden, B> Burm. p. 131 ; Tweedd. Ibis., 1878, p. 72. Dicrurus annectens,
Hume and Davison, Str. F. vi. pp. 213, 509 ; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 91 ;
Oates, Str. F. x. p. 20 1 ; id. B. Br. Burm. \. p. 217 The CROW-BILLED
DRONGO.
Black, glossed with steel blue, except the lores, ear coverts, inner webs of
quills, axillaries and under wing coverts. Young and adolescent birds have
the under wing coverts and under surface tipped with greyish white. Bill and
legs black ; iris red.
Length. 10 to 1 1 inches ; wing 5-45 to 6 ; tail 4'l ; to tip of outer feather
5 1 5 to 6 ; culmen r I ; tarsus 075 to o 82.
Hah. The Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Cochin-China. Found also in
Nepaul, where Jerdon says it is rare. Extends thence eastward through Lower
Bengal and Dacca to Assam, Burmah and Malacca. Found also in the Oudh
152
DICRURID^E.
Terai. Gates says, it sweeps through Pegu every year in October ; but whether
it comes from the North or from the South he is unable to say ; it is not seen
at other times. Capt. Wardlaw-Hamsay procured it in Rangoon. Mr. Davison
says it is not uncommon in the southern third of Tennaserim. Gates had
examples from Malewoon, procured from December to February. Its habits
are said to be those of the Common Drongo Shrike.
Gen.
Bill lengthened, compressed, curved and keeled on the culmen, tip hooked
and obsoletely notched ; octal bristles short ; forehead crested with hairs
which fall over the neck; tail forked, outer feathers slightly lengthened,
turned up ; feathers of head and neck lanceolate.
158. Chibia hottentottus, Lin., Syst. Nat. \. p. 155- Chibia
hottentotta, Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 439 , No. 286 ; Ely. B. Burm. p. 128 ; Anders.
Yunnan Exped. p. 65 I ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 194 ; Hume, Sir. F. iii.
p. IOI ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 235 ; Tweedd. Ibis, 1878, p. 73 ;
Hume and Davison, Sir. F. vi. p. 222 ; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 92 ; Oates, Str.
F. viii. p. 167; Scully, Str. F. viii. p. 272; Bingham , Str.F.ix.p. 174;
Gates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 227. The HAIR-CRESTED DRONGO.
Whole plumage black, with metallic blue reflections on the back and lower
parts ; lores and frontal plumes black, with a crest of long hairs springing from
the base of the forehead and falling over the nape ; sides of face purplish
black ; feathers of the head and sides of neck metallic steel green, those on the
neck, long and lanceolate ; feathers of the throat and neck tipped with metallic
steel green. Upper surface of wing metallic bronze green ; rest of the plum-
age black with metallic steel blue or green reflections ; outer feathers of the
tail recurved inwards at the tips. Bill and legs black ; iris dark brown.
Length. 12'5 to 13 inches; wing 6'5 to 6-95; tail 5'6 to 65; culmen
i'55 to i '6 ; tarsus 0*910 i.
CHAPTIA.
Hab. India, ranging through Assam and Burmah to China. Jerdon re-
cords it from Southern India, the Eastern Ghauts, Malabar, Wynaad, and
Chota Nagpur, and says that it is found also about Calcutta, in the Sunder-
buns and in the Himalayas. Blyth observed it in parts of the forests of
Upper Martaban, and Jerdon himself procured specimens in the warmer val-
leys near Darjeeling. According to Gates, it is found over the whole of Bur-
mah, except, perhaps, in the southernmost portion of Tennaserim. It is said
to occur in Arrakan and in many parts of Pegu. Fairly common at Prome.
Davison got it in Tennaserim and Captain Bingham in the Thoungyeen Valley.
It has also been procured at Tounghoo and on the Karin Hills.
The Hair Crested Drongo is an inhabitant of thick forests or groves. It is
said to feed on insects as wasps, bees, beetles, &c. Breeds in May and June.
Nest constructed of fine twigs, placed generally in a fork at the top of very high
trees. Eggs three in number, white, spotted and streaked with reddish brown,
or purplish and claret.
Gen. Chaptia. Hodgs.
Tail strongly forked ; outer tail feathers not much recurved at tip ; plumage
spangled with metallic bronze tips; frontal plumes dense. Bill depressed and
more feeble than in Dicrurus. ist quill short, 4th longest, 3rd and 6th equal.
159. Chaptia senea, Vieiil, N. Diet, d' Hist. ix. p. 586 ; Jerd. B. ind.
i, p. 433 5 Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 192 ; Ely. and Wald. B. Burm. p. 128 ;
Hume, Sir. F. iii. p. TOO; Armstrong, Str.F. iv. p. 320; Sharpe, Cat. B.Br.
Mus. iii. p. 243; Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 652 ; Hume and Davison, Sir.
F. vi. p. 217; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 92 ; Oates, Str. F. viii. p. 166 ; Scully,
Sir. F. viii. p. 272; Bingham, Str. F. ix. p. 173; Oates, B. Br. Burm. \.
p. 223. Edolius picinus (S. Mull) Bonap. Consp. Av. i. p. 352. The
BRONZED DRONGO.
Whole plumage black, glossed with metallic bronze on the upper and under
surface, except the rump, vent, under tail coverts, and lower abdomen, which are
dull greyish brown ; throat and breast spangled with metallic bronze tips
to the feathers ; under wing coverts black, only slightly glossed with bronze ;
lores and sides of face unglossed dull or brownish black. Bill and feet black ;
iris blackish brown (pinkish hazel, Oates). Eyelids purplish grey.
Length. 9 to 9-5 inches; wing 475 to 5; tail 475 to 5; tarsus 0*65;
culmen ro
154 DICRURID^:.
Hab. The moist climates of India generally, extending to Assam and
Burmah. Occurs along the Malabar Coast, in Travancore, Southern India
generally, Lower Bengal, Central India and on the slopes of the Himalayas to
Nepaul. Gates says it is found in every part of Burmah, and that Mr. Blyth gives
it from Arrakan. He procured it in Pegu, and both Davison and Captain
Bingham found it abundant in all parts of Tennaserim, while Captain Wardlaw-
Ramsay obtained it at Tounghoo, in the Karen Hills and in Karenne.
The Bronzed Drongo is an inhabitant of dense and lofty forests, and is usually
found in small parties, near the top of some lofty tree, whence it sallies
forth, darts on passing insects, and returns generally to the same perch. Gates
found a nest in April. It was cup-shaped, placed at the top of the higher
branches of a Jack tree, Artocarpus integrifolia, and made of fine grass, strips
of plantain bark and vegetable fibres over-laid at the edges with cobweb. Eggs
two in number, of a salmon colour and marked with darker shades of the same.
160. Chaptia malayensis, Blyth. J. A. S. B. xv. p. 294 (ex. A. Hay
MS.) ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 434 ; Sharpe,Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 244. Chaptia
malayana, S/iarpe, Ibis, 1876, p. 45. The MALAY DRONGO.
Differs from C. anea in having the whole plumage, including the vent, rump
and upper and under tail coverts of a glossy metallic greenish black colour, the
abdomen and flanks greyish black. It is also much smaller, adults measuring
8-3 against 9-5 inches in length ; wing 4-5 ; tail 4 ; tarsus C'6; culmen 0-85.
Hal. The Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo and, according to Dr. Tiraud,
Cochin-China. Habits, those of the last.
Gen. Buchanga. Hodgs.
Bill moderate, depressed at base and slightly hooked ; culmen keeled and
notched at tip ; rictal bristles strong ; frontal plumes dense, but not elongated
to form a crest. Plumage black ; tail forked.
161. Buchanga atra, Herm. Obs. Zool. p. 208 ; Murray, Vert. Zool.
Sind, p. 126 ; Sharpe, Cat. Passerif. B. Br. Mus. p. 246. Dicrurus macro-
cercus, Viell. N. Diet. ix. p. 588; Jerd. Mad. Journ. xiii. pt. ii. p. 1 21 ; id.
B. of Ind. i. p. 427, No. 278 ; Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 286 ; Sir. F. iv. 278 ; vi.
213 ; vii. 272 ; Murray, Hdbk., Zool., fy-c., Sind> p. 137. Buchanga albirictus,
Hodgs. Ind. Rev. p. 326 ; Hume, Sir. F., 1873, p. 178; Ball. Str. F., 1874,
p. 402. Dicrurus balicassius, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 86 (nee. 1.}. The COM-
MON DRONGO SHRIKE or KING CROW.
Head, hind neck, back, upper tail coverts, lesser and median wing coverts
glossy blue-black ; a white spot at the gape ; chin, throat, lores, sides of the
face, and under surface of the body black, less glossy than the upper surface,
and with a greenish cast ; greater and primary coverts black, glossed greenish,
also the secondaries and tertiaries ; primaries and tail duller black ; the inner
webs of the primaries and under surface of the tail dusky. Young with whitish
lunules on the under surface of the body. Bill and legs black ; irides red.
BtJCHANGA.
. 12 inches ; wing 575 ; tail 6-25 to tip of outer feather ; tarsus 0*9.
Hab. The whole of India and Ceylon, extending to Assam, the Indo-Chinese
region, China, Formosa and Burmah. Occurs also in Java, Siam, Cochin-
China, the N.-W. Himalayas, Nepaul, Beloochistan and Afghanistan. If is found
throughout the Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Rajpootana, Central
India, Kutch, Guzerat, Konkan, Deccan, Travancore and South India generally.
According to Gates it is a common bird in Burmah and Pegu. In the latter
it is common from October to January. Dr. Armstrong found it common in
the Irrawaddy delta ; Davison found it common in Tennaserim from Moul-
mein to Malewoon, and Captain Bingham met with it at Tounghoo.
The King Crow is chiefly found in open jungle, and seldom or never in
forests. It is a conspicuous bird everywhere about a station. Its presence is
readily known simply by its cheerful and pretty notes. Perched on a telegraph
wire, wall, or on a bare branch, its sweet notes are uttered, not forgetting now
and again its rather harsh cry. A couple of pairs within one's grounds often
make their chattering, as if one to another for half an hour at a time, sound
disagreeable. Its loquacity is unsurpassed, especially in the early morn. It
is often seen on the backs of cattle, sheep and goats when out grazing in com-
pany with Acridotheres tristis or ginginianus, the common crow, and not un-
frequently Neophrons.
The food of the King Crow is chiefly insects of sorts, as grasshoppers,
mantises, bees, wasps, ants, dragon flies, moths and butterflies. I don't know
that it has a predilection for anything higher than members of the Inverte-
brates. During the breeding season, which lasts from May to July, March to
April, and August and September, according to locality, the King Crow is very
pugnacious. It pursues and drives away every bird it suspects, even hawks,
kites, and crows, especially when the female is sitting for incubation. It places
its nest generally in the fork of the outer branches of a tree, selecting generally
an Acacia. It is cup-shaped and shallow, and made of fine twigs and grass.
In some instances lined outside with cobwebs and inside with a little hair or
feathers. Eggs generally 4 in number, reddish or pinkish white, prettily
streaked, spotted and blotched with brick red or brown.
102. Buchanga longicaudata, A. Hay, Jerd. Mad. Journ. xiii.
p. 121 ; Jerd. B. lnd.\. p. 430, No. 280 ; Wald. P. Z. S. 1866, p. 549 ; Hume,
Nests and Eggs, p. 189 ; Hume, Sir. F. iii. p. 97 ; Wald. in Bl. B. Burnt.
p. 130 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 249 ; Hume and Davison, Sir. F. vi.
p. 213 ; Legge, B. Ceylon, p. 390; Tweedd. Ibis, 1878, p. 74 ; Hume, S/r. F.
viii. p. 91 ; Scully. Sir. F. viii. p. 270; Gates, Str. F. x. p. 2O2. Dicrurus
himalayanus, Tytler, Ibis, 1868, p. 200. Buchanga Waldeni, Beavan, Ibis,
1868, p. 497; Gates, B. Burm. i. p. 220. The DARK-ASHY or LONG-TAILED
DRONGO.
Whole upper plumage including the wings and tail blackish ashy, with a
greenish gloss sides of the face, frontal plumes and under surface of the body
21
156 DICRURID/E.
dark ashy, paler towards the vent ; under tail coverts dull greyish white, paler
and nearly white at the tips ; under wing coverts similarly tipped ; in old or
fully adult birds, these whitish tippings are absent Bill and legs black ; iris
red.
Length. 11 to 11-5 inches; wing 5*5 to 5-6; tail, including outer feathers,
6*5 to 6*7 ; tarsus 0*8 ; culmen i.
Hab. India generally, the Indo-Burmese countries, Ceylon, N.-W. Hima-
layas to Nepaul and Ladakh. Found in Travancore, and Southern India
generally; also on the Malabar Coast, Wynaad, Coorg, the Neilgherries,
Bengal, Punjab, N.-W. and Central Provinces. In Southern and parts of
Western India, it is a permanent resident, also in S. Pegu. Davison found it
in Tennaserim from Moulmein to Mergui. In Upper Pegu it is said to be
replaced by B. leucoophcea.
Its habits are quite those of E. atra, but unlike it, it inhabits or rather
affects forests, and has a pleasant song. Breeds during April and May. Nest
similar to that of B. atra. Eggs, 3 4 in number typically white with brick
red spots.
183. Buchanga cineracea, Sharpe, Cat., B. Br. Mus.. Hi. p. 250.
Edolius cineraceus, Horsf. Tr. Linn. Soe. xiii. p. 145. Dicrurus leucophaeus,
Gray. Gen* B. i. p. 287. Dicrurus intermedius, Ely. J . A. S. B. xv. p. 298.
Dicrurus leucophaeus, Vieill. N* Diet. d'Hist. Nat. ix. p. 587 ; Hume, Str. F.
iii. p. 99. Buchanga pyrrhops, (ffodg.) Wald. in Bl. B. Burmah, p. 130;
Armstrong, Str. F. iv. p. 320; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 251 ; Hume
and Dav. Str. F. vi. p. 216 ; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 92 ; Oates, Str. F. x.
p. 202. Buchanga leucophaea, Hume and J)av. Str. F. vi. p. 317 ; viii, p. 92.
The PALE-ASHY DRONGO.
Whole plumage bluish ashy, glossy above, paler underneath and unglossed
on the breast ; frontal plumes and lores black, upper wing coverts like the
upper surface but centred darker ; quills tinged with ashy on the outer webs.
Tail bluish ashy ; the shafts black and the tips brownish. Bill and legs black ;
iris crimson.
Length. IO to 1 1 inches ; wing 5-2 to 575 ; tarsus O'8 ; culmen 2.
Hab. Dacca (Bengal) to the N.-W. Himalayas, and Nepaul, ranging to
Pegu, Burmah and Java. Occurs also in Siam, Cochin-China, and Eastern
China.
The habits of this Drongo are quite those of its congeners. The structure
of the nest and the size and colour of its eggs like those of B. longicaudata.
It is found in all the well-wooded districts of Burmah and Bengal.
164. Buchanga leuCOgenys, Wald. Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. v.
p. 219 ; id. in Bl. B. Burm. p. 131 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 251 ;
David et Oust. Ois, Chine, p. 108, pi. 77; Tweedd. Ibis, 1878, p. 69; Hume
Family, ARTAMID^. SWALLOW SHRIKES.
Bill moderate, wide at base, deep and slightly curved ; commissure slightly
curved ; nostrils basal, with a minute tuft of bristles at their base ; tarsus short
and strong; claws well curved, acute; wings long; 1st quill minute, 2nd
longest; tail short. (Jerd.) Plumage grey. They are called Swallow
Shrikes, owing to their feeding like the swallows in the air.
Gen. ArtamuS Vieill.
Characters those of the Family.
165a. Artamus fuscus, Vieill., Nouv. Diet, dllist* Nat. xvii.
p. 297 ; Jerd t , B. Ind. i. p. 441, No. 287 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B.
p. 194 ; Blyth, B. Burnt, p. 127 ; Hume, Sir. F. iii. p. 102 ; Armstrong, Sir.
F. iv. p. 321 ; Dav. et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. ioi ; Cripps, Sir. F. vii. p. 273 ;
Sharpe in Rowley s Orn. Misc. iii. p. 191 ; Legge, B. Ceylon, p. 666 ; Hume,
Sir. F. viii. p. 92 ; Oates, Str. F. x. p. 203 ; id., B. Br. Burm. i. p. 396.
The ASHY SWALLOW SHRIKE.
Lores black; head and neck ashy grey, also the back, scapulars, rump and
shorter upper tail coverts, but these with a rufescent or vinous tinge ; longer
upper tail coverts white ; tail dark grey, tipped with whitish ; wings and their
coverts deep grey ; quills narrowly margined with white near the tips and on
portions of the inner webs ; breast, abdomen, under wing and under tail coverts
pale purplish brown, the latter finely barred with ashy. Bill pale blue, darker
at the tip ; legs slaty ; irides dark brown.
Length. 7 to 7*3 inches; wing 5-2; tail 2'5 ; tarsus 0^65; bill from gape
0-9S.
The young are barred above, the quills are broadly margined with whitish,
and the under wing coverts tipped with rufous.
Hal. Throughout nearly the whole of the moist regions in India and
Ceylon. Jerdon says it is more abundant in the wooded districts, especially
where palm trees abound, more particularly the Palmyra palm. He found
them most abundant in the Carnatic, the Malabar Coast, the Northern Circars
and Bengal ; rare in the Deccan and Central India. Occurs also at Darjee-
ling, spread throughout Assam, British Burmah and Ceylon. It has been
found at Arracan, Tenasserim and Pegu in large flocks- The nests are built
on palm trees, and are made of grass, twigs and fibres. Eggs, 4 in number,
whitish, marked at the larger end with yellowish brown and lilac.
Artamus leucorhynchus, a species with the rump and lower surface of
the body white and the back and wings chocolate brown, is found in the
Andamans.
VOL. I., p. 157-
BUCHANGA.
157
and Dav. Sir. F. vi. p. 216 ; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 92; Oa/es, B. Br. Burmah
i. p. 222. Dicrurus leucophaeus (Vieill.) apud. Hume, Str. F. ii. p. 210.
The WHITE-CHEEKED DRONGO.
Whole upper plumage clear pale ashy grey ; shafts of the quills and tail
and tips of the first 67 primaries black ; upper tail coverts and tail lighter
grey, inclining to blackish brown at the tips. Nasal bristles black ; lores,
feathers round the eye and ear coverts pure white. Cheeks and under surface
of body pale ashy grey, lighter and nearly white on the abdomen and under
tail coverts ; under wing coverts light grey edged with white. Bill and legs
black ; iris red.
Length. 10-2 to 10-5 inches; wing 5-5 ; tail 4-5 ; to tip of outer feathers
57; tarsus 07 ; culmen 0-95.
Hab. Malacca, ranging through the Indo-Chinese region to China and
Japan. (Sharpe.)
Extends down the Malay Peninsula, and is found in Siam and Cochin-China.
Davison procured it in South Tennaserim, where he says it was abundant as
far north as Mergui. He adds that " it is much more of a forest species than
any of the other King Crows. It also occurs in clearings and occasionally in
gardens. Its notes and habits are much the same as those of the other species,
and like them it is fond of perching on the top of some dead tree, or other
commanding station from which it constantly makes short sallies after passing
insects. It is always seen singly."
165. Buchanga eaerulescens, Linn, Sys/. Nat. i. p. 134 ; Sharp*,
Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 252. Dicrurus eaerulescens, Vieill. N. Did. d'Hist.
Nat.\\. p. 587; Jerd. Madras Journ. x. p. 239; Bly. Ann. and Mag.
Nat. Hist. xiv. p. 47 ; Jcrd. B. hid. i. p. 432, No. 281. The WHITE-BELLIED
DRONGO.
Whole upper plumage, including wings and tail, slaty grey, with a metallic
steel blue gloss ; chin, throat and breast ashy brown, glossed with steel blue
on the sides of the neck and sides of the upper breast ; abdomen and lower
tail coverts white ; under wing coverts ashy brown and slightly glossed ;
thighs glossy black ; bill and feet black ; iris lake-red.
Length. 9-5 to 9-6 inches ; wing 475 to 5'OS; tail $'65; to tip of outer
feathers 5 ; tarsus 08; culmen 0'95.
Hab. India generally. Recorded from Malabar, the slopes of the Neil-
gherries, Madras, Nellore, Central India, Calcutta, Central Provinces, Behar.
Kattyawar, N.-W. Himalayas to Nepaul.
The White-bellied Drongo affects well-wooded districts generally. It is
seldom seen in clearings, groves, or near habitations. Like other species of
Buchanga, it seizes its prey on the wing, and has the usual sweet song and
haish cry of the fainiiy.
158 DICKUKID^E.
Gen. Dissemuroid.es. Hume.
Outer tail feathers produced and recurved at tip ; forehead with a few
bristles.
166. Dlssemtiroides andamanensis- Hume, Sir. F., 1874, p. 2 1 1 ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 255. Dicrurus andamanensis, Tytler and
Beaven, Ibis, 1867, p, 322 ; Gray, Hand-l. B. \. p. 285 ; Ball, J. A. S. B.
xii. p. 282. Buchanga (Dicrurus) andamanensis, Ball, S. F., 1873, p. 66.
Dissemuroides dicruriformis, Hume, St>\ F., 1873, p. 408; id., 1874, p. 211 ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. p. 255. The ANDAMAN" DRONGO.
Adult Male. General colour black, with a slight purplish gloss on the
back ; wings glossed with metallic steel-green, as also the secondaries ; quills
brown, with reddish brown shafts, and slightly glossed with greenish at the
base of the outer web j tail black, with a steel green gloss on the outer web ;
lores, sides of face, and under surface deep black with a slight purplish gloss
on the breast ; under wing co-verts like the breast, but tipped with white ; bill
and legs black ; iris hair-brown, sometimes- very deep and almost blackish.
Length. 11*25 to 12-0 inches^ wing 5-0 to 5*25; tail 7-0 to 8-25; bill
from gape rz to 1*35 ; tarsus cr8 to 0*9.
Adult Female. Rather smaller than the male.
Hab. Andaman and Great Cocos Islands.
I have united Hume's D. dicruriformis with this species, as I cannot find
any good character which would serve to give it specific rank. It is certainly
a larger bird, but I think with Mr. Sharpe that it can only be looked upon
as a race. The comparative measurements of Andamanensis and dicruri-
formis are as under :
Length. Wing, Tail. Tarsus.
dicruriformis ...... 13*25 to 14-6 5*6 to 5^9 875 0-9 to ro
Andamanensis .,.11-25 to 12 5 to 5-25 7 to 8-25 0*8 to 0*9
Gen. Bhringa.
Bill moderately depressed at base ; oilmen curved, hooked and notched at
the tip; rictal bristles feeble ; base of bill covered with recurved feathers.
Nostrils covered \vith bristles ; 4th quill longest. Tail nearly even, forked, the
outer feather ending in a racket.
D1SSBMUR1
167. Bhringa remifer, 7V///. PL Col. 178; y< r d. B. i,,d. \. p. 434 ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 257 ; Hume and Davisoti, Str. F. \\. p. 218 ;
Twcedd., Ibis, 1878, p. 80; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 92 ; Oates, B. Br. Burm. \.
p 224. Bhringa tectirostris, (Hodgs}, Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 193 ; id,
Str. F. iii. p. 101. The LESSER RACKET-TAILED DRONGCT.
Whole plumage black, with a brilliant metallic gloss, the feathers of the
crown spangled with metallic-violet ', also those of the throat and breast ;
under tail coverts washed with steel green ; abdomen bteckish grey with a
steel gloss ; outermost tail feathers produced into a long shaft with an
elongated black spatule at end. Bill and legs black j iris red.
Length. 9-6 to iO'5 inches ; wing 5-25 ; tail to tip of outer feathers 12 to
14.
Hab. Nepaul, N.-W. Himalayas, Burmese Provinces, Tennaserim and Java.
Sparingly distributed over Pegu, and confined to deep forests. According
to Jerdon, it is also found in Assam. At Darjeeling it is found in the warmer
valleys. Breeds from April to June and July ; nest a loose cup-shaped struc-
ture. Eggs, 34, reddish white with reddish brown spots and blotches.
Habits the same as other Drongos.
Gen. DiSSemurilS Glogcr.
Characters the same as in Bhringa. Crest more full and developed, and fall-
ing back on the forehead ; tail forked, the outermost pair with the outer
web gradually thinning off ; shaft bare for some distance, and terminating
in a racket.
168. Dissemurus paradiseus, Z/;/, Syst. Nat.\. p. 172; Bi.
Wald. B, JSttnn.p. 128; Armstrong. Str. F. iv. p. 321; Sharpf, Cat. B.
Br, MM. iii. p. 258 ; Tweedd. Ibis, 1878, p. 80 ; Hum? and Davison, Str. F.
vi. p. 219; Legge, B. Ceylon,?. 399; //um<',Str. F. viii. p. 192; Bing/tam,
160 DICRUR1D/E.
,S/r, F. ix. p. 174; Gates, Sir. F. x. p. 203; id. B. $r. Sunn. i. p. 225.
Dicrurus platurus, Vieill. N. Diet* d 'Hist. Nat. i. p. 588. Edolius Rangoonen-
sis, Gould. P. Z. S., 1836, p. 50. Edolius grandis, Gould. P. Z. S., 1836,
p. 5. Chibia malabaroides, Hodgs. Ind. Rev. i. p. 325. Dicrurus retifer, Jerd.
Mad. Journ. x. p. 241. Edolius cristatellus, Bly. J. A. S. B. xi,
p. 171. Edolius brachyphorus, (Temm.) Bonap. Consp. Av. i. p. 351.
Edolius paradiseus (Linn.) Jerd. B. Ind. i., p. 435. Edolius malabaricus,
(Scop.) Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 437. Dissemurus malabaroides (Hodgs.), Hume,
Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 123 ; id., Sir. F. iii. p. 101. Dissemurus grandis,
(Gould.), Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 92; Gates, Sir. F. viii. p. 1 66 ; id., Gates, B.
Br. Burm. i. p. 225. The GREAT RACKET-TAILED DRONGO.
Whole plumage black, glossed with steel blue, except on the inner webs of
the quills, the throat, lower abdomen and vent. The outer pair of feathers in
both sexes lengthened and furnished with a racket ; in the young the gloss is
less developed, and the under wing coverts are tipped with white ; bill, legs
and feet black ; irides red (brown in the young).
Length. 14 inches; wing 6'6 ; tail 7; outer feathers 13 to 15; tarsus
riS ; culmen 1-3.
Hab. The Indian Peninsula, Ceylon, Andaman Islands, Indo-Chinese and
Indo-Burmese Countries, the Malayan Peninsula, Java and Borneo ; also
Sumatra, Cochin-China and Nepal. It is recorded as occurring from the
Himalayas to the Eastern Ghats as far South as N. L. 15; also at Nellore,
Goomsoor, Central and S. India, N.-W. Provinces, Lower Bengal, the Sunder-
buns, Assam, Sylhet, Burmah and Tennaserim. Mr. Sharpe has very carefully
gone into the question, whether all the species hitherto described as distinct,
were so or not. Brachyphorus from Borneo, appeared to be a distinct form,
but there was not sufficient ground upon which it could be specifically sepa-
rated. The specific characters held to constitute a species were the length of
tails, the size of the rackets on the outer feathers, and the development of the
crest. These Mr. Sharpe has carefully studied, and the outcome is that he has
united all under one species (Dissemurus paradiseus}. He says that after a
careful study of what has been written on the subject of these racket-tailed
Drongos, and after comparison of the series in the British Museum collection, he
has arrived at the conclusion that between D. malabaroides (a very full-crested
form) of the Eastern Himalayas and D. brachyphorus of Borneo, an unbroken
chain of races exists. Blyth came to the same conclusion in 1849, Mr.
Sharpe adds, that he does not see that the labors of ornithologists have tended
to upset this conclusion. His review of these species ends with the following
remarks ; " Finding it, however, quite impossible to define exact specific
characters for these supposed species, I have united them under one name, and
merely keep the specimens arranged under different headings ; for I fully
believe that a larger series will only show more connecting links, and that it will
IRENA.
be found more and more impossible to give specific characters for those differ-
entiated under the various titles mentioned."
The large racket-tailed Drongo affects forests, and well-wooded districts.
Like the Drongos in general it selects the extreme end of a bough or branch
for its perch, which it now and again leaves for the purpose of capturing a
passing insect. It always returns to the same perch. Its song is said to be
rich and mellow, especially during the breeding season. The nest is built
in a fork on the very tip of a bough on the highest tree in the place, and almost
inaccessible. In structure it does not differ from that of its congeners. The
eggs, usually three in number, are white or pinkish, marked with reddish
brown.
Gen. Irena- Horsf.
Bill stout, of moderate length ; culmen rather elevated and slightly arching
from the base, tip notched ; nostrils covered with short plumes. Wings with
the 4th quill longest ; tarsus short.
169. Irena puella, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 171 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii.
p. 105; Stol. J. A. S. B. xxxix. p. ii. p. 318; Wald. Ibis, 1871, p. 170;
Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 298; Hume, Sir. F. ii. p. 226; iii. p. 130; Bl.
and Wald. B. Burnt, p. 138; Armstrong, Str. F. iv. p. 326; Bourdillon,
Str. F. iv. p. 400; War dlaw- Ramsay , Ibis, 1877, p. 467 ; Hume and Dav.
Sir. F. vi. p. 328 ; Hume Str. F. viii. p. 99 ; Legge, Birds, Ceylon, p. 466 ;
Sharpe, Cat Birds, B.Mus. vi. p. 177; Bingham, Str. F. ix. p. 184,- Oa/es,
Str. F. x. p. 21 1 ; Oa/es, B. Br. Burm. p. 209. The FAIRY BLUE BIRD.
Whole upper plumage, including the lesser wing coverts, brilliant glistening
cobalt blue. Sides of the head, quills and tail deep black ; the secondaries
and central tail feathers with a shade of blue ; lores, feathers over the
eye, sides of neck and entire under surface, also the thighs and under wing
coverts, black ; under tail coverts purplish black.
The female has the whole of the upper plumage dull prussian blue, brighter
on the rump and upper and under tail coverts ; primaries and secondaries
dark brown, also the greater wing coverts, primary coverts and tertiaries, but
these with a bluish tinge on their outer webs.
Bill and legs black ; iris crimson.
PRIONOPID/E.
Length. 10 to 10*3 inches; wing 5 ; tail 4/2 104*4; tarsus 0*85; culmen
0-95 to i.
Hab. The Malabar Coast, Southern India generally, and Travancore ; also
Assam, Arrakan, and British Burmah. It also occurs in Siam and Cochin-
China, in the Khasia Hills, Cachar, Ceylon and the Andamans.
The Fairy blue "bird affects evergreen, dense, woody forests, and is more
abundant in the hilly tracts than in the plains. It is found in the Pegu Hills
down to Rangoon; in the Irrawaddy delta, and according to Davison, in all
the evergreen forests of Tennaserim. It is generally found in pairs, but
parties of 6 or 7 are not uncommon. Capt. Bingham found the nest in Tenna-
serim. It was cupshaped in form, and in structure like that of a Drongo.
Eggs, two, greenish white, marked with brown,
Family. PRIONOPID^.
Bill with a notch in the upper mandible. Nostrils more or less covered with
plumes. Tail moderate, rounded or square, and of 12 feathers.
Sub-family.
Bill higher than broad, wings short, not reaching the tip of the tail.
Gen. TephrodorniS. Swainson.
Bill moderately hooked and notched at tip ; a few rictal bristles, nostrils
covered with procumbent plumes ; wings moderate ; tarsus and toes short.
Outer toe longest and slightly syndactyle.
170. Tephrodornis pondiceriana, Gmei. S. N. i. p. 939;
Bly. J. A. S. J3., 1846, p. 305 ; Jerd. B. Ind. p. 410, No. 265 ; Murray,
Vert. Zool., Sind, p. 123 ; Hume, Sir. F. i. 435 ; Murray, Hdbk., ZooL, fyf.,
Sind, p. 134. Tephrodornis indica, Cat. Hodgs. Coll. B. M. p. 90.
Tentheca leucura, Hodgs. Ind. Rev. i. p. 447. The COMMON WOOD-SHRIKE.
Head, hind neck, scapulars, back and rump ashy brown ; the feathers of the
rump edged white ; superciliary streak fulvous white ; a dark brown streak
from the nostrils to the ear coverts ; upper tail coverts dark brown ; wings
dusky brown ; tail dark brown, with the two outer feathers white, and mar-
gined dusky on the outer web at the tip, basally dark brown ; chin and throat
white ; breast and upper abdomen greyish brown ; lower abdomen, vent and
under tail coverts white ; bill dusky horny ; legs plumbeous ; irides greenish
yellow.
Length. 6'$ to 7 inches; wing 3-5 ; tail 2-75 ; bill at front 0-62.
TEPHRODORNir,
. India generally, Burrnah, Assam, Bengal, extending to the foot of the
Himalayas* Occurs in the Deccali, North Guzerat, kutch and Kattiawar. In
Sind it is a seasonal visitant, arriving in April, breeding and leaving the
Province early in September. I obtained nestlings in May and June, and
during July and August. Of the eight specimens collected, five were young
birds. None were seen in September. Its presence is easily known by a very
pretty, unmistakable little song, quite unlike that Of any of the Laniince.
171. TephrodomiS pelviCUS, Sharpe, Cat.B. Br.Mus. iii. p. 276.
Tentheca pelvica, Hodgs. Jnd. jRev. i. p. 447 ; Tephrodornis pelvica, Jerd.
B. hid, i. p. 409* No. 263; Hutoe, Str. F. iii. p. 92 ; &l. B. &urm. p. 122 ;
Hume ond l)av. Str. F. vi. p. 205 ; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 91. The NEPAUL
WOOD- SHRIKE.
Above pale ashy broWn forehead whitish ; head, nape and hihd heck cine-
reous grey ; rump greyish White, barred with brown near the tip ; upper
tail coverts white, the longer ones brown. Tail brown, with a rufous tinge,
the shafts reddish and the tips whitish ; quills ashy brown, rufous shafted, all
edged and tipped brighter ; lores, ear coverts and feathers under the eye
black ; sides of face, sides of neck, and Under surface white* tinged with
pinkish oh the breast.
Length. ^'^ niche's ; \Virig 4-5 ; tail 3-5 j tarsus 0*85 ; ciilmen 0-95 to i.
//<?. N.4V. Provinces of India, Oudh, N.-W. Himalayas, Sikkim,
Arrakafl) Assam* the Ifido-Burmese countries, Tipperah, Cacharj and from
Bhootan to Nepaul, DavisOn found it generally distributed over Tennaserim,
and Oates says oVer the whole of Pegu.
The Nepaul or Hodgson's Wood-Shrike frequents thick evergreen forests
in preference to other localities. It feeds on insects as grylli; mantiseSj
crickets^ grubs and catef pillars, which it picks off the leaves.
172, T&phrodornis sylvic&la, <?"/< Madr.joum*. p. 236;
ly, y. A. S. B. xv. p. 304; Bp. Consp. i. 357; Jtrd. B. fnd. i.
p. 408, -The 1 MALABAR WOOD-SHRIKE.
Above slaty cinereous ; rump, whitfe ; wihgs, tail and some oi the upper
coverts dusky broWn ; topper tail covert^ white ; the longer ones dusky brown j
nasal plume's, lores, feathers tinder dhd abote the eye, and ear coverts black,
mare defined than in pondiceriann j Cheeks and entire under surface of body
white. Eyebrow faintly indicated. Bill blackish ; legs plumbeous ; iris wa*
yellow.
Length* 8-5 inches ; wing 4 ; tail 4-4 ; tarsus c/S; culrrien erg.
Hdb. Southern parts of the Indian Peninsula. Jerdon says it is only found
in the forests of the Malabar Coast, and ascends the Neilgheffy and other ranges.
It climbs and hops about the larger boughs of trees, picking insects of
kinds off the leaves. Found in small flocks*
164 PRIONOPJD^E.
173. Tephrodornis grisola, Biyth, J>A.S. ^.xii. p. 180 ; Jerd.B.
Ind. i. p. 411, No. 266 ; Bly. Ibis, 1865, p. 43. Hyloterpe grisola, Wald. Ibis,
1874, p. 141. Muscitrea cinerea, Bl. J, A. S. B. xvi. p. 121 ; Hume % Str. F.
v. p. lOi. Hyloterpe philomela, (Mull.) Cat. Arch.f. Wat. 1847, p. 322.
Muscitrea grisola, Hu?ne and Dav. Str. F. vi. p. 2065 Huwe y Str. F, viii.
p. 91 ; Oates, B. Br. Burmah, i. p. 257. The GREY WOOD-SHRIKE.
Lores, head from the forehead to the nape dull earthy brown ; back,
rump, scapulars, upper tail and upper wing coverts rufous brown j wings and
tail hair brown, the quills of the former margined exteriorly with rufous
brown. Chin, throat, breast and flanks pale brown ; abdomen, vent, under
tail and under wing coverts pure white. No white supercilium as in pondi-
ceriana. Bill dark brown ; iris reddish brown j legs plumbeous ; claws pale
horn colour.
Length. 6-5 to 6*6 inches ; wing 3*25 ; tail 2-5 to 2-6 ; tarsus 0-84 ; culmen
0-8.
Hab. Eastern side of the Bay of Bengal, from Arrakan down to Malayans,
also the Andaman Islands and Java. It is recorded from Bengal, also from
Pegu. It has also been found in Sumatra and Borneo. According to Davison
it is rare in Tennaserim.
Gen. HemipUS. Hodgs.
Characters as in Tephrodornis ; bill more depressed, and wider at base ; 3rd
quill nearly equal to 4th.
174. HemipUS picatUS, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 25; Sharpc,
Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 307 ; Jerd., B. Ind. i. p. 412 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs,
p. 178; id. Str. F. \, p. 435; iii. p. 93; Hume and Davison, vi. p. 207;
Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 91. SYKES'S PIED SHRIKE.
Whole upper plumage, with the lores and ear coverts glossy black ; rump
feathers broadly tipped with white ; chin, vent, and upper tail coverts pure white ;
the remainder of the lower plumage pale vinaceous ; the cheeks and the
sides of the neck white, produced so as to form an indistinct white collar
round the neck ; lesser wing coverts black j median coverts black, broadly-
tipped with white, the outer greater coverts black ; primary coverts and quills
black, the later secondaries broadly edged with white ; tail black, all but the
central feathers tipped with white, which extends over the whole outer web of
the outermost feathers ; bill black ; iris hazel ; eyelids plumbeous ; legs plum-
beous brown.
Length. 5-4 inches ; wing 2-5 ; tail 2*4 ; tarsus 4-5 ; culmen 7.
. Hab.N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Central India, Concan, Deccan, South
India, Travancore, Ceylon, British Burmah and Tennaserim,
HEMIPUS.
The little Pied Shrike is generally seen in small parties of five or six,
wandering about from tree to tree, every now and then darting on insects in
the air. It has a pleasant song, which, however, is not often heard. It
frequents thick forests, and like the Drongo, perches on the outer branches of a
tree. According to Davison it also searches the leaves like a Wood Shrike.
A nest taken by Mr. Davison at Ootacamund, was a small shallow cup made of
grass and roots, covered with cobwebs and lichens and sparingly lined. It was
placed on a branch of a tall tree and contained three eggs, which were pale
greenish marked with umber- brown. Jerdon says the markings of the eggs
he obtained at Darjeeling were a few rusty red spots.
175- HemipUS ObSCUrU8> Hors/. Tr. Linn. Soc.xm. p. 146, Bly .
J.A.S.B. xv. p. 305 ; id. and Wald. B. Burnt, p. 122; Jerd. B. Ind. \.
p, 413; Sharpe, Ibis, 1877, P- 2O - Tephrodornis obscura, Gray, Gen. B.
App. p. 13. HORSFIELD'S OBSCURE or PIED SHRIKE.
Wings, tail and the whole upper plumage glossy greenish black, except the
shorter upper tail coverts and the tips of the feathers of the rump, which are
white ; outer tail feathers edged on either side with white. Cheeks, sides of
neck and entire throat pure white ; breast pinkish ashy, rest of under surface
pure white, the flanks washed with greyish ; thighs whitish.
The female is similar to the male, but the black is replaced everywhere by
brown.
Iris brown ; bill and legs black.
Length. S'5 to 5*7 inches; wing 2*6; tail 2*25 ; tarsus 0*5 ; culmen 0*6.
Hab. Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Malacca, ranging into Burmah and Tenna-
serim.
176. Hemipus capitalis, McCUlL P. Z. S., 1839, p. 157; Biyth,
Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 154 ; Godwin Austen, J. A. S B., i87o, p. 99 ; Jerd.
Ibis, 1872, p. 1 16. Hemipus picatus (nee Sykes) Gray, Cat. Mam., Y.,
Nepaul-, Bly. and Wald B. Burm. p. 122. The BROWN-BACKED PIED SHRIKE.
General colour above brown, the lower back with a distinct white bar across it,
caused by the feathers being white with brown subterminal bars ; rump pure
white ; upper tail coverts glossy black ; some of the outer ones with tiny white
tips ; head and nape glossy greenish black ; chin and cheeks white ; throat,
breast and sides of body drab-brown ; abdomen under tail and under wing
coverts white ; thighs brown ; wing coverts glossy greenish black, the least series
washed with the same brown as the back, the median and greater series broadly
edged with white, forming a wing bar ; quills black, the secondaries externally
margined with white, in continuation of the bar formed by the coverts ; tail
glossy black, all but the two central feathers tipped with white, increasing very
much in extent towards the outermost, which are edged with white along the
outer web for all but the basal third ; bill and legs black, iris sienna yellow.
J66 PRIONOPID^E.
Length. 5-3 inches ; wing 2-5 ; tail 2-55 ; tarsus O'5$ ; culmeno'6, (Sharpe.)
The adult female differs from the male in having the head brown, only a
little darker than the back ; wings brown ; tail blackish brown, the markings on
both these exactly as in the male. (Sharpe.)
Hab. The N.-W. Provinces, Himalaya Mountains, ranging into Burmah,
Sharpe records it from the Himalayas, Nepaul, Darjeeling. and Kakhyen Hills,
Gen. Hypocolius- p,
Bill hooked at tip, and notched ; 3rd quill longest ; feet scuteljated tail
Jong, subcuneate,
177- Hypocolius ampelinus, Bonap. Consp, i, p. 336 (1850);
Hume, Sir. F, iii. 358; v. 349; Murray, Hdbfr. Zaal. fyc., Sind, p. 13$.
Ceblypyris isabellina, Heugl. Syst. Uebers, Vog. N. O, Africa ; Sitznng&ber,
K< Akad, Wien. xix. p, 284, No. 308 ; Ibis, 1868, pp, \S\, 183, pi. v.
Upper parts generally ashy grey, with a slight rufous tinge on the head,
which is more marked on the frontal portion, where the feathers are rather
lighter and more isabelline in tint ; feathers above the nostrils, lower parts
of the lores, all round the eye, and a band round the nape black, so that there
is a black ring all round the head, except in the centre of the forehead ; ear
coverts dark silver grey, looking black in some lights in the preserved skin ;
primary quills black, with rather long white tips, the tip on the first long
primary being wholly, and on the second partially, dusky ; outer secondaries
black _with grey edges, the black diminishing in amount, until it disappears
completely on the feathers near the body ; tail feathers the same colour
as the back with black tips about three-quarters of an inch long ; chin and
throat isabelline ; breast grey, like the back ; abdomen and lower tail coverts
pinkish isabelline ; under wing coverts light grey ; legs flesh-coloured ; bill
horn coloured, dusky towards the tip.
Length. Before skinning io'2$ inches ; wing 4*2 ; tail (from insertion of
central feather) 4*75 ; tarsus i ; midtoeand claw 0*95 ; wing short of end of tail
3-6; culmen (point of bill from rise of skull) 0,85 ; bill from front 0-5 ; from
gape 0-9.
The female is described by Heuglin as slightly smaller, isabelline grey in
colour, with an olivaceous tinge, darker above than below, wanting altogether
the black marking on the head, and having much less distinct black tips to
the tail feathers. The ends of the primary quill feathers, the two first
excepted, blackish with white margins. Blf, Sir. F. iii, p. 358.
Hab. Abyssinia, Bushire (Persian Gulf) and Nal in Khelat. Rare in Sind.
A single specimen was obtained by Mr. Blanford on the lower hills, on the
eastern flank of the great Kirthur Range, which forms the boundary between
Sind and Khelat,
COCHOA.
(Jen. PlatylophllS. Swainson,
Occipital crest long.
178- Platylophus ardesiacus, Cat. MUS. Hem. Th. \. p. 219; Bp.
Consp. Av. i. p. 374; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus, iii. 317 ; Hume and Dav.
Str.F. vi, p. 380; Hume, Sir. F, viii. p. 105; Oa/fs, B. Br.Burmah % \.
p. 410. The CRESTED JAY,
Whole head, crest, chin, throat and entire lower plumage black ; back,
scapulars, wings and wing coverts, rump and upper tail coverts rich olive
brown ; tail dark brown ; a large patch of white on either side of the neck,
two white patches of the same at the back of the eye. The young is paler
brown, the forehead greyish, lores whitish, the white patch behind the eye and
on the neck, margined with blackish ; wings reddish brown ; under surface of
body slaty ; bill and legs black ; irides reddish brown.
Length. II inches; wing 5-5 ; tail 5 ; tarsus 1-3; culmen 1-35.
Hab. The Malay Peninsula, and Tennaserim.
The Crested Jay has been met with in Tennaserim by Mr. Davison, and Gates
procured several specimens at Malewoon. Davison says it occurs only in the
evergreen forests of the extreme south of Tennaserim. It is a restless bird
flying from tree to tree and branch to branch incessantly, sometimes close to the
ground ; and sometimes high up. Even when seated it appears to be unable
to keep the body quiet, but keeps bobbing and bowing. 1 1 always keeps its crest
fully erect, and as Dr. Stolickza remarked, it looks like a gigantic Lophophanes,
Its note is very peculiar, and once heard not easily forgotten. It is a sharp,
clicking metallic rattle. The food is believed to consist entirely of insects,
such as beetles. It is almost always seen in pairs.
Platylophus coronal us is recorded from Southern Borneo.
Gen. Cochoa. Eodgs.
Bill short, wide at base, depressed, straight, the tip slightly bent and
notched. Nostrils covered with a few incumbent bristles ; wings long, and
pointed; 1st quill minute, 2nd and 3rd graduating; 4th quill longest; tail
moderate ; tarsi short ; head subcrested.
179. Cochoa Viridis, Hodgson, J. A. S. B. v. 359 ; Blyth, Cat. B.A.
S. B. 1 174 ; Gould. B. Asia. pt. i. pi. 12 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 243, No. 608 ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vol. iv. p. i. The GREEN THRUSH-TIT.
Head, nape and back of neck fine cobalt blue ; supercilium and ear
coverts black, tinged with blue ; a small nude space behind the eye ; body
above dull blue green ; lesser wing coverts green, with black lunules ; the
greater coverts pale blue externally, green on the inner web, and tipped
with black ; the primary coverts blue basally and tipped with black ; primaries
168 PRfONQP(D<.
and secondaries black, basally blue banded ; tail dull cobalt-blue, tipped with
black ; under surface of body green, the throat and lower abdomen tinged with
blue. Bill black ; legs fleshy brown ; irides brown.
Length. lo"7$ to ll inches; wing 5-6 to 57; tail 475 ; cwlmen 75;
tarsus ro.
The female is paler in color throughout, and the young have the feathers of
the upper surface lunated with black ; the wings paler in colour.
Hab. The N.-W. Provinces, Nepaul and Sikkim.
The Green Thrush-Tit, although found occasionally about Darjeeling, is
very rare, but not so at higher altitudes. It is fairly numerous about Nepaul and
Sikkim, and according to Jerdon, Major Tickell obtained specimens near
Kurseong during winter.
180. Cochoa purpurea, Hodgs. J.A.S. B. v. p. 359 ; Jerd. B. Ind.
ii. p. 243, No. 607 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 388 ; Hume and Davison, Sir. F.
vi. p. 367; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 104; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 3;
Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 136. The PURPLE THRUSH-TIT.
Head and nape lavender-blue ; lores and sides of the head, including the
ear coverts black ; back, rump, upper tail coverts and the lesser wing coverts
dull or ashy purple ; median and greater wing coverts bluish purple ; primaries
black, all except the first two, and the primary coverts with the basal third of
the outer webs lavender-blue ; the basal two-thirds of the outer webs of the
secondaries and all the tertiaries bluish purple ; the terminal third of the outer
webs of the secondaries ; and their entire inner webs black ; tail bluish
purple, tipped with black. Entire under surface brownish purple.
The female is similar to the male except that where the male is purple
she is reddish brown, and the wing spot is duller. The young is not unlike the
female, but have the feathers edged with whitish and the under surface reddish
brown, barred with dusky. Bill black ; legs and feet dark or plumbeous brown ;
irides dark brown.
Length. 10-5 to 10*9 inches ; wing 5-5 ; tail 4*2 to 4*5 ; culmen r to T2;
tarsus r to 1*1.
Hab. The Himalayas to Nepal, Kumaon and Sikkim ; also British Burmahr
The Purple Thrush-Tit is rare about Darjeeling. Davison procured it on the
higher slopes of the Mooleyit Mountains in Tennaserim, and Capt. Bingham
got it in the Thoungyeen Valley. According to Hodgson it is common to all
the three regions of Nepaul. He remarks " They are shy in their manners, adhere
exclusively to the woods, live solitarily or in pairs, breed and moult but once
a year, nidificate on trees and feed almost equally on the ground and on trees.
He adds that he has taken from their stomachs several sorts of stony berries,
small univalve mollusca, and sundry kinds of aquatic insects. The nest is
strongly built of moss and lined with lichens. Eggs of a greenish colour,
spotted and blotched with brown.
ART AM IDES. 109
Gen. Artamides.
Bill of moderate length, hooked and slightly notched ; the ctilmen curved ;
the base as wide nearly as in the Genus GraucaJns] rictal bristles well deve-
loped ; 4th quill longest, 3rd and 5th equal.
181. Artamides Dobsoni, (Kail) Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv.
p. 9. Graucalus Dobsoni, Ball. Str. F. i. p. 66; p. ii. 206. DOBSON'S
THRUSH-TIT.
Point of the forehead, lores, a stripe under the eyes and the ear coverts
black ; whole of the front, top, and back of the head, back and sides of the
neck, scapulars and lesser wing coverts, rump and upper tail coverts an uniform
dark iron grey, slightly paler on the rump ; quills, greater and median coverts
dark hair brown, paler on the inner webs, every feather with a very narrow pale
edging, grey on the coverts, pale brown on the tips of the primaries and only
at all conspicuous on some of the primaries above the emarginations, and some
of the later secondaries towards their tips. Tail black, browner towards the
base, outer tail feathers pale brown on the outer webs and at the tip, which
again is narrowly tipped with white ; the next pair on either side tipped with
brownish white, and the 3rd pair with only a trace of this white tip. Chin,
throat, and upper breast pale iron grey ; lower breast, entire wing lining,
axillaries and entire lower parts white, narrowly, closely and strongly barred
with blackish brown.
The female is like the male, but the point of the forehead is iron grey, not
black ; and the chin, throat and upper breast are barred like the under surface.
The young have the whole chin, throat, and breast strongly tinged with ferru-
ginous; the tertiaries, secondaries and later primaries comparatively broadly
margined, and tipped with pale rufous or rufescent white ; the tertiaries and
later secondaries with also a rufous spot near the tips ; a faint rufous supercilium
from the nostrils over the eyes ; lores dusky with tiny white spots ; cheeks
dusky ; the feathers white shafted. Bill, legs and feet black ; irides crimson
lake, tinged with brownish in the young.
Length. 11*5 to 12-25 inches ; wing 6 f i to 6-42 ; tail 5 to 6; bill at front
0-95 to i -06. (Hume.)
Bab. The Andaman Islands ; probably also in Burmah.
Mr. Davison says, " this species unlike G. macei is exclusively a forest bird,
never venturing out in the open fields ; it usually is seen in pairs keeping
moderately high up in trees ; its flight is weaker than that of G. macei and
undulating, seldom extended, except from branch to branch or from one tree
to another. It is not uncommon at Mount Harriet and other well-wooded
portions of the settlement."
170
Gen. Graucalus* Cuv.
Bill of moderate length, strong and wide at base, the culnien ciirved, hooked
and slightly notched;' rictal bristles not mtlch developed; wings long and
pointed; tail moderate, slightly rounded.
182. GraucaluS Macii, Less. Traite p. 349 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 417,
No* 2705 Watdi ftis, 1872, p. 311 ; Blanf. J. A. S B. xli. pt. iL p. 156;
Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. l! ; id. Str. F. ii p. 264; Bait, Str. F. il.
p. 400; Bl. B. Burnt, p. 123; Anderson, Yunnan Exped. p. 647; Legge, B.
Ceylon, p. 360; Shafpe, Cat. B. Br. Mm. iv. p. 34 ; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 91 ;
Scully, Sir. F. viii. p. 267. Graucalus layardi, Bl. Ibis, 1866, p. 35; Jerd.
Ibis, 1872, p 117; Legge, Ibis, 1875, p, 287 ; Murrayt Vert. Zool, Sin^
p. 124. The INDIAN CUCKOO-SHRIKE*
Head, neck, backj rump, upper tail coverts and scapulafs ffench-grey;
primaries and their coverts black, externally edged With whitish ; secondaries
french-grey on the outer webs,- and margined and tipped whitish ; the innef
webs dusky ; tail with the two centre feathers grey, tipped with white * the?
rest black, broadly tippled with white. A narrow frontal lifle, lores, below the
eye, and at the gape black. Sides of face, and efaf coverts darkish grey
beneath ; the neck 2nd breast ffench-grey ; ripper abdomen lighter, with
numerolis dull white transverse line's ; lowef abdomen; vetit and under tail
coverts white ; under wing coverts and Sxillaries white, with a few cross lines
of grey at the edge .of the wings ; bill blackish ; irides rich lake ; legs
plumbeous*
The female is paler in colour tnfotighout and has not the black on the face \
generally there are present nearly obsolete barrings on the under surface.
The young have the upper plumage tipped and margined with pale ferruginousy
and the under surface nearly piife white.
Length. i r8 to *2 inches ; wings 6*5 to 7 ; tail 5 to 6; tarsus J to 1'$ j
bill at front i.
Hah. The Indian Cuckoo-Shrike is fOur*d over all tftdia, from the'
Himalayas to the extreme South. It is abundant in Southern India and
Ceylon, spread ovf the whole of Brkisn Burman, tecorded from Nepaul,
Pegu, Assam, and Port Blair ; also the N.-WV Provinces, Punjab, OucTh, Bengal
Rajpootana, Kutch, Kathiawar, Jodhpoor, North (yuzerat and Tfavancore.
Blyth records it from Arrakan, Mr. Davison from Tenriaserim, 2tnd according
to Dr. Tiraud it is found in Cochin- China. It affects thin forest, jungles,
gardens, orchards, avenues and thick growths of high bushes. Feeds chiefly
on insects as caterpillars, mantides, locusts, and grasshoppers, and probably
also small fruit. Jerdon says it is rather a shy bird, flying before you from
tree to tree uttering as it alights two or three rather sweet and mellow notes,
but it has also a very harsh rattling scream. It flies in an easy undulating
manner, with but few flappings of its wings. Its flesh is said to be eaten by
MI'OPHAGA. 17)
the natives. Breeds almost everywhere about the beginning of the ra;;
usually placed in the fork of a lofty branch of a tree, constructed of fin.-
and grass, cup-shaped in form. Eggs three, of a greenish colour, m.ukc !
-spots and blotches of brown and pale purple.
Gen. Campophaga. Vie ill.
Bill shorter than in Graucalus, broad at base, compressed at tip and
notched ; rictal bristles absent or a very few ; nostrils partly concealed ;
vings long ; the 3rd and 4th quills equal and longest.
183 Cainpophaga lugubriS, SunJ, hid. Rev. i.jp. 328 ; Sharpe, Cat.
B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 65. Volvocivora melaschistos, {Hodgs.) Jerd. B. Ind. i,
\). 415, No. 269 ; $tr. F. v. p. 205. The DARK GREY CUCKOO-SHRIKE.
Iron grey throughout, except on the quills and tail, which are dark brown,
ihe latter tipped with white on all but the central tail feathers.
The young have the whole of the lower plumage dark brown, almost
unicolorous from the chin to the vent. Nestlings only just fully fledged have
the upper plumage barred with white. Bill and legs black; indes hazel-
brown.
Length. 9-5 to 10 inches ; wing 4*6; tail 5*25 to 5*5 ; culmen nearly ro.
Hab. N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal to Nepaul. Rare in South India,
Habits and food those of the last. Hut-ton says it has a plaintive note which it
utters repeatedly when searching for insects. Affects the more wooded districts,
and is found in small parties on the higher branches generally, though it
freely descends to the ground also to feed. According to him it is a summer
visitor to Barreling and the hills, ascending up to 7,000 feet about the end
of March, and breeding early in May. The nest is small and shallow, placed
in the bifurcation of a small horizontal bough of some tall tree, and always
high up ; it is composed internally almost entirely of grey lichens and lined with
bits of fine root fibres ; it is completely covered on the outside with cobwebs.
Eggs 2 in number, 7 x '6 in size, of a dull grey green, streaked with brown.
184. Campophaga intermedia, flume, S/r. F. v. 205, viii. p. 91.
Campophaga saturata, Sharpe, Cat. B. Br, Mus. iv. p. 66 ; Oates, B. Br.
fiurmah, i. p 230. Volvocivora saturata, Swinh. Ibis, 1870, p. 242; David
ct Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 103. SWINHOE'S CUCKOO-SHRIKE.
General colour dark slaty grey, paler below, the feathers of the crown with
black shafts and the under tail coverts more or less fringed with white ; lesser
wing coverts like the back ; remaining wing coverts and the whole wing deep
glossy black ; tail deep black, all the feathers tipped with white, broadly on'
the outermost, and decreasing in extent towards the middle rectrices.
The female is slightly paler in the adolescent stage, and a white patch is
present on the fourth and fifth primaries. Bill and le.es black ; iris hazel-brown.
Length. 9-5 to 10 inches ; wing 4-5 to 4' 9 ; tail 4*5- (Gates.)
23
172 PRIONOPID/F:.
Hal. British Burmah (Tennaserim)and Nepal. Hainan (Swinh.). Cochin-
China (Tiraud). Mr. Davison found it all over the Tennaserim Division as far
down as Mergui. It is, according to Gates, spread all over the Pegu Division
where he found it, and C. melanoptera in much the same localities.
Swinhoe's Cuckoo-Shrike does not differ in its habits from the other species
of the genus. All live almost entirely on insectivorous diet which they either
pick off leaves, or capture on the ground.
185. Campophaga melanoptera, Rupp. Mus. Senck.\\\. p. 25;
tab. ii. f. I.; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 67. Campephaga melanoptera,
Bl. J . A. S. B. xv. p. 307. Campephaga avensis, Bl. Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc.
Beng. p. 327. Volvocivora avensis, BL B. Burmah, p. 123; Hume, Sir.
F. iii. p. 93 ; v. p. 205 ; viii. p. 91. BLYTH'S CUCKOO-SHRIKE.
In every respect similar to Campophaga intermedia, except that the central
tail feathers are washed with grey on the basal half, the vent and under tail
coverts are pure white, and the white tippings to the tail feathers much
broader.
The female is as pure grey above as the male, and the shafts of the feathers
of the head are as black. Rump and upper tail coverts paler and indistinctly
barred. Under surface greyish white, everywhere barred with ashy ; prima-
ries with a white patch basally ; tail dark brown, the middle rectrices ashy ; all
the feathers tipped with white. Bill and legs black ; iris hazel-brown.
Length. 9 to 9*5 inches ; wing 4*3 ; tail 4/3 to 4*5 ; culmen r ; tarsus '9.
Hab. British Burmah. Spread over the whole of Pegu. Common in Ar-
rakan ; also in Tennaserim, where Davison found it as far south as Moulmein.
186. Campophaga neglecta, Hume, Str. F. v. p. 203 ; viii. p. 91 ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 68 ; Oates, B. Burmah, i. p. 232. Campo-
phaga polioptera, Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 69, pi. ii. Volvocivora
neglecta, Hume, Str. F. v. p. 203. DAVISON'S CUCKOO-SHRIKE.
Male. In all respects the same as Campophaga melanoptera, but differs in
having the upper parts a shade darker, and a white patch on the primaries.
The female too is not unlike the female of C. melanoptera ; the differences, if
any exist, are so insignificant that really it cannot be separated from the latter.
There is a difference in size, but when it is a remarkable fact that such
differences are stretched in some families to as much as half an inch or more
the same latitude should be permitted in the case of the Genus Campophaga
with such nearly uniform colouring.
C. melanoptera has the wing 4-3 ; tail 4-3 ; length 9 inches.
intermedia. 4'8 ; tail 4-5 ; 9-5
neglecta 4- ; tail 3*35 ; 8-
Another species, which I do not admit, is Campophaga innominata, Gates,
B, Br. Burmah i. p. 233. Volvocivora Vidua, (Hartl.) Hume, Str. F. v.
I'KRICKOCOTUS.
p. 206 ; vi. p. 508; viii. p. 1,1. More again a paler colouring and size are
allowed to make a species wing 4*65 to 5*0.
Mr. Hume's remarks in regard to this latter are as follows :
From the neighbourhood of Tavoy we have a series of Volvocivora, which
cannot be referred to either V. melaschista, V. neglecta, V. intermedia, or
V. culminata or even V. avensis. They are paler than V. intermedia, and
a fortiori than V. melaschista * * * * Surely some allowance must be
made for the colouring of the different stages of the birds, their habitat, the
situatio-n they affect as well as the nature of such. Then again climatic in-
fluences and the time of year in which the specimens were collected. I cer-
tainly hold that all the species here referred intermedia, melanoptera, neglec/a,
and innominata are simply races or varieties of C. lugubris with wings ranging
from 4'o inches to 5*0.
Gen. PericroCOtUS. Boie.
Bill short,, rather broad at base, and high ; culmen slightly curved ; wing
long, 4th and 5th quills longest ; tail long, lateral feathers graduated; tarsi and
feet short and feeble.
Mr. Sharpe has properly, like most authors, placed this group of brightly
coloured birds rvext to- the Ca?npephagincE. The Minivets form a group of
species very similar to- each other ; the males being for the most part clothed
in black and red (vermilion red), and the females in dusky and yellow.
They associate in small flocks and are always found on trees, actively hopping
from branch to branch in search of insects, upon which they feed.
187. Pericrocotus speciosus, Lath. Ely. Cat. B. A. S. B. 1 158 ;
Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 419, No. 271 ; Stray F. ii. p. 208 . Oates, B. Br. Burmah,
i, p. 236 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 72. Phrenecornis princeps, Gould,
Cent. Him. B. pi. 7. The LARGE MINIVET.
Male. Head, neck, upper back, wings, and two central tail feathers, glossy
black ; lower back, rump, upper tail coverts and under wings coverts rich
vermilion- red ; primaries black with a band of rich vermilion red across all
but the first three ; greater coverts black, very broadly tipped with vermilion ;
secondaries black, vermilion red at the base, the later ones with a vermilion
spot near the tip of the outer webs ; lateral tail feathers vermilion red.
The female has the head, neck, upper back and central tail feathers light
ashy grey, tinged with greenish. Quills dusky black, with a deep yellow spot ;
four central tail feathers dusky, the outer pair tipped yellow, the others deep
yellow with some blackish markings at the base ; forehead, rump and upper tail
coverts greenish yellow, also the whole lower plumage.
The young are like the female, but have the forehead tinged wit;
Bill and legs black ; irides deep brown ; eyelids grey.
174 PRIONOPID/E.
Length. 9 inches; wing 4-25 to 4-5 ; tail 4/25 ; tarsus a<; bill from
0*5 to 'Sv
Hab. Nepaul, the Himalayas down to the N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal,
the Central Provinces, and Central India. Does not extend to Assam and'
British Burnrarr, as stated by Jerdon. The species fourrd there, is the next r a
slightly smaller bird, with some few not very material differences.
188. Pericroeotus elegans, McLeil. P. Z. S. 1839, p. 156 ; Hume,
Str. F. iid. p. 95 ; Sfiarpe, Str. F. iv. p. 206 ; Hume, Sir. F. v. p. 194 ^
Anders. Yunnan Ex ped. p. 648 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus iv. 73 ; Hume, Str.
F. viii. p. 91; Oates, B. Br. Burmah r \,^. 236. Pericroeotus fraterculus,
Swinh. Ibis, 1870, p. 244. Pericroeo-tiss speeiosus r Bl. fy Wald. B, Burm.
p. 123. MACCLELLAND'S MINIVET.
In all respects the same as the preceding (P. speciosus}, but differs in being
smaller.
Length. 8 inches ^ wing 3*7; tail 3*6; tarsus -75-. The female is a trifle
smaller, the outer webs of the central tail feathers are red, and not as in
speciosus entirely black, Or with only a patch of red on them.
Hab. British Burmah. According to Oates it is found over the whole of
Pegu. Common over the whole of Arrakan, got in Karenne by Capt. Ward-
law- Ramsay. Mr. Davison states it is common in Tennaserim as far south as
Tavoy ; thence occurring even down to Malewoon, but comparatively rare in
the extreme southern portion.. It has also been found at and around Bhamo>
in Cachar, Tipperah and the whole of Assam and the Tributary Mehals.
This gorgeous species, like the rest of its tribe, goes about in small parties,
and are generally seen about gardens and orchards, also heavy and thin forests,,
searching the leaves of trees for insects-
189. Pericroeotus andamannsis> Tytier, Str. F. ii. p. 208-
v. 175^ 194. The ANDAMAN MINIVET.
Allied to P. elegans ; differs from- it in size. Wing 3-6 to 375 ; tne vermilion
red of the back less in extent, the wing patch extending to only the outer web-
of the 4th primary. The difference in this latter extends in speciosus to the
3rd primary j Andamanensis to the 4th primary, and flammifer to- the 5th?
primary.
Together with the slight differences in the amount of red on the back ancf
in the habitat, the question is, whether these are sufficient to constitute goocf
species* I would place elegans and andamanensis> as synonyms of speciosus.
190. PericrOCO-tllS flammif er ,Hume, Sir. F. iii ,p. 321; (footnote) ;
v. p. 195; viii. p. 91 f Sharps, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 74; Oa/es, B,
Br. Burmah, i. p. 237. DAVISON'S MINIVET.
Male. Whole head, neck, back, scapulars, lesser wing and primary coverts
deep glossy black ; primaries black, all but the first three with a scarlet patch ;
175
ihdaries black, their bases scarlet ; tertiaries Mack, their outer web near
the tip with a scarlet spot; greater wing coverts black, broadh tipped with
scarlet ; rump, upper tail and under wing coverts and the whole lower plumage
scarlet ; tail scarlet, except the central tail feathers, which have the base of the
outer and the whole inner web black.
The female has the front of the head, cheeks, lower back, rump, upper tail
coverts and the whole of the under surface bright yellow ; back, scapulars, back
of head and lesser wing coverts ashy brown ; greater coverts dark brown,
tipped yellow ; wings dark brown, the red patch replaced by yellow ; central
tail feathers black, with a margin of yellow on their outer webs, the next pair
black, the terminal half of outer web and tip of the inner web yellow, the others
yellow with black bases. Bill and legs black.
Length. Ti inches; tail 3*1 ; wing 3^4 ; tarsus 0-65 ; bill from gape '85.
Hab. British Burmah, in the extreme south of Tennaserim, at Bankasoon,
and Pakchan. It also occurs in the Malay Peninsula.
191. Pericrocotus flammeus, (Forst.) Sim. Zooi. in. p. 52 ;
Jerd. 111. Ind. Orn. pi. ii. ??i. and /.; id. B. Ind. i. p. 420, No. 272; Sir.
F. iii. p. 95 ; iv. pp. 207, 394 ; v. 175, 197 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv.
p. 75. The ORANGE MINIVET.
Whole head, nape, neck, upper back, wings, and central tail feathers
shining blue-black j lower back, rump, upper tail coverts, wing spot to the
fifth primary, tips of some of the coverts, and entire under surface deep
crimson ; lateral tail feathers the same, but with black bases.
The Female has the forehead tinged with yellow, the head and back grey ;
the rump, wing spots, lateral tail feathers and entire under surface yellow ;
wings and tail dusk}-, the pair next the middle feathers edged narrowly with
yellow. Bill and legs black \ irides dark brown.
Length. 7-5 to 8 inches ; 3-5 to 37 ; tail 3-910 4 ; culmen 0-37 ; tarsus O'6.
Hab. Southern India, in the Circars, along the Coromandel and Malabar
Coasts, and Travancore to Ceylon, and in the Concan.
The Orange Minivet is abundant in all the more wooded parts of its habi-
tat, and generally keeps to the topmost branches of high trees. It keeps
continually flying from branch to branch, and is incessantly on the move,
catching insects. It breeds on the Neilgherries during June and July. The
nest is a comparatively massive little cup composed of fine twigs and plastered
over with lichen like cobwebs. It is usually placed in the fork of a slender
bough. Eggs a palish green, thickly streaked and spotted chiefly at the large
end with pale yellowish brown and dingy purple.
192. Pericrocotus igneus, Blyih, J-A. S. B. xv. p. 309; Sharpe,
Sir. F. iv. p. 209 ; Hume, Sir. F. v. p. 190 ; viii. p. 91 ; Sharpc, Cat. B.
tir. Mus. iv. p. 78; Wardlaw- Ramsay, Tweed. Mem. App- p. 6<;6; Oa/fs,
B. Br. Burmah, p. 239. Pericrocotus minutus, Strickl. Contr. Orn. 1849.
pi. The FIERY MINIVET.
176 PRIONOPID^.
Whole head, chin, throat, nape, neck, back, scapulars, tertiaries, and lesser
wing coverts glossy black ; rump and upper tail coverts crimson ; greater wing
coverts black, tipped with crimson ; primaries black, all but the first four
with a scarlet or crimson spot ; secondaries orange at the base and black
terminally ; under wing coverts and axillaries yellow, tipped with red j central
tail feathers black ; the next pair black, tipped with red ; and the others red,
with black bases.
The female has the forehead, feathers round the eye, and entire under
surface including the under wing coverts bright yellow ; the crown of the
head, nape, neck, back, scapulars and wing coverts, olivaceous or greenish
ashy ; rump and upper tail coverts scarlet ; wing and tail as in the male,
the crimson spot orange yellow instead; bill and legs black; irides dark"
brown.
Length. 6-5 inches ; wing 3-0 ; tail 3 ; tarsus '6 ; culmen '7.
Hab. South Tennaserim (Davison) ; also Malacca, Singapore, and China.
193. Pericrocotus cinereus, La/res. Re). Zool. 1845, p. 94 ;
Sharpe, Sir. F. iv. p. 211 ; Hume, Sir. F. v. p. 175 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br.
Mus. iv. p. 83 ; Oates, Sir. F. x. p. 200. Pericrocotus modestus, Strickl.
P. Z. S. 1846, p. 102. Pericrocotus motacilloides, Swinh. P. Z. S. 1860,
p. 58. The ASHY MINIVET.
Forepart of the head, cheeks, sides of the neck, chin and throat white;
feathers round the eye, at the base of the bill, lores, top of the head and nape
deep black ; primary coverts also black ; wing coverts blackish brown, edged
with ashy; the greater coverts white-tipped; primaries dark brown, with an
oblique pale ashy white bar across ; secondaries brown with white bases ;
tertiaries ashy, the edges of the outer web white ; entire under surface white,
the flanks shaded with ashy and the breast and belly with buffy ; tail black,
the outermost feathers with a broad oblique white tip.
The female is marked similar to the male, except that the black is replaced
everywhere with ashy, the tail is brown, and the under parts are suffused with,
brown ; bill and legs black.
Length. 8 inches; wing 3-8 ; tail '4 ; tarsus *6 ; culmen '8,
Hab. British Burmah. Oates says he has met with this species near Pegu>.
It is also found in the Phillippines, Borneo, and Sumatra ; also in China and
Japan.
194. Pericrocotus per egr inns, Lin. Syst. Nat. \. p. 342 ; jerd.
B. Ind. i. p. 423 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 184 ; El. and Wald. B. Burmah,
p. 124; Hume, Sir. F. i. p. 177 ; iii. p. 96 ; Sharpe, Sir. F. iv. p. 209 ; Hume,
Sir. F. v. 179; viii. p. 91 ; Oates, Sir. F. viii. p. 166 ; Legge, Birds, Ceylon,
p. 366; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 76; Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind,
p. 125. Pericrocotus malabaricus (Gm.) Hume % Sir. F. v. p. 182 ; Oates, B,
Br. Burmah, i. p. 245. The SMALL MINIVLT.
PKRICROCOI 177
Upper surface of body ashy grey; a narrow frontal band, lores, chin,
throat and ear coverts blackish ; wing coverts black, tho lesser Beri
with dull grey, and the greater with a narrow orange tip; quills dusky bhuk.
duller toward the tips; the bases of the primaries, except the first three,
orange red, forming a conspicuous wing patch ; rump and upper tail coverts
bright vermilion; tail black, the four outer feathers on each side widely
tipped with orange ; the breast vermilion, also the upper abdomen and flanks ;
fading on the lower abdomen, vent and under tail coverts to yellowish ; under
wing coverts and edge of the wing yellow ; thigh coverts dusky black. Bill
and legs black ; irides brown.
Length. 6 inches ; wing 2-55 ; tail 3 ; bill at front O'4S.
The female is light grey above, the throat white, also the eye streak ; sides
of forehead and lower parts whitish, tinged with yellow on the breast,
abdomen, and under tail coverts ; the flanks and under wing coverts brighter
yellow ; quills light brown ; the primaries with narrow white edgings ; the
wing spot yellow ; rump vermilion ; colour of bill and legs as in the male.
Length. 6*25 inches; wing 2-75 ; bill 0*45 ; tail 3*1.
Hab. India, Ceylon, Burmese countries, Andamans and Java. Occurs in
the N.-W. Himalayas, South and Central India, Nepaul, the Punjab, N.-\V.
Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Rajputana, Deccan, Kutch, Kattiawar, Jodhpore,
and N. Guzerat. In Sind it is a winter visitant, arriving in August and
remaining till about the end of December.
The Small Minivet is most abundant wherever it is found, and like the
other species of the genus is a restless bird. It is usually found in small
parties. Breeds from about the end of April to the end of June. The nest
is a very neat cup, made of very fine twigs, and coated thickly with cobwebs,
to which are attached dead leaves, &c. The cobwebs are the nests of a
species of spider which build on trees an almost circular papery covering ;
with these this Minivet lines the outside, making the nest appear as if there
were knotty excrescences growing on it. The nest is usually placed high up
and in a fork at the end of a bough. Eggs three in number, pale green,
marked with reddish brown.
195. Pericrocotus brevirostris, Vigors. P. Z. S. 1831^.43;
Jerd. B. Ind. i.p.42l, No. 273 ; S/olickza, J. A. S. B. xxxvii. pt. ii. p. 27;
Beavan, Ibis, 1870, p. 314; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 183; Bl. B. Burmah,
p. 123 ; Sharpe, S/r. F iv. p. 209 ; Hume, Sir. v. p. 187 ; id. and Dav. S.
F. vi. p. 21 1 ; Hume, viii. p. 91 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br.Mus. iv. p. 79; Oa/es,
B. Br. Burmah, i. p. 240; Murray^ Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 125. The SHORT-
BILLED MINIVET.
Head, nape, upper back, wings and middle tail feathers glossy blue-black ;
the lower back, rump and upper tail coverts deep crimson ; lateral tail
feathers crimson, the bases black; wing coverts glossy black; the greater
378 -PRIONOPID/E.
coverts crimson, their bases black; wing spot crimson; chin, throat, and
sides of face blue-black, rest of under surface crimson ; wing coverts crimson,
the greater series ashy black. The female has the head and back grey, the
forehead tinged with yellow, the lower back, rump and upper tail coverts
yellow; the tail yellow, the basal half of the feathers black ; wings dusky, or
black, the greater coverts tipped with yellow ; wing spot yellow ; forehead and
lores yellowish white ; chin, cheeks and feathers below the eye whitish ; under
surface of body yellow washed with orange on the breast. Bill and legs black ;
irides dark brown.
Length. 7-5 to 8 inches; wing 3-45 ; tail 4; tarsus 0*55.
Hal. The Himalayas, Cashmere, Afghanistan, Bhootan, Shillong, Cachar,
Assam, Chittagong, Arrakan, Upper Burmah, Punjab, Bengal, Oudh, Rajpu-
tana, Central India, and the N.-W. Provinces, visiting the Deccan, Concan,
Kutch, Kattiawar, North Guzerat and Sind during the summer months.
The short-billed Minivet has all the habits of the other species of the genus.
It breeds on the Himalayas during May and June. The nest is made of the
same materials as those of other species. Eggs, 3 4 in number, moderately a
broad oval in shape ; dull white in colour, and richly spotted, blotched and
streaked with brotvnish red and pale purple. Size 073 inch X 0-54,
196. PericrOCOtUS neglectUS, Hume, Str. F. v. p. 189 ; Sharpe,
Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 80; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 91 ; Oates, B. Br. Burmah
\. p. 241.
" A miniature representative of P. brevirestris"
Length. 6*5 to 6-8; wing 3*25 to 3-3 ; tail 3-0 to 3-25.
The female has the chin and throat a brighter yellow ,than in breviros/ris,
and the upper plumage is a duller ash.
Hab. Central Tennaserim.
197- PericrOCOtUS rOSeUS, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. dHist. Nat. xxi.
p. 486; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 422. No. 275; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 184;
BL B. Burmah, p. 124; Sharpe, Str. F. iv. p. 210 ; Armstrong, Str. F. iv.
p. 317; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 81 ; Hume, Str. F. viii. p 91 ;
Reid. Cat. B. Prov. Mas. Oudh, p. 55. Pericrocotus intensior, Hume, Sir.
F. v. p. 185. The ROSY MINIVET.
Head and neck ashy grey ; back reddish cinereous ; the feathers of the rump
and upper tail coverts rosy red ; wing coverts dark brown, the greater series
tipped with rosy-scarlet ; quills dark brown all but the first four primaries
with a scarlet patch across them ; later secondaries and tertiaries like the
back, narrowly margined with scarlet, sides of the head ashy; chin and
throat whitish. Entire under surface, including the under wing coverts and
axillaries, rosy red ; central tail feathers blackish, the others red with dark
bases.
PERICROCOTUS. ] 79
1 hr MiiKiU' is p:iler ashy above; rump and other parts, which are red in the
male, are pale yellow. Bill, legs and feet black, irides dark brown.
Length 7*2 to 7-4 inches ; wing 3-4 to 3-5 ; tail 3-5 ; tarsus '6 ; culmeno'6.
Hab. The Himalayas, the Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal,
Assam, British Burmah and Afghanistan ; also in South India, at Goomsur in
Travancore, and the greater part of the Carnatic and the Malabar forests.
According to Gates, the Rosy Minivet is found abundantly over the whole
of Pegu. It extends in Tennaserim down to Mergui, south of which point
Mr. Davison does not appear to have met with it. It is recorded by Blyth
from Arrakan, over which division it is probably common. North of British
Burmah, it has been procured near Bhamo. It breeds during May and June
on the Himalayas. Nests taken at Murree, are of the usual type. Eggs 3 in
number, white with greyish brown spots and blotches at the larger end. Size,
O'82 X 0*6 inches.
198. PericrOCOtUS Solaris, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv. p. 310; Jerd.
B. Ind. i. p. 422, No. 274; Blanford, J. A. S. B. 41, pt. ii. p. 47; Sharpe,
Sir. F. iv. p. 210; Hume, Sir. F. v. p. 186; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Ityis. iv.
p. 82 ; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 91. The YELLOW-THROATED MINIVET.
Forehead, crown, nape, neck, back, scapulars and lesser wing coverts
leaden black, darker on the wings and black on the tail ; chin, cheeks and
ear coverts grey; throat orange-yellow; rump and upper tail coverts, wing
spot, greater portion of the three outer tail feathers, and entire under surface
bright reddish flame colour ; greater coverts black, tipped with scarlet; seconda-
ries and tertiaries black with scarlet bases.
The female has the head dark ashy brown tinged with greenish beneath ;
wing spot, rump and lateral, tail feathers bright yellow ; tail yellow. Bill, legs
and feet black ; irides deep brown
Length.'] inches ; tail 4 ; wing 3-4 ; tarsus o'6 ; bill from gape O-6.
Hal. N.-W. Provinces, Eastern Bengal, British Burmah and Nepaul. It
is recorded from Pegu by Gates, and from Tennasserim near Thatone and
round the base of Mooleyit Mountain; also from Kashmere, S.-E. Himalayas
and Sikkim. Habits similar to the other species.
199. PericrOCOtUS erythrOpygiUS, Jerdon, Birds, Ind. i. p. 424,
No. 277; Jar dine Contributions to Orn. fig. ; Stray F. v. 174, 177. The
RED-TAILED or WHITE-BELLIED MINIVET.
,fl/a/. Plumage above, except the rump, glossy blue-back ; rump and
breast orange red ; entire under surface, wing stripe, outer edges and tips of
the lateral tail feathers white.
The female has the black of the male replaced by ashy ; the tail black ;
forehead whitish ; the rump and under surface of the body white, tinged with
ashy on the breast.
Bill and legs black ; irides brownish yellow.
24
ISO PRIONOPID^:.
Length. 6*5 to 6-8; wing 2*7; tail 3-3; bill at front o'3; tarsus 0*5.
Hal. The Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Bengal, Central India, Hyderabad
Deccan, and South India.
Jerdon says the white-bellied Minivet is extensively spread throughout
India, but everywhere rare. He records it from near Jaulnah, Hydrabad
in the Deccan, the foot of the Neilgherries, Bundelcund and the N.-W.
Provinces. It frequents low and bushy jungles; also thin tree jungle,
groves, gardens, and hedgerows, and lives in small flocks. Food various
insects. Breeds in Khandeish at Dhoolia. Nest of the usual shape and struc-
ture. Eggs 3 in number, greenish-white with pale purplish streaks. Size
0-65 X 0-5 inch.
200. Pericrocotus albifrons, Jerd. Ibis, 1862, p. 20; Bi. B.
Burmah p. 124; Hume, Sir. F. iii. p. 96 ; Sharpe, Sir. F. iv. p. 212 ; Hume
Str. F. v. p. 178 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 86; Hume, Sir. F. viii.
p. gi t JERDON'S MINIVET.
Forehead, supercilium, cheeks, sides of the neck, chin and throat white
lores, ear coverts, top of head, back, scapulars, upper tail and lesser wing
coverts, also the primary coverts, glossy black ; rump and breast orange red ;
greater wing coverts black, broadly tipped with white, forming a broad band
on the wing ; primaries black, with an oblique patch of white on all but the
first five feathers ; secondaries black, their bases white ; tertiaries white, with
a large black oblique patch in the centre of each feather ; breast, belly and
under tail coverts white ; the two central pairs of tail feathers wholly black,
the others black, broadly tipped with white. The female has the black of the
male replaced by sooty brown ; the white parts less pure ; only a trace of red
on the rump, and wholly wanting on the breast.
Bill and legs black ; irides dark brown,
Length. 6'2$ to 6-5 inches; wing 2*5 to 2-65; tail 3-25 to 3-4; tarsus
0-6; bill 0-54.
Hab. British Burmah. According to Jerdon it is a very local species, and
is the representative in Upper Burma of P. erythropygius of Southern and
Central India. It was first procured at Thayetmyo. Gates got it at Palow,
south of Thayetmyo, and Blanford traced it as far as Pagan on the Irrawady.
It is found usually in couples or in small families, chiefly in low and thorny
jungles, not frequenting the dense forests. It is active and restless, flitting
about the smaller branches and feeding on various insects, which it usually
picks up from a leaf or twig, now and then catching one in the air.
201. Pericrocotus immodestus, Hume, S/r.F.v.p. 177; viii.
p. 91 ; Bingham, Str. F. ix. p. 173 ; Gates, B. Br. Burmah. i. p. 243. The
WHITE-FRONTED MINIVET.
LALAGE. 181
Female. Forehead and front of crown, feathers round the eye, cheeks,
sides of the neck, chin and throat whitish ; rest of head, neck, scapulars and
back earthy brown ; lores dark brown ; rump and upper tail coverts light
brown, very much paler than the back ; wings and wing coverts blackish brown,
paler on the edges ; the primaries with an oblique mark of yellowish white,
and the secondaries with a yellow patch at their bases ; under wing coverts
and axillaries pale yellow ; breast, belly, vent and under tail coverts pale buffy
brown ; tail feathers dark brown, the four outer pairs very broadly tipped
with yellowish white, and the shafts of all hair brown. The male is similar,
but the white of the head and throat is pure, the head and back dark ashy
brown ; wing spot white, that on the secondaries tinged with brown, and the
lores very dark brown.
Bill and legs black ; irides hazel.
Length. 8 inches ; wing 3*5 ; tail 3*7 ; tarsus 0*55 ; bill from gape 0*75.
Hab. British Burma, in the Pegu Division, and in the extreme south of
Tenasserim, where Davison met with it.
Gen. Lalage. Boie.
Shrike-like birds of soft plumage ; feathers of the lower back and rump
rather stiff ; bill stout and moderately hooked ; rictal bristles almost wanting ;
wings longer than the tail ; under tail coverts long.
202. Lalage Sykesi, Strickl. Ann. Nat. Hist. Ser. i., xiii. p. 36;
Legge, Birds, Ceylon, p. 369; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 89. Volvo-
civora sykesi, Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 414, No. 268; Hume, Nests and Eggs,
p. 179; Bl. B. Burnt., p. 123; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 91. Campophaga
sykesi, Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 234. The BLACK-HEADED CUCKOO-SHRIKE
Head, neck, upper back, chin, throat and upper breast black ; lower
breast and abdomen pale grey, gradually passing to white on the vent and
lower tail coverts ; lower back, scapulars, lesser wing coverts, rump and upper
tail coverts grey, the latter margined paler ; median wing coverts black, tipped
and broadly margined for their terminal half on the outer webs with grey ;
greater wing coverts black, narrowly margined greyish ; primaries and
secondaries black, the primaries with a narrow white margin on their
outer webs and a large white patch on their inner webs, the secondaries rather
broadly margined and tipped with white ; tail with the central feathers grey,
the rest black, broadly tipped with white.
The female has the head and the upper plumage grey, paler on the rump
and upper tail coverts, the latter barred with dusky ; cheeks, sides of the neck
and the whole of the lower plumage whitish or albescent, closely and narrowly
barred transversely with black, the bars becoming obsolete on the abdomen; vent
and under tail coverts white ; quills and wing coverts dark brown, each feather
margined with greyish white ; ear coverts greyish, mottled with brown ; the
feathers white shafted ; tail with the central pair of feathers grey, narrowly
25
182 CAMPOPHAGID/E.
tipped with white, the rest blackish or dark brawn, broadly tippedj witrTwhite,
the outermost with the white tippings, mottled with brown.
The young are similar to the adult female ; adults have the bill black, ats
the legs and feet; iris brownish red.
Length. 7*5 inches ; wing 4; tail 3 ; tarsus O*8 ; bill from gape 0*85.
Hab. The whole Peninsula of India and Ceylon, Central and Southern
India, Bengal, the Concan and Deccan, and, according to Blyth, Upper
Pegu. It hunts usually in small parties, and occasionally,, according to Jerdon,
singly or in pairs, flying from tree to tree, and slowly and carefully examining
the foliage^ prying searchingly all around and under the leaves to discover a
suitable morsel. It continues its search, hopping and flying, from branch td>
branch till the tree has been well inspected, when the flock flies off together
to another tree. Caterpillars and other soft insects are its favourite food. Dr.
Jerdon adds that it is usually a silent bird but has a harsh call, and mentions
having in June heard a male giving out a clear whistling cafi as it was flying
from tree to tree. It affects wooded tracts, but not deep forests. Mr. Blewitt
found the nest of this species in Bundelcund in July. It was placed at the
end of two small out-shooting branches of a Mowa tree, and was slightly made
of thin twigs and roots, and partially covered with spider's web. The eggs,
two in number, were green, mottled with dark brown.
203. Lalage melanothorax, Skarpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 90.
The BLACK-BREASTED CUCKOO-SHRIKE.
Closely allied to L. sykesi but differs in being larger and in having the
black of the neck extending much further down on the breast and back.
Length. 7*5 inches ; wing 4*2 ; tail 3*2 ; oilmen O'8.
/fa._Madras (South India).
204. Lalage terat, Bodd. t Tab. PI. Enl. pi. 17; Hume, Stray F.
i. p. 66; ii. p. 202; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 91. The NICOBAK
CUCKOO-SHRIKE.
Adult Male. Forehead, top and back of head, interscapulary region,
scapulars and lesser wing coverts black, with a green metallic gloss ; a broaef
streak from the nostrils over the eye and ear coverts, wing lining, edge of
the wing, axillaries and entire lower parts including the sides of the neck,
broad tips to the two external lateral tail feathers, a narrow tip to the next pair,
the median wing coverts, broad margins to the outer webs of the greater
coverts, the secondaries and the bases of the inner web of the primaries pure
white ; the breast and sides tinged with grey ; the middle and lower back,
rump and upper tail coverts grey, the two latter with faint traces of whitish
bars ; a streak from the gape through the eye black.
In the female the superciliary stripe is not so conspicuous and the greater
wing coverts are only narrowly tipped with white. The forehead, top and
HEMICHELIDON. 183
back of the head and interscapulary region are iron grey, the breast is regularly
and narrowly barred with darker grey.
Length. 675 to 7-25 ; wing 3-4 to 3-6; tail from vent 2-75 to 3-12 ;
tarsus o % 65 to 0-82; bill from gape o'8.
Hab. Camorta Island (Nicobars), also in Acheen, the Malay Peninsula,
Java, Sumatra, Borneo and the Philippine Islands.
Mr. Davison says it is not uncommon at Camorta, frequenting in small
parties, of five or six or in pairs, the low scrubby under-growth and gardens,
and feeding close to the ground. Nothing is known of its nidification.
Family MUSCICAPID^:.
Passerine birds of very varied form, embracing a large number of Genera,
connecting the woodshrikes with the thrushes, with ample rictal bristles, wide,
depressed or shallow-bills. They are all chiefly insectivorous. Their wings
are moderate and not adapted for long and speedy flight, but are capable of
rapid and powerful sallies.
Gen. Hemichelidon Hodgs.
Bill much depressed and shallow, wide at base, slender and narrowed at tip,
which is faintly hooked ; gape wide ; rictal bristles moderate ; wings long ;
3rd and 4th quills sub-equal and longest 4 ist quill minute j tarsus feeble,
lateral toes unequaL
.Head of Hemichelidon ferruginea.
205. Hemichelidon sibirica, Gm. Syst. Nat. \. p. 936 ; Hume,
Nests and Eggs, p. 206; id. Str. F. Hi. p. 104; David et Oust. Ois. Chine,
p. 122 ; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 92; Sharpe, Cat. Birds, B. Mus. iv. p. 120.
Hemichelidon fuliginosa, Hodgs. P. Z. S. 1845, p. 32; Hume and H enters.
Lah. to FarJcand, p. 184, pi. iv. ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 458, No. 296; Oa/es,
B. Br. Burm. i. p. 275. Butalis sibiricus, Bl. B. Burm. p. 104. The SOOTY
FLY-CATCHER.
Above brown, the feathers of the head with darker centres, the wings
slightly edged pale rufous, broader after the autumnal moult; feathers
round the orbits white ,; lores mixed whitish and brown ; sides of the face
brown ; chin, throat, breast, sides of the body fuliginous or smoky brown, in
some an indistinct whitish patch on the lower throat ; abdomen, vent and
under tail coverts white, the latter mixed with brown ; tail brown.
184 MUSCICAPID/E.
The young are spotted with fulvous white above, and the margins of the
wing feathers are broadly fulvous. Upper mandible of bill dark brown,
lower mandible yellowish, iris brown, legs brownish black.
Length. $'$ to 4-6 inches ; wing 2.75 to 2'S; tail 175 to 2'O; tarsus 0-5 ;
bill from gape 0*55.
Hab. N. W. Provinces, Oudh, and probably Bengal. It is found through-
out the Himalayas, common about Darjeeling, from 6,000 feet upwards, to
Nepaul ; spread over the whole of British Burmah as a winter visitant. Gates,
records it from the Pegu Hills near the frontier, and Dr. Armstrong got it at
Elephant Point, but found it rare. Captain Wardlaw-Ramsay mentions his
getting a young bird on the Tounghoo Hill in December. According to
Davison, it is everywhere scarce in Tenasserim. Found also in the Malay
Peninsula, and extends to China and Eastern Siberia.
The Sooty Fly-Catcher breeds in the Himalayas, making a nest of moss
against the side of a tree trunk, or on the broken end of a branch, laying three
eggs, which are dull green marked with reddish brown. They are long ovals,
a good deal pointed and compressed at the smaller end; size 0*65, x 046,
Jerdon says it is sedentary in its habits, darting on insects from a fixed perch
on a low branch, and that he never saw it descend to the ground to feed,
206. Hemichelidon ferruginea, Hodgs., p. z. S, 1845, p. 32;
Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 207; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 122. Butalis
ferruginea, El. B. Burm. p. 104 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 121. Alseonax
ferruginea, Jerd* B. Jnd. \. p. 460, No. 299; Hume and Dav., Str., F. vi,
p. 277; Bingham, Sir. F. ix. p. 175; Gates, Str, F. x. p. 204; Oates
B. Br. Burm. I p. 276, The FERRUGINOUS FLY-CATCHER.
Forehead and crown of head dark brown; orbital feathers pale buff; lores
and ear coverts rufescent brown ; back, scapulars, lesser wing coverts, rump
and upper tail-coverts, rusty or reddish brown, becoming deeper (chestnut) on
the latter and on the rump ; median and greater coverts brown, edged and
tipped with chestnut ; quills dark brown, the later secondaries and tertiaries
edged with rusty brown ; under surface of quills buffy ; tail reddish brown ;
lower throat with a patch of white, the rest of the under surface chestnut ; the
throat rufescent brown ; bill dusky, yellowish at base of lower mandible ; legs
pale fleshy ; irides dark brown.
Length. 5 inches; wing 275 ; tail 2-0 ; tarsus O'5 ; bill from gape 0*65.
Hab. The Carnatic, N, W, Provinces, British Burmah, Nepaul, Sikkim, and
Ceylon. The ferruginous flycatcher is a rare visitant to the plains of India.
Jerdon says he did not hear of its occurrence away from the Himalayas. It
is common in the neighbourhood of Darjeeling, from 4,000 to 8,000 feet. In
Burmah it is a winter visitor. It is recorded from Bankasoon in Tenasserim ;
Oates procured specimens near Pegu, and Captain Bingham secured a speci-
men in the Thoungyeen Valley. It extends southwards through the Malay
ALSEONAX. 185
Peninsula, and is found in Cochin-China. It frequents, according to Jerdon,
dark, open forests without underwood, and pursues insects from a low branch,
or the stump of a fallen tree.
It breeds in the Himalayas. The structure of the nest, as well as the
number, size, and shape of the eggs, is the same as in the preceding species
colour a sort of buff, minutely and feebly freckled with brownish red ; size
0*64 X 0-5.
Gen. AlseonaX. Calam's.
Bill more lengthened than in Hcmichelidon, less swallow like, being narrower
in front and deeper vertically; 3rd and 4th quills subequal.
207. AlseonaX latirOStris, Raffles, Trans. Lin. Soc. xiii. p. 312;
Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 459, No. 297 ; Hume and Henders. Lahore to Yark. p. 185,
pi. v. ; Hume, Str. F. ii. p. 219 ; Brooks, Sir. F. iii. p. 276, iv. p. 273, v.
p. 470; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 127; Scully, Str.F. viii. p. 2"6 ;
Legge, B. Ceylon, p. 415; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 92; Brooks, Str. F. ix.
p. 225. Butalis terricolor, Bl. J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 120. Muscicapa cinereo-
alba, Tern, and Schlcg. Faun. Jap-Aves, p. 42. pi. 15. Alseonax terricolor,
Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 46o, No. 298 ; Brooks, Str. F. iii. p. 234. Butalis latiros-
tris, Bl. B. Burm. p. 104 ; Gates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 277. The BROWN
FLY-CATCHER.
Above greyish brown or dark brown, the feathers of the crown centred
darker ; lores and orbital ring white. Scapulars, tertiaries, and secondaries
dark brown : wing coverts the same ; all but the primaries edged with rusty ;
tail dark brown, the outermost feathers narrowly tipped with whitish ; under
surface of body white, tinged with pale ashy on the breast, flanks, and sides
of the throat.
Immature birds have broad fulvous margins to all the feathers of the upper
plumage. Bill, legs and claws black ; base of lower mandible yellow ; in
the immature, except the tip, which is dusky, the whole lower mandible is
yellow.
Length. 5 to 5'2 inches ; wing 275 to 2*85 ; tail 2-5 to 2-85 ; tarsus 0-5 ;
bill from gape 0*7.
Hab.N. W. Provinces, Oudh, Central India, the Concan, Deccan, South
India, Malabar Coast, Ceylon, British Burmah, and Nepaul. Extends to
Cochin-China.
The Brown Fly-Catcher is a winter visitor to Burmah. It is said to be a
resident of Southern India and Ceylon, but nothing appears to be known of
its nidification. Gates says that in Pegu some birds would appear to stay all
the year round, or to nest close by, having shot both adult and young in July.
It is abundant, according to him, in the southern half of Pegu. Captain Wardlaw-
Ramsay got it at Tounghoo. Mr. Blyth received it from Arrakan, and Davison
says he observed it in the southern half of Tenasserim. It extends down the
136 MUSCICAPID/E.
Malay Peninsula to the Archipelago, and is found spread over China in winter.
Its habits are quite those of the other species. Jerdon says it is very
sedentary, sitting motionless on a branch and darting out occasionally to
capture an insect on the wing.
Gen. MuSCicapa, Linn. ; Butalis Boie. ; Erythrosterna, Bp.
Wings pointed and long ; bill rather long, depressed, wide throughout,
except at tip ; second primary longer than the secondaries and nearly the
length of the third ; nasal bristles scanty.
208. MuSCicapa griSOla, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 328; Tern. Man. i.
p. 152 ; Naum. vogt. Deutch. if. p. 216 ; MacGill. Br. B. iii. p. 5 18 ; Gray,
Gen. B. i. p. 262 ; Gould. B. Eur. ii. pi. 65 ; Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1873, P- 7 1 J
id. Cat. Passerif. B. Br. M. p. 151 ; Blf. East Pers. p. 143 ; Str. F. 1873,
p. 377; Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 127. Butalis grisola, Boie. Isis, 1826,
p. 973 ; Cat. Mus. Heine. Th.\. p. 52; Sharpe, Cat. Afr. B. p. 42, No.
391; id. Ibis, 1872, p. 70; Hume, Str. F. 1875, p. 467; 1877, p. 495.
Butalis africana, Bp. C. R. xxxviii. p. 652. THE SPOTTED GREY FLY-CATCHER.
Lores and feathers immediately above the nostrils dingy fulvous white ;
head, nape, cheeks, ear coverts, back and scapulars, pale earthy or greyish
brown ; the feathers of the head with darker brown central streaks not ex-
tending to the tips, and those of the forehead tinged with the fulvous colour
of the lores ; the rump, in some, uniform with the back, in others slightly
darker ; wings and tail brown, paler and greyer on the tertiaries and laterals,
all the feathers margined with brownish white ; the greater secondary coverts
and tertials most broadly so ; the tail feathers, except the exterior lateral ones,
inconspicuously so ; lower parts white, tinged with fawn colour towards the
vent, and with narrow inconspicuous grey brown streaks on the breast ;
axillaries and wing lining very pale rufous fawn ; sides and flanks tinged
faintly with the same colour and dull fulvous.
" Bill black, dark fleshy at base of lower mandible ; legs and feet blackish
brown; iris deep brown ; interior of mouth orange." {Hume, Str. F., vol.
3, P- 467.)
Length. 5*4 inches ; bill at front 0.55 ; wing 3*4 ; tail 2*45 ; tarsus 0*6.
Hab. The whole of Europe, extending in the winter into South Africa and
N. W. India, Sind, Beloochistan, Afghanistan, Persia (Northern and Southern),
Kutch, Kattiawar, Jodhpore, Sambhur. Visits Sind in the course of its
migration in August and September, and at about the same time of the year
in other parts of the Western Presidency.
All the species of this genus are quick and active birds, incessantly hopping
about on the branches of trees, generally thin scrub or acacias, searching
for insects, which are their chief food.
MUSCICAP1B*?.
209. MuSCicapa SOrdida (Godw.- Austen), Sharpy Cat. B. Br.
Mus. iv. p. 156. Erythrosterna sordida, Godw.-Austen, J. A. S. B. xliii.,
p. 158 ; Hume, Sir. F. 1875, p. 692. The OLIVE-BROWN FLY-CATCHER.
Above dull, olivaceous brown, ochraceous on rump and upper tail feathers ;
tail umber-brown, slightly tinged with ochre on outer web ; quills the same as the
tail and edged with olive ; the primary and secondary coverts very slightly tipped
pale, forming an inconspicuous bar on the wing ; lores and a distinct ring
round the eye dull whitish ; ear coverts and sides of face olive brown, with
buffy shaft streaks ; cheeks and under surface of body ashy (lutescent, Hume),
strongly washed with olive, the foreneck with an ochraceous tinge ; under wing
coverts and axillaries pale yellowish buff ; quills ashy brown below, yellowish
buff along the inner webs.
Length. 4-6 inches (5-2$, Hume) ; wing 2'6 to 27 ; tail 2'2 ; tarsus 0*65.
(Sharpe).
ffab. Sudiya in Upper Assam, and the Naga Hills.
210. MllSCicapa parva, Bechst. Nat. Deutsch. iv. p. 505 ; Tern.
Man. i. p. 158; Werner, Alias, Insectivores, pi. lo; Gray, Gen. Birds, \.
p. 262; Gould. B. Eur. ii. pi. 64; Dresser, Ibis, 1876, p. 188 ; Sharpe, Cat.
B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 161 ; Murray, Vert. ZooL, Sind, p. 128. Erythrosterna
parva, Bp. Consp. List. B. Eur. and N. Amer. p. 25 ; id. Consp. i. p. 318 ;
Blf. East. Pers. p. 144; Hume, Sir. F. 1873, pp. 179, 377, 405; 1875,
p. 469 ; 1876, p. 273 ; 1877, p. 484 ; vol. v. p. 471 ; Murray, Hdbk.Zool., fyc.,
Sind, p. 139. Muscicapa rufogularis, Brehm. Vog. Deutsch. p. 228. THE
RED-BREASTED FLY-CATCHER.
Forehead, sides of face and ear coverts grey ; a circle of whitish feathers
round the eye ; crown of head, back, wing coverts and quills externally
ashy brown ; inner web of primaries dusky ; upper tail coverts and tail dark
brown, all, except the centre tail-feathers, white at their bases ; the external
web of the lateral ones on each side dusky ; chin, cheeks, and foreneck
orange, rest of under surface fulvous white or buffy white ; thigh coverts ashy
brown ; under wing coverts fulvescent, as are also the margins of the inner
webs of the under surface of the quills ; bill brownish ; legs dark brown.
Length. S inches; bill at front 0*4; wing 2'6; tail 2; tarsus 0-65;
culinen 0*4.
The female has the quills and wing coverts, especially the greater series,
edged with light brown; the chin, throat and breast deep buffy, and the
abdomen and vent white.
Hab. Europe, extending into N. W. India, the Himalayas, Cashmere and
Nepaul. Extremely common in Beloochistan, Persia, and South Afghanistan ;
also in Sind, the Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh, Rajputana, Central India,
the Deccan, Concan, Kutch, and North Guzerat. A winter tisitant in Sind
and other parts of the Western Presidency.
188 MUSCICAPID/E.
211. Muscicapa albicilla, Pall. Zoogr. JRosso-Asiat. i. p. 462,
Aves, tab. i. ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 162 ; Oates, B. Burm. i.
p. 278. Erythrosterna leucura, (Gm.) Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 481, No. 323 ; Bl. B.
Btirm., p. 103. Erythrosterna albicilla, (Pall.} Anders. Yunnan Expedition,
p. 621 ; Hume and Dav., Sir. F. vi. p. 233 ; David et Oust. Ois Chine, p. 120;
Scully, Sir. F. viii. p. 280 ; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 93. The WHITE-TAILED
ROBIN FLY-CATCHER.
Male in summer plumage. Upper plumage and wings olive brown, the
latter margined paler ; upper tail coverts black ; tail black, the four outer
pairs of feathers white for about two-thirds of their length from the base ;
lores mixed ashy and white ; chin and throat orange ; ear coverts, cheeks and
a band passing round the orange of the throat pure ashy, extending on to the
upper breast in some ; rest of lower plumage ashy white.
In winter the male loses the orange on the chin and throat, and the plumage
on the under surface of the body is tinged with buff ; orbital ring white.
The female is like the male in summer ; bill dark brown, yellowish at the
gape ; iris hazel brown ; legs black.
Length. 5 to 5'i inches; wing 2*75; tail 2*0 to 2'i; tarsus 0*65; bill
from gape o'6.
Hab. N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, also the Concan, and, perhaps, the
Deccan, as well as British Burmah and Nepaul. Jerdon says it is found
" throughout the whole of India." This statement is certainly incorrect. It is
not known from South India, though it occurs in Ceylon. In Northern and
Central India it is not uncommon, but everywhere, even in British Burmah, as a
winter visitant. According to Gates it is common in Pegu, and spread over
the whole division from November to March. It is recorded from Arrakan,
and Mr. Shopland got specimens at Akyab. At Tounghoo Captain Wardlaw-
Ramsay obtained specimens. It is spread over the whole of Tenasserim. It
is said to summer in Eastern Siberia and North China.
The White-tailed Robin Fly-Catcher affects gardens, orchards, groves and
low jungle chiefly. It appears to be strictly arboreal, playing about on the
branches of trees searching for insects, and never descending to the ground.
212. Muscicapa hyperythra, Cab.Joum. F. Omitii. 1866, p. 391 ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 163. Erythrosterna hyperythra (Cab.)
Hume, Str. F. vii. p. 376. The WHITE-TAILED ROBIN OR RUFOUS-BREASTED
FLY-CATCHER.
The upper surface is brownish grey, turning to a purer grey on the rump
and upper tail coverts ; tail black, with the basal halves of the lateral rectrices
white, the upper tail coverts, especially the longest, are blackish in parts, espe-
cially on the outer webs. The lower surface is a bright red-brown or rusty-red,
PRATINCOLA.
except on the middle of the abdomen, which is pure while. The red.brown
colour is most intense on the throat and breast > lighter and mingled with
albescent on the sides of the abdomen and lower tail coverts ; tibial plumes
grey ; loreal region somewhat dotted with white ; sides of the head and i
pure grey, separated from the red-brown of the throat and breast by an
irregular blackish line ; under wing coverts tinged with rusty yellow ; feet and
upper mandible brown, the lower yellow ; 4 th quill longest, fifth longer than
the third, 2nd about equal to the 8th.
Length. 5-33 inches; wing 2*88; tail 3-3; tarsus 078 (Cabanis). The
distinguishing characters of this species are the rich orange-brown of the
throat and breast, and the black stripe running from the bill down the sides
of the neck to the breast and terminating below the bend of the closed wing ;
bill dusky above, yellow beneath ; irides dark brown. (Holdsworth.)
Hab. Central India and the N.-W. Provinces. Also Ceylon and Cashmere.
The Rufous-breasted Fly -Catcher appears to have the usual habits of the other
species. According to Brooks it breeds in Cashmere at from 6,000 to 7,000
feet elevation. There is no record of its nest having been found.
Gen. PratinCOla, Koch. Syst. d. Baier. Zool. p. 190.
Bill short, straight, wider at the nostrils than high ; nostrils hidden ; second
primary longer than the secondaries, the first not half the length of the second.
213. Pratincola macrorhyncha, Stoiickza, J. A. S. B. xli.
p. 238; Hume, Str.F. 1876, p. 40; 1877, p. 131, 241, 244; 1879, P- 53-
Sharpe, Cat, Birds, B. Museum, vol. iv. p. 182 ; Murray, Vert. ZooL, Sind,
p. 138. Pratincola rubetraoides, Jerd. B. Ind. iii. App. p. 872 (ex. Jameson
MS. Dtsc Nulla) Dresser, B. Eur. parts 23, 24; Hume, Sir. F. 1877, p. 239.
Pratincola rubetra, Hume, Ibis, 1869, p. 354. Pratincola Jamesoni, Hume^
Sir. F 1877, p. 239 (nom emende). STOLICKZA'S BUSH-CHAT.
Adult Male. A broad stripe over the eyes and over the greater portion of
the ear coverts white, with a slight buffy tinge ; lower parts of the lores dusky ;
chin, throat and entire lower parts, including lower tail coverts and tibial
plumes, white with a yellowish tinge and a very feeble rufescent tinge on
breast and flanks ; wing lining and axillaries pure white, the former slightly
mottled with dusky ; forehead, crown, occiput, nape, back and scapulars light
sandy buff, striated longitudinally with hair brown ; rump and upper tail
coverts white, most of the feathers tinged towards their tips with pale rusty
buff ; primaries and secondaries hair brown, margined on the outer webs with
light buff and tipped with yellowish white, the primaries more narrowly, the
secondaries more broadly ; tertiary greater coverts, or perhaps I should
call them lower scapulars, white ; tertiaries and greater and median secondary
coverts deep brown, broadly margined with pale, more or less rufescent buff ;
26
190 MUSCICAPIDA;.
entire visible portion of lesser coverts pale sandy buff; edge of wing and
outer webs of earlier greater primary coverts pure white ; tail hair brown, all
the feathers margined on the outer webs with sandy buff or light yellowish
brown ; the outer web of the outermost feather almost entirely of this colour ;
all the feathers, except the central pair, with almost the entire inner webs,
white, the outermost pair have an irregular subterminal brown band from
0*2 to 0.3 inch wide on this web, but the rest have only a small patch of brown
near the shaft close to the tip, the pair next the centre have the patch rather
larger ; there are traces of a dark streak from the base of the lower mandible
down either side of the throat, expanding on the sides of the breast ; doubtless
in breeding plumage this streak and patch are black or blackish ; bill and feet
black ; iris brown.
Length. 6 inches; oilmen 07 ; wing 3 ; tail 2'i2; tarsus 07. (Hume.)
Breeding Plumage. Two or three of both my males and females
have the lower parts of the lores, cheeks, ear coverts and entire sides
of the throat (leaving only a narrow pure white stripe down the centre of the
throat) black ; the feathers only a little tipped with pale sandy, which doubtless
in the breeding season entirely disappears ; also the lesser and median, and
secondary greater wing coverts and the winglet have become nearly black,
only very narrowly edged with sandy buff, which colour also seems in the
course of disappearing. (Hume.)
Adult Female in winter plumage similar to the male, but smaller and show-
ing the dark streak and patch much less.
Length. 5*5 inches; culmen 07 ; wing 2*9; tail 2 ; tarsus 0*93. (Hume.)
Ex. Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vol. iv. p. 188.
Hob. Sind, Punjab, and N.-W. Provinces. Mr. Hume gives the following
distribution of this species in vol. vii. of Stray Feathers, p. 55 : " Punjab
(Goorgaon, Umballa, Sirsa, Hansi, Shahpoor and probably all western dis-
tricts) ; Rajputana (Jodhpore, Biccaneer, Jeysulmere) ; North Guzerat, Kutsh,
Sind (Thurr and Parkur districts) and probably elsewhere." I got it at
Chaman (Afghanistan), and in the Bolan Pass, Beloochistan.
214. Pratincola insignis, Biytk, y.A.s. B. xvi. p. 129; Jerd. B.
Tnd. ii. p. 127, No. 485 ; Rainey, Sir. F. iii. p. 330; Hume, Sir. F. v.
pp. 132, 496; id. Sir. F. vii. pp. 454, 519; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv.
p. 187. The LARGE BUSH CHAT.
" Male. Entire cap, lores, cheeks and ear coverts black, many of the feathers
faintly fringed at the tips with pale brown ; nape dark brown ; the feathers
much fringed at the tips with the same pale brown ; chin, throat, sides of the
neck, behind the ear coverts, and a broad imperfect collar at the base of the
neck, white ; back and scapulars brown, all the feathers fringed with pale
brown ; rump greyish buffy, more distinctly tinged buffy at the tips ; upper
tail coverts white, with a buffy tinge towards the middle ; wings dark brown ;
PRATINCOLA. 19]
the primaries white at the base on both webs so as to form a co;
cuous wing spot ; all the quills broadly white on their inner webs towards
their base ; tertiaries and all the coverts, and the greater and median coverts of
the later secondaries, white ; first and second primaries very narrowly margined
white towards the tips ; secondaries tipped inconspicuously with dull white ;
all the quills more or less margined paler on their outer webs ; 3rd to 6th
primaries conspicuously emarginate on their outer webs ; tail dark brown,
very narrowly margined and tipped with pale fulvous brown ; breast rather
pale ferruginous chestnut ; rest of the lower parts very pale fulvous ; axillaries
white, grey on their inner webs ; wing lining mingled with pale brown and
fulvous white.
Length. 5-0 to 6-3 inches ; wing 3-3 to y$$ ; tail 2-3 ; bill from forehead
0-69 ; tarsus 0-97 to n.
The above is Mr. Hume's description of a male specimen obtained by Mr.
Mandelli in the lower hills of the Bhootan Doars in April.
A female obtained by Mr. Cleveland in October, a little west of the place
where Hodgson got his type, is described by Mr. Hume as under :
Upper parts grey earth-brown, the feathers centred with dark hair brown ;
upper tail coverts dull rather pale ferruginous buff ; wings and tail blackish
brown, the greater and median coverts broadly tipped, the greater coverts
with dull rather creamy white, the rest with pale buff, forming two rather
conspicuous wing bars ; all the quills and coverts margined with creamy
white ; tail feathers similar ; chin and upper throat creamy ; rest of lower parts
nearly uniform rufous buff, and paling somewhat on the lower tail coverts,
flanks, axillaries and wing lining ; the base of the quills on their inner web with
a rufous white patch; irides brown; bill and legs black.
Length. 1>'%\ wing 3-42; tail 2-4 ; tarsus ro8; bill o'67.
Hab.-*- Bengal and Nepaul. Mr. Cleveland's specimen came from Captain
Gunj, Zilla Bustee ; Hodgson's type was from Segowlee. The species, accord-
ing to Mr. Cleveland, affects the cane-fields.
215. Pratincola maura,P0^. Reis. ii. Anhang. p. joSA Gm. Syst.
Nat. i. p. 975. myth, J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 129 ; id. Cat. Mus. A. S. B.
p. 170; Bp. Consp. i. p. 305 ; Sir. F. 1873, p. 355; 1875, p. 138; t. c. ^.
p. 475 ; 1876, pp. 142, 259, 275, 327 ; 1877, p. 36 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 124,
No. 483 ; Murray, Hdbk., Zool, fyc. t Sind, p. 145 ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds, Br.
Mus. vol. iv. p. 1 88. Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 139. Pratincola robusta,
Tristr. Ibis. 1870, p. 497; Brooks, Str. F. 1876, p. 274; Hume, Sir. F. 1877,
p. 131 ;M878, p. 335 ; vii. p. 55. Pratincola rubicola (Pi.}, Seoertz. Turks/.
Jevotn. p. 65 ; Dresser, B. Eur. pt. 23, 24. Hume, Nes/s and Eggs, Ind. B.
p. 316. The INDIAN BUSH CHAT.
192 MUSCICAPID/E.
Adult Male. Head, neck, chin, throat, sides of face, back, tail and wings
black ; the feathers of the back and scapulars (some of which are white
tipped) edged with pale rufous, and the tail basally white ; the quills dusky
brown, margined with sandy brown, as are also the wing coverts and
secondaries ; a large wing patch, rump, upper tail coverts, and sides of neck
forming a demicollar, white ; foreneck and breast bright ferruginous ; abdo-
men, vent and under tail coverts white, slightly tinged with fulvous ; axillaries
black. In winter plumage, the general colour above is brown, the rump and
tipper tail coverts rusty, also the entire under surface, but duller. The adult
female is brown above with pale rufous edges to the feathers, and the edgings
to the wing coverts and scapulars much lighter ; the wing patch is much
smaller and less distinct ; the rump and upper tail coverts a rufescent buff ;
cheeks and throat fulvous ashy, and the entire under surface a sullied white
or pale buff ; the axillaries also buffy ; the bases of the feathers brownish ; bill
and legs black ; irides brown.
Length. 4*5 to 5-5 inches; wings 2*75 ; tail 175 ; tarsus O'&$.
Hab t India generally during the winter, also China, Japan, Cashmere,
Nepaul, N.-W. Himalayas, Upper Burmah, Eastern Turkistan, Abyssinia,
Beloochistan (Bolanand Quetta), Afghanistan (Chaman and Gulistan). Occurs
in Sind, Kutch, Kattiawar, Jodhpore, Jeypore, North Guzerat, the Deccan,
Kamptee, in Central India and Darjeeling.
The Indian Bush Chat breeds throughout the lower ranges of the Himalayas,
south of the first snowy range, at almost any elevation not exceeding 5,000 feet,
from Afghanistan to Assam. Ocasionally, too, they breed in the salt range in
the Suleiman Hills, in the plains district of the Punjab which skirt the bases of
these lower hills, and there is one instance on record of the nest being taken at
tfte extreme south of the Sharunpoor district. April and May appear to be the
months in which they mostly lay, but they have two, and possibly three, broods,
eggs having been taken at Kotegurh as early as the first week in March and
as late as the middle of July. The situation of the nest varies according to
locality. They have been found in low, thick, generally thorny, bushes or
dense tufts of grass on or near the ground and in crevices of rough stone
walls.
The nest is a more or less regular cup, composed of coarse grass and dried
moss lined with fine grass, fur, hair, feathers, and the like. The eggs are 4 or 5 in
number. The ground colour is dull pale green or greenish white, and they
are finely and faintly freckled with pale brownish red ; size 07 + 0-55.
216. Pratincola leucura, Biytk, J.A. S. B. xvi. p. 474; Bp.
Consp. i. p. 305 ; Jerd. B. Ltd. ii. p. 126, No. 484 ; Hume, Str. F. 1873,
p. 183; 1874, p. 478; 1875, p. 135; Murray, Hdbk., Zool., fyc., Sind,
p. 145; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 134; Murray, Vert. Zool., Sind?
p. 140; Oates, B. Br. Burm., i. p. 280. The WHITE-TAILED BUSH CHAT.
PRATINCOLA.
Adult Male in Summer Plumage. Above black ; rump duller ; upper tail
coverts white ; central tail feathers blackish brown, basally white, the others
dark brown on the outer web and white on the inner ; wings black ; quills
duller, margined pale brown ; a white wing spot ; breast bright rufous ; sides
of head and throat black; on the sides of the neck a white patch, broader at
the lower throat ; rest of under surface pure white, tinged with rufescent on the
sides ; under wing coverts black, edged with white. " In the winter plumage
the male is nearly a sandy brown above, almost uniform, the black centres to
the feathers being effectually concealed ; upper tail coverts white, sandy rufous
at their ends ; tail feathers dark brown, edged with sandy colour ; the inner
webs white, slightly shaded with sandy buff at the tips ; wings black, with
broad sandy brown edges to the feathers ; the inner secondaries margined with
rufous, some of the feathers forming the white wing patch, edged with brown ;
a loral line of ashy white ; feathers in front of and round the eye black, with
sandy brown edgings ; throat black, obscured by ashy white margins to the
feathers ; on each side of the lower throat a white patch half concealed by
rufous tips to the feathers ; breast and sides of body orange rufous, the feathers
edged with sandy buff ; plumes on the sides of the upper breast white, tipped
rufous ; under wing coverts and axillaries white with dusky bases."
" The adult female is earthy brown, with more or less distinct remains of
sandy brown edges ; upper tail coverts sandy buff ; tail feathers brown, dull
white along the basal portion of the inner web ; wings brown, with buffy white
tips to the greater coverts ; wing patch smaller than in the males ; lores fulvous,
extending over the forepart of the eye ; round the latter a ring of sandy buff ;
ear coverts brown with fulvous shaft- lines ; cheeks and throat white ; breast
and sides of body paler orange buff ; the centre of the abdomen buffy white ;
under wing coverts and axillaries pale sandy buff with dusky bases ; quills
brown below, whitish along the edge of the inner web ; bill and feet brownish
black ; irides brown." (Sharpe.)
Length. 5 inches; wing 2-5 ; tail 2; bill at front 0*5.
Jfab. India and Burmah, N.-W. Himalayas, Sind, Punjab, at Mooltan,
and the Gangetic Valley, where Jerdon states he found it most abundant from
Rajmahal to Monghyr, frequenting fields and long grasses. It winters in Sind
and the Punjab. In Burmah Gates collected specimens a few miles south of
Thayetmyo, and Colonel Lloyd at Tonghoo. Mr. Blanford found it on the
Irrawady, and Davison in the neighbourhood of Pahpoon. It frequents the
neighbourhood of swamps and wet paddy fields.
217. Pratincola caprata (Linn.), Biyth, J. A. s. B. xvi.p. 129;
JBp. Consp. i. p. 305 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 123, No. 481 ; Hume, Str. F. 1873,
pp. 182, 379; 1874, pp. 4i3> 477; l8 7S, P- '34; 1877, p. 229; 1876,
p. 259; Str. F. 1875, p. 238; Murray, Vert. Zool., Sind, p. 141 ; Dates, B.
Br. Burm. i. p. 281 ; Blanfd. Eastern Persia, p. 144; Murray, Hdbk^ ZooL,
194 MUSCICAPID^E.
&Y., Sind, p. 145. Motacilla caprata, (Linn) S. Nat. i. p. 325. CEnanthe
caprata, Viell. N. Diet. xxi. p. 433. Saxicola bicolor, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832,
p. 92. Pratincola atrata, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xx. p. 177; Jerd. B. 2nd. ii.
p. 124, No. 482. Pratincola bicolor, Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 314.
The WHITE- WINGED BLACK ROBIN.
Adult Male. Head, neck all round, throat, breast, sides of the face, back,
wings, tail and entire under surface black ; under wing coverts black ; vent,
under tail coverts, rump, upper tail coverts and wing patch white ; some of
the feathers of the lower abdomen very slightly edged with white. The
young male is dark brown, the feathers of the upper and lower surface with
brownish edgings ; the quills dark brown with whitish tips, and the lower
abdomen, vent and upper tail coverts, as well as the wing patch, white. The
female is dusky brown, the feathers edged pale, and with dark centres to the
feathers of the head, scapulars and back ; rump and upper tail coverts
rufescent ; tail dark brown, as also are the wing coverts and quills, but mar-
gined with lighter brown ; beneath pale reddish or ochraceous brown, whitish
on the throat ; vent and under tail coverts white, with a slight rufous tinge ;
bill and legs black ; irides dark brown.
Length. 5 to 5*4 inches ; wing 2*75 ; tail 2*1 ; tarsus 0*8; bill at front O - 45.
Hab. India generally, Ceylon, Southern India, Burmah, Java, and
Philippines. In the Indian region it extends to the Himalayas, and is ex-
tremely common throughout Sind, the Punjab, Beloochistan, S. E. Persia and
S. Afghanistan, at Chaman, Gulistan, Dubrai and Kandahar ; also occurs all
along the Western Coast, Kutch, Kattiawar, Jodhpore, North Guzerat, the
Deccan and Concan. Breeds in Sind and the plains generally during March
and April. Eggs usually three, pale greenish white, speckled finely with
brown.
Gen. Poliomyias. Sharpe.
Bill rather broad, with well defined culmen, broader at the nostrils than it
is high ; shorter than in Pratincola and not exceeding the inner toe and claw.
General aspect and style of plumage of Musctcapa, but with long wings.
218. Poliomyias HodgSOni, ( Verr.) Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv.
p. 203; Gates, B. Br. Burmah, i. p. 286. Siphia Hodgsoni, Verr. N. Arch.
Mus. vi. Bull, p. 34, vii. p. 29 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 115. Siphia
erythaca, Jerd. and Bl. P. Z. S. 1861, p. 201 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 480, No. 322 ;
Hume, Str. F. ii. p. 456 ; Wald in Bl. B. Burm. p. 103 ; Hume, Sir. F. vi.
p. 137 ; Hume and Dav. Str. F. vi. p'. 233; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 93. The
RUSTY-BREASTED FLY-CATCHER.
Male. Above dull cyaneous, also the ear coverts ; lores, feathers under the
eye, the cheeks and upper tail coverts black ; wing coverts brown, edged with
MUSCICAPULA. 195
cyaneous ; quills black, edged with brown; tail black, the bases of all but the
two central feathers white at the base ; sides of the neck and a patch on
either side of the breast dull cyaneous ; chin, throat, breast and abdomen
rich orange ; lower abdomen, vent, flanks and under tail coverts pale ferrugi-
nous. Bill black ; legs and feet dark reddish horny ; irides very dark brown
(Day.)
Length. 5-5 inches; tail 2'2 to 2-$ ; wing 2-95; tarsus -65; bill from
gape '55-
Hab. Darjeeling (Jerdon), British Burmah and Nepaul. According to
Gates it has been procured in Karenne and in the Karin Hills, east of Tounghoo,
at 4,000 feet elevation. Davison says it is confined to the higher hills of the
northern and central portions of Tennaserim, and that he got it in the pine
forests north of Pahpoon and near the summit of Mooleyit. It is found in the
Himalayas, and extends its range to Western China.
The female of this species is not yet satisfactorily identified. There is a
closely allied species P. luteola, which Gates says will probably be found in
Burmah.
Gen. Muscicapula. Blyth.
Bill feeble, narrow at tip, moderately wide at base, depressed, very slightly
hooked and notched at the tip ; rictal and nareal bristles moderately developed ;
3rd quill nearly as long as 4th ; ist and 2nd primaries moderately developed ;
tarsus slightly lengthened.
219. Muscicapula superciliaris, (Jerd.) Blyth, J. A. S. B.
xii. pp-939, 962; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 470, No. 310; Slot. J. A. S. B.
xxxvii. pt. ii. p. 30; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 213 ; Ball, Str. F. v. p. 415 ;
Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 92 ; Sharpe> Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 204 ; Oates, B.
Br. Burm., i. p. 292. Muscicapa superciliaris, Jerd. Madr. Journ. xi.
p. 16. Erythrosterna acornaus (Hodgs), Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 483, No. 325 ;
Bearan, Ibis, 1870, p. 320; Bl. and Wald., B. Burm. p. 103; Hume and
Dav., Str. F. vi. p. 233 ; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 93. -The WHITE-BROWED
BLUE FLY-CATCHER.
Top of head, cheeks, ear coverts and sides of the neck dull blue ; lores
black ; a broad distinct supercilium reaching behind to the nape white ; back
of the head, nape, entire upper plumage, including the lesser and median
wing coverts, dull blue ; greater wing coverts and quills dark brown, edged
with pale bluish ; tail black, edged with blue, the basal half of all, except
the central ones, white ; entire lower surface of body white, except a broad,
dull- blue collar across the breast.
The female has the upper plumage brown, the feathers of the head centred
darker, the forehead, rump and upper tail coverts tinged with rufous ; wing
coverts, quills and tail brown, edged paler ; the lores mixed rufous and white ;
196 MUSCICAPIDiE.
ear coverts greyish brown with paler shafts ; under surface of body sullied
with brown on the breast and sides of the body.
Length. 4*25 to 4*75 inches ; wing 2*4 to 2-5 ; tail i'8 to 1-9 ; tarsus '6 j
bill from gape *6.
Hab. Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Central Provinces, British
Burmah and Nepaul. According to Jerdon it is found throughout the Hima-
layas, spreading to the plains of India in the cold weather, but is nowhere
a common bird. Mr. Brooks reported its occurrence at Assensole ; Ball
says it is tolerably abundant in Sumbulpoor and in the adjoining districts on
the south, and records it from Midnapoor, Lohardugga, Singhboom, Orissa,
Nowagurh, and the Godavery Valley ; and Gates has it from British Burmah,
on the strength of two female specimens from Karenne, procured by Captain
Wardlaw Ramsay.
The White-browed Blue Fly-Catcher nests in the Himalayas. The nest is a
small cup made of moss, and lined with fine roots and hairs, and is either
placed in a hole of a tree or wall. The eggs are 4 to 6 in number, pale
green, and entirely covered with brownish red freckles.
220. MuSCicapula astigma, (Hodgs) Sharpe, Cat. B, Br. Mus.
iv. p. 205 ; Jerd, B.Ind. i. p. 471, No. 31! ; Gray, Cat. B. Nepaul ; Hodgs.
Coll. app. p. 155 ; Ball, Sir. F. vii. p. 212; Oafes, B. JBr. Burm. i. p. 293.
The LITTLE BLUE and WHITE FLY-CATCHER.
Differs from M. superciliaris in having the whole upper surface blue, the
wings and tail black, margined with blue the latter with no white at the base
no white supercilium, and in the under surface being pure white.
Length. 4-25 inches ; wing 2*25 ; tail r8 ; tarsus *5 ; culmen 0-45.
Hab. N.-W. Provinces and Bengal to the Himalayas and Nepaul.
The females of the species of this small group of birds are so alike that they
cannot be readily distinguished, especially of M. superciliaris.
221. Muscicapula maculata, Tick. J. A. S. B. n. p. 574;
Sharpe t Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 207; Oates, B, Br. Burm. i. p. 294.
Erythrosterna maculata, Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 483, No. 326 ; Bl. B. Burm.
p. 103 ; Brooks, Str. F. iii. pp. 236, 277 ; viii. p. 470 ; Hume, Str. F. viii.
p. 93. Erythrosterna pusilla, Bl. J. A. S. B. sviii. p. 813; Jerd. B.
Ind. i. p. 482, No. 324 ; Brooks, Str. F. v. p. 471. The LITTLE-PIED FLY-
CATCHER.
Above, including the lores, cheeks, ear coverts and sides of the neck glossy
black; a superciliary streak reaching to the nape white. Whole under surface
also white ; wings black ; the later secondaries edged with white on their outer
webs, the remaining secondaries and all the primaries with an interior
MTSCICAPULA. 1<)7
lining of white; the greater upper wing coverts white, forming a bar across the
wing ; tail black, the basal two-thirds, except of the central tail feathers, white.
The female has the upper surface and lesser wing coverts olive brown, tinged
with rufous ; upper tail coverts ferruginous ; greater wing coverts and quills
brown, margined with pale rufous brown ; lores and sides of the head fulves-
cen-t brown; under surface of body white, tinged with brown on the flanks and
breast ; tail dark brown, narrowly margined with rufous brown ; no white
bases to ihe feathers of ihe tail.
Bill black ; legs brown; irides light brown.
Length. 4*4 inches ; wing 2-4; tail 175 ; tarsus O-6 ; bill from gape 0-55.
ffab.N.-W. Provinces, Central India, Bengal, and British Burmah.
Taking Jerdon's notes on Erythrosterna pusilla, which is now identified
\vith the female of this species, and the notes against E. maculala, the Little-
pied Fly-Catcher occurs in the plains of Central India during the cold weather
and retires to the Himalayas during the summer He says he obtained it
near Darjeeling in summer dress, and quotes Blyth as to its occurrence in
the Midnapoor District. It extends through Arrakan and Tenasserim into
Western Malasia, It also occurs at Pegu in the cold weather. Jerdon saw
this species in pairs, but generally in small parties, active and restless,
capturing insects entirely on the wing. It has a pleasing little song.
222. Muscicapnla sapphira, Tickdl, MSS. -, Blyth, J. A. S. B.
xii. p. 939 ; Jerdon, Illus. Ind* Orn. pi. 32 ; id. B. Ind. i. p. 471, No. 312 ;
Sir. F. iii. p. 237 ; Ball, Sir. F. ii. p. 405 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mtts. iv.
p. 209. The SAPPHIRE-HEADED FLY-CATCHER.
Male. Above rich dark purplish blue, inclining to smalt blue on the
rump and upper tail coverts ; forehead and crown pale azure or sapphire blue
{vivid smalt blue, Blyth), deepening on the hind head ; lores black ; foreneck
and breast rich purple, with a broad median line of deep and bright ferrugi-
nous ; flanks greyish ; belly and forepart of the wings underneath, also the
axillaries, white ; quills and tail black, and the feathers edged externally with
blue ; there is no white at base of the feathers of the latter.
Bill and feet black; irides dark brown.
The female has the head, neck and interscapulars plain olive brown ; fore-
head, lores and cheeks ferruginous; wings, rump and tail deep blue; throat,
foreneck and breast bright ferruginous, much broader than in the male ;
belly and lower tail coverts bluish white.
Length. 475 inches ; wing 2'5 ; tail I '9 ; tarsus cr6 ; culmen 0*35.
Hab. N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, also Sikkim and Nepaul. Jerdon
says it is somewhat rare at Darjeeling, mid thai the sjxx -k> ;iil<v^ npon forest,
perches high up, and catches insects on the wing.
27
Gen. Tarsiger. Hodgs.
Bill short, slender, straight; rictal bristles moderate; wings moderate; 4t?i and
5th quills equal and longest, 3rd and 6th subequal tail slightly mucromte ,
larsus extremely powerful, more than twice the length of the culroen ; toes
and claws long and slender > plumage of males blue abO'Ve r and moie or k
jufous below.
223 Tarsiger 1 rufilatUS, Hodgs. Icon. ined. Passeres f pi. 88 ; id
P. Z. S. 1845, p. 27 ; Gray, Gen. B. i. p. l8c>; Hume, Nests and Eggs, ItuL
.8. p. 324 ; Sharpe? Cat, B. Br. Mus. iv. p 256. Nemura cyanura, Hodgs*
Icon. ined. Passeres jyl. 76, fig. 3. lanthina rufilata, Bly. J. A, S. B. xvi,
p. 132, id. Ibis, 1867, p. 6 ; Brooks, S/r. F. 1875, p. 240; 1876, p. 229*
*8?7 ; p. 470. lantfoina cfanura, JT^rr/. ^. /</. ii, p, 146, No. 508; Godw.~
Austtn, J. A. S. B., 1870, p, 106. Nemura cyannsra, (Pall) Dresser. B.Eur,
pts. Ixvji. Ixviii, (^ ad, dese, el. fig.ynee. Pall, Ths WKITE-^REASTED BLUE-
Adult Male. General colour abo?e o!ark ultramarine, brighter and inclining
lo deep cobalt blue on the mmp and eppeir tail coverts , forehead also- brighs
cobalt, extending backwards and forming a distinct eyebrow ; shoulder patch
bright cobalt blue; rest of wing coverts and qailb blackish, edged with dark
ultramarine, the margins of the prisnariss somewfeat greyish blue - y tai? feathers
blackish on their inner webs and dark blue on fshe outer ^ lores and feathers
round the eye- dmsky bhie black * T the sides of the face dark blue, also the
feathers bordering the throat for the whole extent of the latter ; throat and
centre o! body bslow greyish white, pure white on the abdomen and under tail
coverts j sides of the bodiy bright orange ; thighs dull blue ; under wing
coverts and axillariss white, slightly washed wills fadvows ? edge of the wing
blue ; bill dusky j legs brown ~ y iris dark brown.
Length. 5-75 to 6-5 inches ; wing 3-2:; tai>l 2-57. tarsus 0-95 j culm-en 0-45,
The adult female is olive brown above, becoming ashy blue orr the rump
and bright cobalt on the nipper tail- coverts ; the lesser and median wing
coverts like the back ; greater coverts and q-itilfe dark brown, margined with
jed dish olive; tail blackish on the inner webs and bltre on the outer; throat,.
lores and round the eye buffy ; eyebrow faint greyish - r sides of the f ace r
ioreneck, breast and flanks olive brown ;. middle of abdomen and under tail
soverfis white ; thighs dusky ; sides of the body bright orange ; axillaries
yellowish baff ; under wing coverts whitish wkh dusky bases.
Length. $-2 inches ; wing 3--I5 ; tail 2' 5 ; tarsus 0-95 ; culmen 0*45,
TARSIGER.
. The Himalayas, from the N. W. to Sikkim. Said to be common in
China and Central and Northern Asia, also Japan. It is recorded from Nepaul
and Cashmere, and from between Mussoorie and Gangaotri. Jerdon say^ it
is a winter visitant at Darjceling* It frequents thick brushwood and long grass.
Found on the banks of the Ganges at Caragola Ghat. In Cashmere, according
to Brooks, it is more numerous in the upper part of the valley. Its call-note
and manners, he says, are like those of a robin. It is a very shy bird. It
breeds very high up in the hills north of Simla, but in Cashmere they
are said to breed as low as 6,<ooo feet during June and July, nesting
in holes of banks. The normal number of eggs is 4, of a bluish white
colour, faintly marked towards the larger end with pale reddish brown.
Size 074 x 0-56.
224. Tarsiger hyperythrus, Biyth, J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 132 ; ,d.
Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 170; Jerd. B. Lid. ii. p. 147, No. 509; Sharpe,
Cat, B. Br. Mtts. iv, p. 257 ; Godw.-Austen, J. A. S. B. 1870, p. 106.
Nemurahyperythra, Gray, Gen. B. iii. App. p. 8 ; Bp. Consp. I, p. 300. The
RUSTY-THROATED BLUE WOOD-CKAT.
Adult Mak. Above dark purplish -or mdigobhre;; the forehead brighter
and more cobalt blue, extending backward over the fore part of the eye ; no
white eyebroiv^ shoulder patch deep cobalt; rest of wing coverts and quills
dusky blackish, externally edged with purplish blue ; lores, ear coverts, sides
of the face, feathers round the eye and sides of the throat deep purplish
black ; entire under surface of body chestnut rufous ; thighs brown ; lower
flanks whitish, forming a tuft on each side of the back^ axiHaries and under
Aving coverts yellowish buff ; bill dusky; legs brown.
Length. 4-8 to $'$ inches ; wing 3^5 ; tail 2'3 ; tarsus i ^ culmen o*45-
The female is brown above, the lower back and rurnp greyish, the upper
tail coverts and tail blue; median and greater wing coverts brown like the back ;
quills dark brown, edged lighter ; a faint greyish bke eye streak on the side of
the crown ; ring round the eye fulvous ; ear coverts, sides of face and under
surface of body mfescertt brown ; middle ef abdomen and under tail coverts
whitish ; under wing coverts and axillaries yellowish buff.
Length. 5 inches; wing 2-95 ; tail 2'2 ; tarsus i ; culmen 0-4.
7/a. The Eastern Himalayas and Khasia Hills. Recorded from Nepaul
and Darjeeling.
This is a rare species, and supposed to be a migrant. Nothing is known of
dts nidifica-tion.
225. Tarsiger hodgsoni, Moore, P. Z. S. 1854, p. 76, P i. 6?.
Nitidula campbelli, Jcrd. and Blyth,P. Z. S. 186i, p. 201. Nilidula 1.
:soni, Jerd.B. Ind. i, p. 472, No. 313. Niltava hodgsoni, G'w, /A/.4. #, i.
p. 327, The PIGMY BLUE ELY-CATC
200 MUSCICAPID^F,
Above deep ultramarine, brighter and more cobalt on the forepart of the
crown and over the eye ; a broad frontal line, lores, feathers round the eye,
sides of face and ear coverts black, the latter with a bluish tinge ; scapulars
and wing coverts deep ultramarine blue like the back > the primary coverts
and primaries narrowly edged with blue, their inner webs brown ; cheeks and
under surface of body rich orange yellow, slightly paler on the abdomen ; the
thighs and under tail coverts whitish ; tail blackish, washed with blue exter-
nally ; axillaries, sides of breast and under wing coverts pure white. (Sharpe.)
Bill black; legs pale reddish ; iris dark brown. (Jerd,)
Length. 3-6 ; wing 1*85; tail 1*4 ; tarsus O'6 ,- culmen 0-4.
The female is yellowish olive brown above, rather rufous on the rump and
upper tail coverts ; wings like the back ; quills dark brown, edged externally with
the same yellowish olive brown of the back ; tail brown, washed externally with
rufous brown ; lores and sides of the face ochraceous buff, as also a ring of
feathers round the eye ; ear coverts washed with olive ; cheeks and under surface
of the body pale saffron yellow, deeper on the flanks ; middle of abdomen,
sides of the body, under wing and under tail coverts white.
Lengtli.y'i inches ; wing l 8 ; tail 1-35 ; tarsus 0-65 ; culmen 04.
ffa&.The Eastern Himalayas, from Darjeeling to Sikkim and Nepaul,
Entirely confined to the Himalayas.
226. Tarsiger indicus, Vieili. N. Diet. d'Eist. Nat. xi. p. 267.
Nemura flavo-olivacea, Hodgs. P. Z. S. 1845, P 2 7* Tarsiger superciliaris-,
Hodgs. Icon. ined. Passer es, A pp. pL 57; Moore, P. Z* S. 1854, p 76;
Swinh, P.Z. S. 1871, p. 359. lanthina flavo-olivacea, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi.
p. 133. Erythaca flavo-olivacea, Gray, Cat. Mam, &V., Nepaul; JJly. Cat.
B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 171. lanthina superciliaris, Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 148.
The RUFOUS-BELLIED BLUE WOOD-CHAT.
Adult Male. Above dark slaty blue grey, some of the feathers on the sides
of the rump tipped with yellowish buff; sides of the crown white, forming a
very broad white eyebrow, extending from the base of the bill to the sides of the
nape ; lores, and sides of the face black, the latter slightly washed with slaty
grey; wing coverts yellowish brown, the innermost of all the series slaty blue:
greater coverts and quills blackish brown, externally edged with yellowish
brown, the inner secondaries with slaty blue ; tail dark slaty blue, blackish on
the inner webs ; under surface of body orange rufous, whiter on the middle of
the abdomen \ bill brownish ; feet reddish grey ; iris brown.
Length. 5 inches ; wing 3-1 ; tail 2'S ; tarsus ri ; culmen 0-5.
The female differs from the male in being ochraceous brown above ; the
wings margined with rusty olive ; eyebrow white, but not so distinct as in the
male \ sides of face olive brown, with fulvous shaft lines ; under surface of body
deep ochraceous brown j chin whitish.
HYPOTHYMIS. 201
Length $'1 inches; wing 2-85 ; tail 2-4 ; tarsus PI ; culmen 0-45.
Hab. S. E. Himalayas. Rare in Sikkim and Ncpaul. Fairly common
about Darjccling.
227- Tarsiger ChrySCeuS, Hodgs. Icon. ined. Passeres, pi. 80 ; id.
P. Z. S. 1845, P- 28 5 7 e} 'd- &' Ind- P. M9; Hume, Nests and Eggs,
Jnd. B. p. 325, The GOLDEN BUSH-CHAT.
Adult Male. Above orange yellow, the scapulars and feathers of the lower
back with olive brown tips ; crown of the head, hind neck and mantle olive
brown, inclining to rufous olive on the head ; a narrow frontal band, lores,
feathers round the eye and ear coverts black ; supercilium orange yellow ;
lesser and median wing coverts black, with mesial streaks of golden yellow
near the tips of the feathers ; greater series and quills black, externally edged
with orange brown ; the innermost greater series entirely orange yellow ; tail
particolored, yellow with a broad terminal band of black on all but the two
centre feathers, which are entirely black, and orange yellow only at the base ;
entire under surface of body orange yellow, some of the feathers on the sides
of the breast edged with black ; under wing coverts yellow ; under surface of
quills brown, yellowish buff along the inner webs ; bill blackish above ; lower
mandible yellow ; iris dark brown.
Length. $ to 575 inches ; wing 2.75 to 2'8 ; tail 2-25 ; tarsus i'3 ; culmen
0-6.
The female is olive yellow, or olivaceous above ; orbital ring whitish ;
supercilium and lores dull yellow ; ear coverts olive brown, with whitish shaft
streaks ; cheeks and^ under surface of body deep ochraceous yellow ; lower
abdomen whitish.
Length. 5 inches ; wing 2'6 ; tail 2 ; tarsus 1*2.
Hab The Himalayas. Recorded from Nepaul and Sikkim, and also
Darjeeling, where Jerdon says it is not uncommon and is a permanent resident.
It keeps to the forest in the valleys amongst thick underwood. Hodgson says
it is shy, solitary, and bush-loving. It breeds in the central regions of the
mountains of Nepaul, making a compact saucer-like nest of moss on the
ground under the roots of a tree, under stone, or in holes in banks. The
breeding season is from May to August. Eggs, 3 4 in number, of a verditer-
blue colour ; size 072 x 0*5.
Gen. Hypothymis.
Bill of moderate length, broad, triangular, suddenly narrowed, straight, tip
hooked, and with a distinct notch ; rictal bristles numerous ; nostrils with a
few hairs above it; 4th and 5th quills of wing subequal and longest; tarsus
short ; head with scale-like velvetty plumes.
228. HypOthymiS azurea, Bodd % Tab. PL Enl. p. 41; Sharpe,
Cat. B. r. Mits. iv. p. 274; Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 265. Myiagra
202 MUSCTCAPID^
azurea, Jerd. B. hid. i. p. 45o > No. 290; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p, 198;
id. Sir. F. ii, p. 217, iii. p, 103; F&irbank, Str.F* 1876, p. 257; Arm-
strong. /. c. p. 322 ; Hnme, /. c> p. 395 ; .#/. and Wald^ B. Burnt* p. 131.
The BLACK-NAPED BLUE FLY-CATCHER.
Adult Male. A patch om the nape, a narrow frontal line, chin and a
crescentic band across the fore neck blacky sides of the face, throat and fore*
neck light azure blue ; rest of under surface white, washed with bluish ; the
whole remaining plumage with the lesser wing coverts blue; greater wing
coverts black, externally edged with blue ; wings brown, narrowly edged with
blue ; tail brown, suffused with blue on the central pair of feathers and on
the outer webs of the others ; and with either a very narrow nearly obsolete
white tip, or this is wanting; bill dark blue or plumbeous, the edges and
tip black ; inside of mouth yellow 5 legs plumbeous ; iris dark brown j edges
of eyelids blue.
Length. $% to 6-4 inches; wing 2'8 ; tail 2-85 to 3; tarsus 07; oilmen
0-55 to 075,
The female has the head above azure blue, the sides of the head, chin and
throat duller ; breast greyish brown ; abdomen, flanks and under tail coverts
white, tinged with grey ; wings, black ; rump and upper tail coverts brown ;
tail darker brown, the outer edges washed with blue and all but the central
feathers tipped with white.
Length. 6-5 inches ; wing 2-95 ; tail 3 ; tarsus 07.
Hab. India generally, ranging through the Burmese countries to Pegu,
Tenasserim, and the Malay Peninsula ; also China, Cochin-China, and the Indo-
Burmese countries and Ceylon. Occurs in the Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh,
Bengal, Central India, the Concan, Deccan, South India, Pegu, British Burmah
generally, and Nepaul. It affects every description of jungle, also gardens
orchards, and bamboo groves. It is an active bird and ever on the move,
darting on insects and capturing them on the wing. Jerdon says it is almost
always solitary, flying from tree to tree. It breeds in the low, warm, well-
wooded valleys of the sub-Himalayan ranges up to 3,000 feet, from May to
August, The nest is a delicate cup, made of green grass and coated with
cobwebs, and is generally placed in the fork of a tree, or a bamboo, not far from
the ground. The eggs, 3 to 4 in number, are white, or white with a salmon
tinge, speckled and spotted with pale red and purple, or reddish pink ; size
0-69 x 0-53.
229. Hypothymis occipitalis, Vigors, P. Z. s. 1831, P . 97;
Sharpe, Cat, B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 275. Myiagra tytleri, Beavan Ibis, 1867,
p. 324; Hume, Sir. F. 1874, p. 217. Hypothymis azurea(??^. Bodd) Waldcn,
Ibis, 1872, p. 102 ; Oates, Str. F. 1877, p. 149; Sharpe, Ibis, 1887, p. 18 ;
id. Tr. Lin. Soc. n. s. i. p. 235 ; Tweedale, P. Z. S. 1877, PP- 6 93> 760,
825 et. 1878, p. 284. The ALLIED BLACK-NAPED BLUE FLY-CATCHKR,
203
AdidI Male. Above rich deep azure blue, brighter on the head, where the
feathers are of a vclvetty texture; a frontal line, chin and a nuchal patch
Mack ; wing coverts like the back j quills and tail and the remaining plum
as in //. azttrea, except that the under surface is greyish purple instca. :
white on the breast, abdomen, and under tail coverts ; bill blackish blue ; iris
(lark brown.
Length. ^ inches; wing 2"j ; tail 2 '6; tarsus 0*6; culmen 0-5.
The adult female differs from the male, as does the female of H.azurea, i.e..
it has the back brown, with the head dull azure, the black nape spot being
absent ; the abdomen is whitish and overspread with a shade of bluish grey.
Hab. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra,
Borneo, Philippine Islands, and Port Blair. Occurs also probably in Tenas-
serim.
Having had before me a series of skins of both //. azurea and H. occipiialis,
I am inclined to give the present form specific distinction. Call it a race or
a subspecies, but the constancy of the markings of the under surface and the
brighter colouring of the upper parts are sufficient characters. Hume (Str. F.
ii. p. 217) says the Andamans birds do not differ from the Indian ones in
dimensions, but that the typical adult male of this species has not a particle
of white about the abdomen, vent and under tail coverts. The female, too,
has a dingy lilac grey abdomen, instead of the pure white of the female
of H. azurea.
A nest of this species was found at Aberdeen, South Andamans, on the 2 3rd
April. "It was fastened to the branch of a small tree that overhung the path.
In shape it was an inverted cone, three inches in depth exteriorly and two and
a half inches in diameter; the cavity, which is nearly hemispherical, was two
inches in diameter and ri in depth. The nest is very compactly woven, of soft
vegetable fibre, with which also it is firmly bound against the slender stem to
which it is attached. Towards the exterior of the nest a good deal of green
moss, a number of satiny white cocoons, and a little bright ferruginous fern root
have been incorporated in the nest, and the whole carefully coated, though not
thickly so, with gossamer threads and spider's webs, and the cavity of the nest
is neatly lined with black hair-like moss roots.
The eggs were three in number, very similar to those of H. azurea, but per-
haps more strongly marked ; in shape they are regular broad ovals ; the shell
is smooth and fine, and has a faint gloss. The ground colour varies from pinky
to creamy white, and towards the larger end there is a broad irregular zone
of red or brownish red specks or spots. The eggs measured 0*67 to O'68
x 0-52 to 0-53."
Gen. Xanthopygia. $ka*p*r
Bill broad, the culmen equal to only twice the breadth of the bill at
nobtrils j tarsus moderate ; tail long ; 1st primary short, about one-third the length
204 MUSCICAPID^E,
of the 4th ; the 5th and 6th quills subequal ; feet moderate ; claws slender,
moderately curved.
230. Xanthopygia fuliginosa, ( Vfg.) Sharpe, Cat. . Br. M. iv.
p. 253. Phoenicura fuliginosa, Vig. P. Z. S. 1831, p. 35 ; Myth, J. A. S.
B. xi. p. 190. Phoenicura rubicauda, Hodgs. in Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 82.
Ruticilla fuliginosa, Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 180; Blyth,J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 134;
Moore, P. Z. S. 1854, p. 29 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 142. Ruticilla plumbea,
Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 134. Rhyacornis fuliginosa, Blanford, J. A. S. B.
xli. pt. i. p. 51; Bl. and Wald. B. Burm. p. lol ; Brooks, tr. F. 1875,
p. 240 ; Inglis, Sir. F. 1877, p. 37. Nymphaeus fuliginosus, Hume, Nests
and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 322 ; Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 284. The PLUMBEOUS
WATER- ROBIN.
Male. The whole plumage dull cyaneous ; upper and lower tail coverts,
vent and tail bright chestnut ; wings black, edged externally with bluish or light
slaty grey ; a frontal line and feathers in front of the eye blackish ; bill black ;
gape fleshy white ; irides dark brown ; feet dark horny brown ; claws black.
Length. 4*5 inches; wing 3*05 ; tail 2 g i ; tarsus 0*9 ; culmen 0*45.
The female is dull bluish brown above, the upper and under tail coverts
while ; tail feathers white at base, brown at the tips, the white increasing
obliquely toward the outer tail feather, which is entirely white, except a narrow
edging along the outer web and a small brown tip to the inner one ; two
centre tail feathers rufous brown ; wing coverts like the back, and tipped with a
small spot of ashy white ; primary coverts dark brown ; lores buffy white,
mottled with dusky bases to the feathers ; orbital ring of feathers dull rufous ;
ear coverts dull ashy brown, with broad white shaft streaks ; whole lower
plumage ashy brown, each feather centred with whitish and margined with
paler ashy ; tertiaries brown, edged with rufescent and tipped with whitish.
Length. 4*5 inches ; wing 2*6; tail 1*9; tarsus 0*85; culmen 0-45.
Hob. The Himalayas, ranging to China and Mongolia. It is found in
South China, the hill tracts of Eastern Bengal, and along the whole range of
the Himalayas from Assam to the North- West.
According to Jerdon it lives entirely along rivers and mountain-torrents,
and may often be seen on a wet and slippery rock just above a boiling rapid ;
it climbs up the wet rocks with great facility, and, every now and then alight-
ing on a rock, it spreads its tail, but does not vibrate it like some of the
Redstarts. Its flight is rapid and direct. It feeds on various aquatic insects
and larvae, some kinds of which are always found just at the edge of the water,
and which a wave often leaves behind it on a rock. The nest, made chiefly
of moss, is placed on the shelf of a rock, or in a hole in a bank, and the eggs,
3 to 5 in number, are faint green, marked with pale reddish brown.
OREICOLA. 205
Gen. OreiCOla. Bonap.
Bill much as in Pratincola, but longer and deeper, and barely depressed at
base ; nostrils rounded, situated in a groove, with a few nareal bristles covering
them; rictus strongly bristled ; second primary longer than the secondaries;
wing rounded, about equal to the tail in length; 1st quill short; 2nd, 3rd
and 4th graduated, the 4th longest.
231. Oreicola Jerdoni, Biyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 14 ; Bemoan, i. c. p. 449;
Blanford, Ibis, 1870, p. 466; Blyth and Walden, B. Burnt., p. 101 ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 264. Rhodophila melanoleuca, Jerd. B. Ind.
ii. p. 128 ; iii. p. 872, No, 487. The BLACK AND WHITE BUSH-CHAT.
Entire plumage above, including the thighs, glossy black; entire under
surface pure white ; under wing coverts and axillaries black, with broad white
edgings ; bill and legs black ; iris dark brown.
Length. 5*4 inches; wing 2*55 ; tail 2*6 ; tarsus O'8 ; culmen o'5.
The female is brown above, tinged with rufous, especially on the rump and
upper tail coverts ; tail brown, edged paler ; wings and their coverts brown,
edged with rufous ; sides of the head mixed ashy and brown, the top of head
with dark centres ; under surface of body uniform pale fulvous ; thighs brown ;
under wing coverts brown ; axillaries ashy, tinged with fulvous.
Length. 5-2 inches ; wing 2-5 ; tail 2*5 ; tarsus 0*8 ; culmen 0-5.
Hab. N. W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, and British Burmah. Jerdon procured
this species in Purneah, near the banks of the Ganges, and subsequently along
the reedy edge of some of the rivers in Eastern Bengal and Cachar. Mr. W.
Blanford obtained it in Burmah in long elephant grass, and Dr. Anderson
found it near Bhamo in Upper Burmah.
232. OreiCOla ferrea, *&'. in Gray's Misc. p. 83 ; Sharpe, Cat. B,
Br. Mus. iv. p. 266 ; Oates, B. Br. Burnt, i. p. 283. Saxicola ferrea, Hodgs.
Icon. ined. Passeres, pi. 97. Pratincola ferrea, Bly. J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 129;
Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 127, No. 486; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 318; Hume
and Henderson, Lahore to Yarkand, p. 205, pi. xii ; Bl. B. Burm. p. lot ;
Hume, Sir. F. iii. p. 135 ; Brooks, Str. F. iii. p. 239; Hume, Str. F. viii.
p. 99 ; Scully, Str. F. iii. p. 301. The DARK-GREY BUSH-CHAT.
Male. Entire head above, back and scapulars black, each feather with a
broad edging of deep grey ; sides of the head and chin black ; rump grey with-
out any black ; upper tail coverts black, edged with grey ; wings black, each
feather of the coverts and tertiaries broadly, and the primaries and secondaries
narrowly edged with grey, the inner median coverts tipped with white, the
inner greater coverts wholly white ; tail black, edged with grey on both webs ;
supercilium whitish ; lower plumage white, with a greyish tinge on the breast
and flanks. /// winter dress males have the feathers of the upper plumage
fringed with rusty, and the black centres to the feathers indistinct; rump
28
206 MUSCICAPID^E.
grey ; rest of plumage as in summer. The female is the same throughout the
year. The whole upper plumage is reddish brown, turning to chestnut on
the upper tail coverts; the wings and tail are brown, broadly edged with
chestnut brown ; the sides of the head are reddish brown, mottled with black ;
the chin and throat are whitish ; the remainder of the lower plumage buffy,
more or less pure, according to the age of the plumage.
Length. 5*2 inches; wing 2*55 ; tail 2-45 ; tarsus 0-85 ; oilmen 0-55.
Hab. India and the Burmese countries, ranging eastward into China.
(Sharpe.) According to Jerdon it is found throughout the whole extent of the
Himalayas, and is tolerably common about Darjeeling. It has been recorded
from Arrakan, from Prome in Pegu, and Tounghoo in the hills, also from
Karin. Davison says it is rare in the northern portions of Tenasserim. He
procured specimens in the pine forests of Salween, and Captain Bingham in
the Thoungyeen Valley. It is also recorded from the N. W. Provinces of
India, Oudh, Bengal, and Nepaul.
The Grey Bush-Chat is said to affect the outskirts of forests and brushwood.
It has a pleasing song. Breeds throughout the Himalayas from Murree to
Bhootan during April and May, also June and July, two broods being rared in
the same nest. The nest is placed on the ground under a dense bush, or in a
hole in a bank ; it is cup-shaped, and is composed of grass, twigs or moss, and
lined with fine grass roots, horse-hair or fur. Eggs 4 to 5 in number, similar
to those of Pratincola maura.
Gen. Chelidorynx- Hodgs.
Bill short, broad, suddenly compressed at tip, much deflected and barely
notched ; nostrils covered by long and fine nareal bristles ; gape with long
rictal bristles ; wings rounded ; the 1st four quills graduated ; tail long, round-
ed, firm ; tarsus rather short; feet feeble; lateral toes slightly unequal. (Jerd.).
233. Chelidorynx hypoxantha, Eiytk, J. A. S. B. xii. p. 935 ;
Hodgs., Drawing, No. 386 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 455, No. 294; Hume, Nests
and Eggs, p. 204 ; Wald. in Blyth, B. Burm. p. 132 ; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 93 ;
Scully, Sir. F. viii. p. 275 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 279 ; Oates, B.
Br, Burm. i. p. 269. The YELLOW-BELLIED FANTAIL.
Forehead, a broad supercilium, and the whole lower plumage bright yellow;
lores, feathers round the eye, cheeks and ear coverts dark brown, tinged with
green, the shafts of the latter whitish; tail brown with conspicuous white
shafts, and all the feathers, except the central ones, tipped with white ; upper
plumage and wing coverts olive brown ; wings brown, narrowly margined with
olive brown ; bill black above, the lower mandible yellow ; irides brown ;
gape orange ; feet brownish reddish. (Jerd.)
Hab. Eastern Himalayas, Khasia Hills, and Burmah.
RHIPIDURA. >_>i,,
The Yellow-bellied Fantail has been found at Darjeeling, in Bhootan, be-
tween Simla and Mussoorie, and throughout the Indo-Burmese countries.
Dr. Jerdon says : "This pretty little Fantail is found in Nepaul, Sikkim, and
Bhootan. It affects high altitudes from 6,000 to 8,000 feet and upwards.
It frequents the skirts of large woods and low trees by the roadsides, either
in pairs or small flocks. It is very lively and active, making short sallies after
insects with a low pleasant twitter." A nest brought to him after the young
had flown was an exceedingly neat deep cup, made of moss and lichens, also
hair and wool, well carded into a compact structure. The breeding season
(vide Hume, Nests and Eggs) is May and June. Eggs white, faintly speckled.
Gen. Rhipidlira. - Vig. and Horsf.
Plumage of the head full, no elongated crest; bill rather long, depressed,
wide, except at tip, which is slightly hooked and notched ; nostrils overhung
by long nareal bristles ; rictal bristles long and slender ; wings with the first 4
quills unequally graduated ; tail lengthened, rounded or graduated ; tarsus
moderate; lateral toes unequal.
234. Rhipidura albiCOlliS, Vieill N. Did. d'Hist. Nat. xxvii.
p. 130 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 317 ; Oa/es, B. Burm. i. p. 266.
Rhipidura fuscoventris, Frank!. P. Z. S. 1831, p. 117 ; Jerd. III. Ind. Orn.
(text to pi. ii ); Blyth, J. A. S. B. xii. p. 935, xv. p. 290; Jerd. B. Ind.
i. p. 451, No. 291 ; Cock, and Marsh., Sir. F. 1873, i. p. 352 ; Ball, Sir. F.
i8?4, p. 404; Brooks, Str. F. 1875, p. 235. Leucocerca fuscoventris, Hume,
Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 2OO, No. 291. Leucocerca albicollis, Wald. in
Blyth, B. Burm. p. i$2;ffume, Str. F. iii. p. 103; Cripps, Str. F. vii.
p. 276; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 92; ix. p. 174 (footnote). The WHITE-
THROATED FANTAIL.
Crown, lores, sides of the head, face and chin deep black ; supercilium
white; throat extending to the sides of the neck white, the bases of the
feathers black, causing the white to appear dull ; rest of the plumage dark
sooty brown, paler on the wing ; tail dark brown, all but the central pair of
feathers broadly tipped with white ; bill and legs black.
Length. 7*5 inches ; wing 2-9 to 3- 1 ; tail 4 ; tarsus 07 to 075 ; culmen 07.
The young are browner in colour, the feathers tipped with rufescent, the
under surface washed with the same at the edges of the feathers.
Hab. India and Burmah, also Cashmere and throughout the Himalayas.
The White-throated Fantail is spread over nearly all India. It is found in
the Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Central India, the Deccan, parts of
South India, in British Burmah and Nepaul. Jerdon says: "It is very abun-
dant at Darjeeling in the spring and summer, descending to the valleys and plains
in winter. According to Gates it is spread sparingly over the whole of Pegu,
and as in India generally a permanent resident. It has been procured in the
208 MUSCICAPID/E.
Karin Hills. Davison got it in Tenasserim, where he says it is apparently
confined to the forests of the outer Tenasserim range and adjacent spurs. It
is said to occur commonly in Arrakan, also in Sikkim. It is generally seen in
pairs flitting restlessly about trees, catching small insects on the wing ; has
a sharp twittering note not unlike that of M. paradisi, and is continually
snapping its beak, going from branch to branch with a short, jerky, tumbling
flight. It has the peculiar habit of dancing about with tail outspread.
The Fantail breeds throughout India and in the wooded sub-Himalayan
tracts, also in all the warmer valleys of the outer Himalayan ranges from Debroo-
ghur to Murree, in Eastern and lower Bengal, and in the forest districts of
Central India, in Raipoor, and the tributary mehals, and doubtless in suitable
localities throughout Southern India. The breeding season lasts from May
to July. The nest is a solid, compact, tiny structure, made of grass and coated
with cobwebs, and placed in a fork of a tree not far from the ground. In
shape it is like an inverted cone. The eggs, three in number, are oval, fawn-
yellowish or greenish white, marked with grey specks and spots ; size 0*65 X
0-49.
Rhipidura perlata (S. Mull.) is described from Borneo and Sarawak, but as
it is not certain whether the specimens were from the portions of country
belonging to the British, it is not included in the Avifauna. The upper
surface is of a dark slate colour, duller on the external edges of the wing
coverts ; upper tail coverts black ; cheeks, throat and breast slaty grey spotted
with white, the latter with large ovate spots ; centre of abdomen and under tail
coverts white.
Hab. The Malay Peninsula, Java, Sumatra and Borneo.
235. Rhipidura javanica, Sparrm., Mus. Carls. \\\. pi. 75 ; Sharpe,
Cat. B. Br. Mus. vi. p. 332; Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 267. Leucocerca
javanica, Salvad. Ucc. Borneo, p. 135; Bl. B. Burm. p. 132; Hume and
Dav., Sir. F. vi. p. 226 ; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 92 ; ix. p. 175 (footnote).
Leucocerca infumata, Hume, Str. P. i. p. 455 ; Tweedd. Ibis, 1877, P- 316.
The JAVAN FANTAIL.
Male. Forehead, crown and sides of the head sooty brown ; the whole
upper plumage and the wings brown, washed with rufous ; tail dark brown,
the four outer pairs of feathers broadly tipped with white, the pair next these
narrowly tipped white ; supercilium white ; chin and a band across the upper
breast blackish brown ; flanks, thighs and axillaries brown, the latter broadly
edged with white ; under wing coverts mixed black and white ; the rest of
the lower plumage white; bill black, fleshy at base of lower mandible; irides
thrown.
Length. 7-5 inches; wing 3; tail 3-6 ; tarsus 075; oilmen 07.
RHIPIDURA. 209
The female has the lower plumage from the breast downwards tinged with
buff ; tail dark brown with reddish shafts, all but the two centre feathers tipped
with white ; supercilium as in the male.
Length. 7-2 ; wing 2'8$ ; tail 3' 5 ; tarsus O 75, oilmen 0*6.
Hab. Indo-Chinese countries, Tenasserim and Cochin-China, ranging
down the Malayan Peninsula to the Sunda Islands. (Sharpe.) The British
Museum possesses specimens from East and West Java, Sumatra, Labuan,
Sarawak, Penang, Malacca, Tenasserim and Saigon (Cochin-China). Gates
says it was recorded from Mergui by Blyth. Davison met with it in Tenasserim
in the neighbourhood of the sea coast from Tavoy southwards. It extends
also to Siam.
236. Rhipidura pectoralis, Jtrd. III. Ind. Om. (text to pi. ii.) ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 335. Leucocerca pectoralis (Jerd.), Blyth,
J. A. S. B. xii. p. 935 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 453, No. 293; Butler \ Str. F.
1875, p. 466; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 203 ; id. Str. F. 1876,
pp. 415-42 1. Rhipidura fuscoventris, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 85. Leucocerca
leucogaster, Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 371; Fairbank, Str. F. t 1876, p. 257. The
WHITE-SPOTTED FANTAIL.
Whole head, sides of the face and ear coverts, also chin and collar
across the lower throat, black ; sides of the breast blackish, the lower part
barred with half concealed ovate spots of white ; supercilium from the base of
the bill white ; quills ashy brown on their edges, tail the same, but paler to-
wards the tips of the feathers, which are buffy white ; under surface, except the
black collar, creamy buff, deeper on the under tail coverts ; thighs brown, also
the axillaries, which are ochraceous externally ; bill and feet black ; iris dark
brown.
Length. 7 inches; wing 2*85; tail 3*85 ; tarsus 0*75 ; culmen 0*45.
Hab. South India and Guzerat, also the Deccan (Fairbank), Egutpoora.
Mr. Blanford notes it from the Godaveri Valley, and Jerdon from the Neilgher-
ries. It has the usual habits of the genus, and utters a feeble warbling song.
Captain Butler says it is very common at Mount Aboo. It breeds in March and
April, during which months he took many nests. The nest is described as a very
neat cup, made of fine dry grass stems, thickly coated exteriorly with cobwebs,
many of which are fastened to neighbouring twigs to support the nest. The
lower part often terminates in a fine tapering point. The nest is usually placed
in the fork of one of the small branches of some low thick bush, about three
feet from the ground (sometimes 6 or 7 feet), often overhanging a small stream
or dry nulla. The eggs, usually three in number, are rather round ovals of a
buffy white color, surrounded at the large end with a zone of lavender and olive
brown spots and blotches. When the nest is being robbed the parents evince
the greatest possible anxiety, and fly in great excitement about the nest, near
enough to be caught by the hand.
210 MUSCICAPID/E.
237- Rhipidura albifrontata, Sharps, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p.
338; Oates, B. Br. Burm., i. p. 268; Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 129.
Rhipidura albofrontata, Frank!., P. Z. S. 1831, p. 116; Blyth, J. A. S. B.
xii. p. 935. Leucocerca albofrontata, Jerd., Madras Journ., xi. p. 12 ; id. B.
Ind. i. p. 452 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 20 1 ; Blyth and Wald, B. Burm.
Leucocerca aureola, Hume, Sir. F. i. p. 436; in- p. 104 ; viii. p. 92. Leuco-
cerca burmannica, 'Hume, Sir. F. ix. p. 175 (footnote). The WHITE-BROWED
FANTAIL.
Head, neck, lores, and sides of the face slaty black ; a broad frontal band,
extending over the eyes to the nape, white ; throat white, the feathers black at
their bases ; lower throat black, slightly edged with white ; back and wing-
coverts ashy brown, the latter, including the primary coverts, tipped with trian-
gular spots of white ; axillaries dark brown, edged with whitish ; breast,
abdomen, under tail and thigh coverts white, the feathers of the latter with black
bases ; tail dark brown, all, except the centre ones, broadly tipped white ; bill
and legs black ; irides deep brown.
Length. 6 to 67 inches ; bill at front 0*5 ; wing 3- 3 to 3-15 ; tail 3'6 ; tarsus
075.
Hal. India generally and Ceylon to Burmah, Pegu and N. W. Hima-
layas. Common in the Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh, Central India, Raj-
putana, Kutch, Kattiawar and Jodhpore ; also in Southern India, the Concan
and Deccan, especially in gardens. Breeds in Sind from March to August.
The nest is a very neat cup, made of fine fibres, &c., covered on the outside
and inside with cobweb, and usually attached towards the end of a low branch.
Eggs 2 to 3 in number, not unlike those of the preceding.
Gen. Terpsiphone. Gloger.
Bill long, wide, depressed at base, narrowing at tip, hooked and notched ;
the culmen keeled ; rictal bristles numerous, long and stout, not reaching be-
yond half the length of the bill ; wings rather long and somewhat pointed ; tail
long, cuneate, with the central feathers greatly elongated in the males. Head
crested.
238. Terpsiphone paradisi, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 224 ; Sharpe,
Cat. Passerif. p. 347; Cat. Mus. Heine. Th. i. p. 58. Muscicapa paradisi,
Cuv. Regne. Anim. 1817, i. p. 344; Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 84; Jerd. III.
Ind. Orn. pi. 7. Tchitrea paradisi, Less. Traite, p. 386 ; Gray, Gen. B. i.
p. 259; Hume, Ibis, 1869, p. 9; Jerd. B. Ind. p. 444, No. 288; Str. F.
1873, pp. 403, 474; 1875, p. 102; Murray Hdbk. Zool., fyc. p. 138. THE
PARADISE FLY-CATCHER.
Adult Male. Head with a long occipital crest ; sides of face, neck, and
entire throat glossy steel green; above and below pure white, some of the
feathers more or less black shafted ; quills black, externally white ; the edges of
TERPSIl'HONE. 211
the innermost quills white, with a longitudinal dark mark do\vn the centre;
tail white, with black shafts and narrow blackish edgings to the feathers ; middle
tail feathers elongated; 12-13 inches in length.
Adult Female, Crown of head and crest glossy greenish black ; lores, sides
of face, sides of neck, and throat greyish ; rest of under surface of body
white ; the flanks greyish and tinged with rufous ; back, wing coverts and
inner secondaries bay ; tail light chestnut ; bill bluish ; legs and feet pale blue ;
irides dark brown.
Length of Male. Including elongated tail feathers 17 inches; bill o'8<; ;
wing 3*65; tail 5*5; middle-feathers 13. Female^ length 7*5 ; wing 3*45;
tail 4.
Hab. India and Ceylon to Nepaul and Cashmere. Abundant on the
Malabar Coast and in Southern India. Occurs in the Punjab, N. W. Pro-
vinces, Oudh, Bengal, Rajputana, Central India, Kutch, Kattiawar, Jodhpore
and N. Guzerat. In Sind it is a winter visitant, arriving in September.
The Paradise Fly-Catcher is more or less a permanent resident of forest and
wooded districts of India, and although it occurs in open districts as Sind and
Raj putana, it is only a winter visitant in those parts. The highest elevation
it has been found at is about 5,500 feet. Jerdon says it is very partial to bamboo
jungle. In its habits it is restless and wandering, flitting continually from
branch to branch and tree to tree, and feeds on flies and other insects, always
capturing them on the wing, sometimes picking them off a leaf or bough. It
breeds throughout the outer ranges of the Himalayas, in the warmer valleys,
up to 5,500 feet, also in the Dhoon Terai, Oudh, and the Central Provinces. The
season lasts from May to July. The nest is cup-shaped, and composed of
moss, fibres, and grass, ornamented on the outside with white silky cocoons.
Eggs 3 to 4 in number, longish oval in shape ; in color pinkish white, speckled
with brownish red ; size o - 8i X o'6.
In regard to the change of plumage of the Paradise Fly-Catcher, I entirely
agree with Mr. Sharpe's views, viz., that the changes are not seasonal but
due to age.
The nestlings in their first dress has a dull chestnut plumage, with the under
surface of the body (abdomen) white, and this is the plumage of the females
of the first year, except that the sides of the breast are greyish. In the
second year the chestnut becomes duller, and this is the first stage of the
males, which also have the steel green crown, crest and throat. In the following
stage the long red tail is acquired, the quills and primary coverts are edged
with white, and the inner secondaries only retain some of the rufous of the
back. This is certainly the breeding plumage of the male in the second
year. It is during the third year that the male changes to the full white
plumage during autumn. Once the white plumage is assumed there is no
212 MUSCICAPID^E.
further change, either by moult or other means, and the birds are said to breed
and live throughout the rest of their lives in their white plumage.
239. Terpsiphone affinis, (A. Hay), BL y. A. S. B.xv. p. 292;
Sharpe, Cat. J5. Br. Mus. iv.p. 349 ; Dates, B.Br. Burn. i. p. 261. Tchitrea
affinis (A. Hay\ Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 448,1*0.289; Hume, Str. F. ii.
p. 216. Tchitrea paradisi (Lin.), Hume, Str. F. iii. p. 102. Muscipeta affinis,
Hume and Dav. t Str. F. vi. p. 223, viii. p. 92 ; Scully, Str. F. viii. p. 274.
The BURMESE PARADISE FLY-CATCHER.
.ThQ whole head and neck black, glossed with blue ; lower plumage,
axillaries and under wing coverts pure white ; back, scapulars, rump and
upper wing coverts white, with indistinct blackish shaft stripes ; lesser and
median wing coverts white, the shafts conspicuously black ; greater coverts
and the tertiaries white, the shafts and a portion of the webs on either side black ;
primaries black, edged with white ; secondaries black, very broadly edged with
white on both webs, the white increasing in extent as the feathers approach
the body ; tail white ; the shafts black, except on the central pair, where the
shafts turn white towards the tip ; all the tail feathers finely margined with
black. The female has the forehead and crown black ; the sides of the head, the
chin, throat, breast and a collar round the neck ashy ; the abdomen white,
tinged with buff; the flanks and under tail coverts buff; the whole upper
plumage, lesser wing coverts and tail chestnut ; the median and greater
coverts and all the quills brown edged with chestnut ; the long tail feathers
are wanting at all seasons. Young birds of both sexes are similar to the
female. The young male in its second year loses the buff tinge on the abdo-
men, the ashy parts become darker, and the central tail feathers are replaced
by long ones. In this plumage the male probably breeds for the first time ;
subsequently the chin and throat, as well as the sides of the head, turn black^
and the white plumage of the adult is assumed either by a moult or, as is very
probable, a change in the colour of the feathers only.
Iris hazel-brown ; eyelids plumbeous, the edges tumid and rich blue; inside
of mouth yellow ; bill blue ; the tip and anterior half of the margins black j
legs plumbeous blue, claws dark horn colour.
Length of breeding males as much as 18 inches; of females and non-
breeding males about 8 to 9; tail 4; wing 3*6; tarsus 0*68; bill from gape I.
The tail in adult males is frequently 14 inches in length. (Gates.)
The Burmese Paradise Fly- Catcher is generally distributed over Burmah. In
the plains of Pegu it occurs in large numbers in September and October, in
which months it appears to be migrating locally. To the south it extends
down the Malay Peninsula to the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, also
Flores, and Dr. Tiraud mentions that it is found in Cochin-China. To the
north it occurs in the Indo-Burmese countries, ranging into the Himalayas as
PHILENTOMA. O];>
far as Nepaul. It affects the well-wooded parts of the country, and is mmv
abundant in heavy forest and bamboo jungle than elsewhere. Like T. paradisi
it is generally seen in pairs. At the period of local migration considerable
numbers associate together for a short time. Gates says its nest has not yet
been found.
Gen. Philentoma. Eyton.
General characters of Terpsiphone.
Wing longer than the tail ; second primary shorter than the secondaries,
the third equal to the latter ; wing rounded ; the distance between the
primaries and the secondaries not so great as the length of the culmen.
240. Philentoma velatum (Tern.) Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv.
p. 365 ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 204; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 449;
Walden, Ibis, 1872, p. 373; Sharpe, Ibis, 1877, p. 191 ; Hume and Dav. 1878,
p. 224; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 92; Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 263. The
MAROON-BREASTED FLY-CATCHER.
Male. General colour bright greyish or indigo blue ; forehead, lores, chin,
cheeks and a narrow supercilium black ; ring round the eye, ear coverts and
upper half of the throat also black ; lower half of throat .and breast rich
maroon ; quills black ; the outer webs broadly margined with indigo blue ;
tertiaries like the back and with black shafts ; central tail feather indigo blue,
the rest black on the inner web and blue on the outer ; bill black ; feet dark
greenish black ; iris crimson.
Length. 7*5 inches ; wing 3-85 ; tail 3-3 ; tarsus 075 ; culmen 075.
The female is dull indigo blue throughout, except on the wings and tail,
which are as in the male. The base of the forehead, lores, cheeks, throat
and breast black.
Length. 7*9 inches; wing 3-8 ; tail 3-5 ; tarsus 07; culmen 07.
The following is a description by Mr. Hume of a young male : " Entire
head and neck all round, chin, throat, breast and, in fact, all the lower parts, a
dull chestnut, with only here and there on the lower parts patches of new dull
cyaneous feathers appearing ; median and the secondary and tertiary greater
coverts tipped with chestnut."
Hab. Southern half of the Tenasserim Provinces, Malayan Peninsula,
Sumatra, and Borneo. (Sharpe.) Recorded by Mr. Sharpe as from Malacca,
Sumatra, Sarawak, and Bintulu (N. W. Borneo).
Oates says the Maroon-breasted Fly-Catcher occurs in Tenasserim, and tint
Mr. Davison met with it at numerous places from Meetan. at the foot ot the
Mooleyit, to Malewoon at the extreme south. It is a constant resident.
According to Davison it keeps entirely to the evergreen forests, never straying
29
214 MUSClCAPIOffi.
even to their outskirts. It has always been met with in pairs. It has a harsh,
grating, metallic-sounding note. Mr. Hume in vol. ix., p. 113, describes an
allied species from the Malayan Peninsula as P. intermedium*
241. Philentoma pyrrhopterum (Tem.) Sharpe, Cat. B. Br,
Mus. iv. p. 366 j Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 449; Salvad, Ucc. Born. i. p. 138 ; Hume
and Dav-, vi. p. 223 ; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 92 j Oates, B. Br. Burm.
i. p. 264. Philentoma castaneum, Eyton, Ann. Nat. Hist., Ser. i. xvi. p. 220 5
Sharpe, Ibis, 1877, p, 19, The CHESTNUT-WINGED FLY-CATCHER.
Male. Whole head and neck, the breast, back, and lesser wing coverts
bluish grey or indigo blue, less deep on the forehead and over the eye ; lower
back and rump rufescent grey ; upper tail coverts, tail, some of the outer
webs of the scapulars, the tertiaries and most of the outer webs of the secon-
daries bright chestnut ; remainder of the quills dark brown ; the outer webs
of the primaries margined with greyish blue, in some with a reddish tinge;
primary coverts blue centred with blackish; greater wing coverts chestnut;
lower plumage pale buff, becoming paler on the vent and under tail coverts ;
bill black ; irides crimson.
Length. 6*8 to 7-5 ; wing 3-12 to 3-87 ; tail 275 to 3-3 ; tarsus 075.
The female has the forehead, crown, nape and sides of the head dull bluish
or greenish grey ; the back, scapulars, lesser and median wing coverts, rump
and upper tail coverts dull earthy brown ; chin, throat and breast fulvous
white, more distinctly buffy at the base of the throat ; rest of under surface
sordid white, with more or less of a creamy tinge, washed with fulvescent ;
wings and tail as in the male ; edge of the wing and coverts immediately
under it blue ; wing lining pale pinkish buff ; legs dark greenish black ;
irides crimson.
Length. 675 to 7*9; wing 3*8 to 3*12 j tail 2 '62 to 3 ; tarsus 0*65 to 7?
culmen 072 to 0*95.
Hab. The Chestnut-winged Fly- Catcher occurs in the extreme south of
Tenasserim, where it was observed by Davison in the evergreen forests about
Bankasoon and Malewoon. It extends down the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra,
Malacca, and Borneo, and Dr. Tiraud records it from Cochin-China. Davison
says its habits are similar to those of P. velatum.
Gen. Clllicicapa. Swinkoe.
Head subcrested ; bill moderately broad, flattened, outline bowed in
towards the tip ; nareal bristles long and strong ; rictal bristles slightly shorter j
wing rather pointed ; 1st quill shorter than the second ; 4th and 5th very little
longer than the third ; tarsus short, feeble ; tail nearly even,
242. CullCicapa Ceylonensis, Swainson, Zool. III. Ser. i. pi. xiii. ?
Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 369; Oates, B. Br. Burm., i. p. 274 9
Hume, Str, F. viii. p. 92 ; Scully, Str. F, viii. p. 275 j Legge, B. Ceylon,
CRYPTOLOPHA. 215
p. 410. Cryptolopha cincrcocapilla, (Hut ion) J. A. S. B. xvii. p. 689; J er <1.
B. Ind. i. p. 455, No. 295. Myiolestes cinercocapilla (Vicill.), Hume, Nests
and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 205 ; Ball, Sir. F. 1874, pp. 404, 406; Wald, B.
Burm. p. 132. Culicicapa cinereocapilla, Hume, Sir. F. iii. p. 104. The
GREY-HEADED FLY-CATCHER.
Head, neck and breast ashy, darker on the crown, where the feathers are
dark centred ; under surface bright yellow ; the under wing coverts slightly
paler ; lores and edges of the eyelids whitish ; back, rump, scapulars and upper
tail coverts greenish yellow ; wings and their coverts dark brown ; the outer
webs of all the feathers, except the first two primaries, edged with bright
greenish yellow ; the lesser wing coverts more broadly edged with the same on
both webs ; tail dark brown, the outer webs of all except the outer pair edged
with greenish yellow ; bill brown, paler at gape ; mouth yellow ; iris dark
hazel ; legs yellowish brown.
Hab. The greater portion of India and Ceylon, extending through the
Burmese countries down the Malay Peninsula to the islands of Java, the
Philippines, and Celebes. (Sharpe.) According to Jerdon the Grey-headed Fly-
Catcher is dispersed from the Himalayas to the Neilgherries, and spreads on
the other side of the Bay through Assam, into Arrakan, Burmah, and Tenas-
serim. In South India, on the summit of the Neilgherries, it is very -common.
Towards the north and in Central India it is occasionally met with, and is not
rare in Lower Bengal. Gates found it spread over the whole of Pegu as a
winter visitor, both in the hills and plains. Davison states it is generally distri-
buted throughout the whole of Tenasserim. Captain Bingham found it in the
Thoungyeen Valley, and Captain Wardlaw-Ramsay in the hills in Karin. It
prefers rather dense jungle in general, or shady groves and tangled thickets, is
tolerably active and lively, making frequent sallies after small insects. It is
often seen in small parties, occasionally singly or in pairs, and has a pleasant,
but feeble, chirping song. It breeds in the Himalayas and in the Neilgherries at
considerable elevations. Mutton obtained a nest at Mussoorie. It was placed
against the trunk of a tree. It is sometimes placed against a rock. In shape the
nest is like a watch-pocket, made of moss, and fixed to the moss of the tree by
spider's web and lined with fine fibres. It breeds during April and May. The
eggs, 4 in number, are dingy yellowish white, minutely spotted with pale green-
ish brown, or purplish grey, with a broad ring of the same near the large end ;
size 0*62 x o 48.
Gen. Cryptolopha. Swains.
Bill depressed, rather wide ; culmen moderately keeled ; rictal bristles well
developed ; nostrils concealed by bristles.
243. Cryptolopha burkii, Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 395.
Sylvia burkii, Burton, P. Z. S., 1835, p. 153. Culicepeta burkii, Myth, J.
A. S. B. xii. p. 968 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 199, No. 569 ; Blyth and Waldcn,
B. Burm. p. 107; Str. F. iii. p. 140. The BLACK-BROWED WARBLER.
216 MUSCICAPID/E.
Above bright yellowish olive green, rather brighter on the rump and upper
tail coverts ; wing coverts like the back, the greater series tipped with yellow,
forming an indistinct bar across the wing ; the quills ashy brown with yellow-
ish green margins, less distinct on the secondaries ; tail feathers ashy brown,
margined with yellowish green, the inner web of the outermost nearly all
white, also the terminal half of the next ; crown of the head yellowish green,
on each side of which is a broad black band slightly shaded with grey below ;
lores, eyebrow and sides of face olive yellow ,- round the eye a circlet of
bright yellow feathers ; cheeks, sides of the neck, under wing coverts and
under surface of the body bright yellow ; bill dusky above, beneath ambef ;
legs brownish yellow ; irides dark brown.
Length. 4 to 4/3 inches ; wing 2*2 ; tail 1*75 to r85 ; tarsus 0*7 ; culmen
0-5.
The female is much duller in colour.
Hab. Northern India, ranging to Nepaul.
The Black-browed Warbler occurs in the N. W. Provinces of India, also in
Oudh. The specimens in the National Collection are from between Simla and
Mussoorie, Nepaul, Behar, Darjeeling, and Bhootan. Jerdon, quoting Blyth,
says " it is not uncommon in the neighbourhood of Calcutta during the cold
season, and, like the rest of its tribe, retires to the sub-Himalayan region to
breed." Of its nidification there is no record.
244- Cry ptolopha cantatrix, Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 397.
Motacilla cantator, Tick, J. A. S. B. ii. p. 576. Culicepeta cantator, Jerd. B.
Ind. ii. p. 200, No. 570; Seebohm, His, 1878, p. 490. Abrornis cantator, Hume,
Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 370; id. Sir. F. viii. p. 102; Ball, Str. F. 1874,
p. 415. Abrornis chrysea, Wald. in Blyth' s B. Burm. p. 1 06; Hume, Str.
F. 1877, p. 56. Cryptolopha cantator, Gates, B. Burm. i. p. 270. The
LESSER BLACK-BROWED FLY-CATCHER.
Olive green above, yellower on the rump and upper tail coverts ; chin, lores,
throat, cheeks, supercilia, sides of neck, lower tail coverts and edge of the wing
bright yellow ; quills dusky brown, externally edged with bright yellow, greyish
at the end of the primaries ; greater wing coverts edged and tipped with yellow,
forming a bar across the wing ; tail feathers light brown, externally edged with
olive yellow ; the outer feathers edged with white towards the tip of the inner
web ; crown of head olive yellow, on each side of which a broad black band
extending from the base of the bill to the sides of the nape ; feathers round
the eye bright yellow ; a dusky spot in front of the eye ; breast yellow ; abdomen
and flanks greyish white, or silky white-, vent, thighs and under tail coverts
bright yellow ; bill brown; the lower mandible yellowish white; legs brown
or fleshy yellow ; irides hazel.
Length. 37 to 4 inches ; wing 2*25 ; tail 17 to r8 ; culmen 0-45 to o'5S ;
tarsus 0*65.
CKYI'TOI.OI'IIA. 0]-
Hab. Bengal, Central India, Assam, Nepaul and Kriti^h lUirmah. In the
l.Uier it has been obtained in the Kami Hills, near Toun-hon, l,y Captain
\Yardla\v-Ramsay. Breeds in the Himalayas and Sikkim during May, and
probably June also. A nest, containing a single egg, was sent to Mr. Hume
in May from Sikkim. The egg was pure glossy white, oval in shape, and in
size O'6 x 0*49.
245. Crypt Olopha affinis (Hodgs.) Sharpe, Cat. B. Yr. Mus. iv.
p. 398. Culicepeta tephrocephala, Anders., P. Z. S. 1871, p. 213; Bl. and
IVald., B. Burm. p. 107 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 626, pi. 50 ; Hume, Sir.
F. 1874, p. 479; Hume and Dav., Sir. F. 1878, p. 358; Seebohm, Ibis,
1878, p. 490; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 102 ; Dav. el. Oust. Ois Chine, p. 273;
Gates, B. Burm. i. p. 271. Abrornis affinis (Hodgs.), Jerd. B. 2nd. ii. p. 204,
No. 576. The ALLIED or ANDERSON'S WARBLER.
Forehead, lores, cheeks, feathers above the eyes, the ear coverts, sides of
the neck, back, rump and upper tail coverts yellowish green ; a broad superci-
lium and a streak on each side of the crown slate coloured ; crown of
head and nape ashy grey, wing coverts broadly margined with yellowish
green; feathers on the edges of the eyelids and the whole lower plumage, also
the under wing and tail coverts, bright yellow ; primaries and secondaries
sepia-brown, the outer webs margined with yellowish green ; wing coverts con-
colorous with the back ; tertiaries the same ; tail feathers sepia brown, the four
central pairs washed with the same yellowish green as the back, the two outer
pairs white for the whole extent of the inner web ; upper mandible brown,
lower yellow ; mouth yellow ; feet and claws yellowish horn ; legs yellow.
Length. 3*8 to 4*25 ; wing 2* I to 2'2 ; tail r8; tarsus 07 100*75 '> bill from
gape 0-65.
Hab. Eastern Himalayas, extending to Nepaul, the Burmese countries and
Western China. (Sharpe.)
This Warbler, according to Gates, is very abundant throughout Pegu in the
winter months. It has been obtained in the Karin Hills at 3,500 feet eleva-
tion. In Tenasserim, Davison states that it is sparingly distributed throughout
the northern and central portions of the division. Captain Bingham found it in
the Thoungyeen Valley. Dr. Anderson described it under the name of C.
tephrocephalus from the hills to the east of Bhamo. He also found it in Yunnan
and in Western China. It leaves Burmah during March and April, but where
it goes to is not known ; it is, however, suggested that its breeding haunts are
in some part of China.
246. Cryptolopha xanthoschista (TJodgs.) Sharpe, Cat. B. Br.
Mus. iv. p. 398 ; Gales, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 272. Phyllopneuste xanthoschistos,
HoJgs. in Grays Zool. Mis. p. 82. Abrornis xanthoschistos, Jtnt. J>. Ind.
ii. p. 202, No. 572; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 370; Hume and Henderson,
218 , MUSCICAPID^.
Lah to Yarkand, p. 220 pi. xx. fig. 2 ; Hume, Sir. F.i. p. 493 ; Brooks, Sir.
F. iii. p. 245 ; viii. p. 483 ; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 102; Scully, Sir. F. vii.
p. 309. Abrornis albosuperciliaris (Bl) apud. Jerd. B. India, ii. p. 202, No.
573 ; Hume and Henders. Lah t6 Yark. pi. xx. fig. i ; Hume, Sir. F. i.
p. 493; Brooks, Str. F. iii. p. 245 j Hume y Str. F. vii. p. 245. HODGSON'S
GREY-HEADED FLY-CATCHER.
Head, nape and back dark ashy grey in some, the latter washed with yellowish ;
wing coverts, rump and upper tail coverts olive yellow ; quills dusky brown,
externally edged with olive yellow, brighter on the primaries ; tail dark ashy
brown, edged narrowly with white on the inner web, increasing in extent to-
wards the two outermost, which are almost entirely white, except at the base and
towards the tip of the outer web ; outer web of rest of tail feathers edged with
olive yellow ; a white supercilium from the nostril to the nape ; lores dark grey ;
ear coverts greyish white ; feathers below the eye the same ; cheeks and entire
under surface of body bright yellow ; the feathers on the flanks with a subter-
minal shade of white ; under wing coverts and edge of the wing yellow ;
axillaries whitish, washed with yellow ; bill, the upper mandible, brownish
black ; the lower horny yellow j irides blackish brown.
Length*^ to 4-2 inches; wing 2'i to 2'2 ; tail 17 to r8 ; tarsus
075 ; culmen 0*4 ; from gape 0-5.
Hab. The Himalayas extending to Assam, Arrakan, British Burmah and
Nepaul. It occurs in the Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Bengal, Central India, the
Khasia Hills, Burmah and Nepaul, also Bhootan. Mr. Sharpe, under "Obs."
(Cat. B. Br. Mus. vol. iv. p. 399), says : " The specimens of this bird from the
North Western Himalayas are generally rather more ashy brown on the head
and are rather larger ; in this state they are Cryptolopha albosuperciliaris of
Indian authors. These birds can, however, be matched by some Nepaulese
examples. In the Eastern Himalayas, the specimens have the head rather
clearer blue grey, and are smaller in dimensions. (Crypfohpha xanthoschista,
Hodgs. and C. Jerdoni, Brooks)'' Hodgson's Grey-headed Warbler breeds in
Nepaul and Sikkim up to 6,000 or 7,000 feet during April and May. It nests
on the ground under thick bushes, under roots of trees, or in holes in banks.
Mr. Gammie found a nest in Sikkim : it was a domed structure made of
moss. The eggs are pure white, four in number, and in size 0*56 x 0*47.
247. Cryptolopha SChisticepS, (Hodgs.), Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus.
iv. p. 400. Abrornis schisticeps, Hodgs. Icon. ined. Passeres> pi. 57, fig. 6;
pi. 28, fig. 2; pi. 64, fig. I ; Seebohm, Ibis, 1878, p. 490; Jerd. B. Ind. ii.
p. 20 1, No. 571. Abrornis melanotis, Jerd,. and Blyth, P. Z. S. 1861,
p. 200. The BLACK-EARED WARBLER.
Head and hind neck dark slaty grey ; a narrow frontal line, lores, feathers
in front of and below the eye, ear coverts and sides of the neck slaty grey ;
forehead and a very broad eye-brow brilliant yellow ; the cheeks, throat,
CRYPTOLOPHA. 219
foreneck and upper breast dull yellow ; sides of the breast dull greenish ; lower
breast and abdomen white ; thig-hs and under tail coverts dull olive yellow, also
the wing coverts ; quills dusky blackish ; the primaries narrowly edged with
yellow, and the secondaries broadly washed with the same ; tail feathers dusky
brown, with olive yellow on the outer web, and whitish on the inner web ; the
inner web of the outermost entirely white ; under wing coverts and edge of
wing bright yellow ; axillaries very pale yellow ; bill and legs horny.
Length. 3-5 inches; wing 175 ; tail 1-55 ; tarsus Cr6 ; culmen 0-35.
Hab. The Himalayas, extending to Sikkim and Nepaul. Dr. Jerdon re-
cords it from Nepaul, Mussoorie, and Sikkim. Hutton found the nest at
Mussoorie in March and May, and says that it breeds at about 5,000 feet. It
makes a round ball-like nest, with a lateral entrance. The nest is composed of
grass, moss, wool, cotton, feathers, thread, and hair. The eggs, three in
number, are oval and glossy white, and in size 0-82 x 0-48.
248. Cryptolopha superciliaris, Tick, J. A. S. B t xxviii.
p. 414; S/iarpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 402; Oates, B. Br. Burm, i, p. 273.
Abrornis superciliaris (Tick), Jerd. B- Ind. ii. p. 203; Hume, Str. F. iii.
p. 140; Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi. p. 359; Anders., Yunnan Exp. p. 626;
Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 102 ; B ing ham, Str. F. ix. p. 188. Abrornis albigularis,
Jerd. and Blyth, P. Z. S. 1861, p. 200 (nee. Moore). Abrornis flaviventris,
Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 203, No. 5 74. The YELLOW-BELLIED WARBLER.
Forehead and crown light ashy brown, slightly washed with olive ; rest of
upper plumage dull olive brown ; supercilium from the bill over the eye to
the nape white ; lores and behind the eye brown ; cheeks and ear coverts
greyish white ; chin, throat, foreneck and upper breast white, rest of lower sur-
face bright yellow, paler on the abdomen ; under wing coverts whitish, washed
with yellow ; quills and wing coverts dark brown, edged with olive green; tail
brown, edged on the outer web with olive, and on the inner with pale rufous
for the greater part of the web ; bill more or less of a dark olive brown or horn
colour, plumbeous at the base of the lower mandible; inside of mouth yellow;
eyelids grey ; iris dark brown ; legs yellow.
Length $2 to 4-4 inches; wing 2-05 to 2'i ; tail 175 to rS; tarsus 075;
culmen o - 4S.
Hab.T^Q Himalayas, British Burmah and Java ; also Sikkim and Nepaul.
Jerdon found this species at Darjeeling. It also occurs in Upper Bengal.
Gates obtained it in various parts of Pegu, both on the hills and in the plains.
Captain Wardlaw- Ramsay procured it in the Tounghoo Hills, and alsoin Karin,
while in Tenasserim Davison states it is sparingly distributed throughout the
country. Captain Bingham found the nest in March near the Zammee River
in Tenasserim. It consisted of a mass of fibres placed in a bamboo which
had been cut down, and then left leaning against a bush. The eggs, three in
number, are white, speckled with pinkish claret colour.
220 MUSCICAPID^E.
249. Cryptolopha poliogenys, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 44 i ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vol. iv. p. 403. Abrornis poliogenys, Blyth, Cat.
B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 183 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 203, No. 575; Seebohm, Ibis,
1878, p. 490. The GREY-CHEEKED WARBLER.
Above yellowish green, brighter yellow on the rump; tail dark brown,
edged with olive green ; the three outermost feathers greenish dusky on the
terminal half of the outer web ; the basal half and whole of the inner web
white ; quills and wing coverts dark brown, narrowly edged with yellowish
green ; the greater coverts tipped with bright yellow, and forming a bar across
the wing; head slaty grey; the sides of the crown blackish, forming a broad
stripe reaching to the nape ; sides of the face ashy grey ; the ear coverts slightly
streaked with black ; orbital ring of feathers white ; lores and fore part of
cheeks ashy white, the feathers with dusky bases ; chin white ; rest of under
surface, including under wing coverts, bright golden yellow ; sides of the
breast washed with olive green ; bill blackish, horny above, yellowish beneath ;
feet yellowish horny.
Length. 3*8 to 4*25 inches; wing 1*9 to 2 ; tail 175 ; tarsus 07; culmen
0-4.
//fl3._The Himalayas, extending to Nepaul and Sikkim.
Dr. Jerdon found this species near Darjeeling and in the Khasia Hills, where,
he says, it probably breeds. There is no record of its habits, nor of its nidifi-
cation. It is is also found in Upper Bengal.
250. Cryptolopha CastaneOCepS, (Bp.} Sharpe, Cat. Birds Br.
Mus. iv. p. 404. Abrornis castaneoceps, Hodgs. Icon. ined. Passeres. pi. 57,
fig. 7; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 205, No. 578; Seebohm* Ibis, 1878, p. 490.
Culicepeta castaneoceps, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 442. Reguloides castaneo-
ceps, Bp. Consp. i. p. 202; Jerd. and Blyth, P. Z. S., 1861, p. 2OO. The
CHESTNUT- HEADED WARBLER.
Crown of head chestnut, with a black stripe running down the sides of the
nape from above and behind each eye ; lores white, tipped with black ;
orbital ring of feathers white ; sides of the face grey, as also the sides of the
neck ; a white stripe below the black streak on the sides of the nape ; cheeks,
throat and upper breast light greyish ; the middle of the abdomen whitish ;
rest of under surface, including the under wing coverts, axillaries and edge of
the wing bright yellow ; back olive yellow ; rump and upper tail coverts
bright yellow, the least wing coverts the same but rather brighter ; median
and greater coverts dark brown, edged and tipped with bright yellow, forming
a double bar across the wing ; quills dark brown, externally edged with olive
yellow; tail light brown, edged with olive yellow, the two outermost feathers
white, brown only along the tip of the outer web ; bill dark horn brown, the
lower mandible paler ; legs pale.
CRYPTOLOPHA. 221
. 3-5 to 4 inches ; wing 1-85 to 1-95 ; tail 1-5 to r6; tarsus 0-65 ;
culmen O'4.
Hab. The Himalayas, Upper Bengal, Nepaul and Sikkiin.
Very little is known of the habits of this species. It is said to breed in
Nepaul.
251. Cryptolopha albigularis, (Hodgs. />) Sharpe, Cat. D. Br.
Mus. iv. p. 405. Abrornis albogularis, Hodgs. Icon. ined. Passeres, App.
pi. 46; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 204, No. 577; Seebohm, Ibis., 1878, p. 490. The
WHITE-THROATED WARBLER.
Forehead, eyebrow, lores, sides of the face, hind-crown and nape rufous
fawn colour ; crown dusky, the feathers tipped with black, and forming, as it
were, a double row or band down the crown ; throat whitish ; back yellowish
green ; the rump whitish, washed with yellow ; upper tail coverts olive yellow ;
wing coverts and quills dark brown, edged with yellowish green ; tail light
brown, margined with olive yellow; along the outer webs, breast and sides of
the body pale olive yellow ; the middle of the abdomen white ; thighs and
under tail and under wing coverts, also the edge of the wing, olive yellow ;
axillaries white, washed with yellow ; rictal bristles as long as the bill ; bill
and legs pale fleshy.
Length. 3-3 to 3-5 inches ; wing 175 ; tail 1-5 ; tarsus 06; culmen 0-35.
Hab. Nepaul and Darjeeling.
Nothing is on record of its habits and nidification.
252. Cryptolopha hodgSOni, Moore, App. to Horsf. and Moore,
Cat. 11. J\Ius. A'. 1. Co. i. p. 412; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 406.
Tickellia hodgsoni, Jerd. and Rlyth, P. Z. S., 1861, p. 199; Jerd. B. Ind.
ii. p. 206; Seebohm, Ibis, 1878, p. 490. The BROAD-BILLED WARBLER.
Above olive green, yellowish on the rump and upper tail coverts ; forehead
and crown deep ferruginous ; lores white with blackish tips ; sides of the head,
eyebrow, and sides of the neck dull grey; throat lighter ashy grey, nearly
white on the chin; rest of under surface bright yellow; under wing coverts and
axillaries light yellow ; tail brown, margined with olive, the two outermost
feathers white along the inner web and brown on the outer ; quills and wing
coverts dull brown, edged with olive green ; bill horny yellowish at base be-
low ; legs yellowish.
Length. 3-5 to 375 inches; wing 175 to 1-95; tail rS ; tarsus 0-65;
culmen 0*3.
Hab.T\\Q Eastern Himalayas.
Jerdon says he procured one specimen only of this pretty Warbler at Dar-
jeeling. He thinks Hodgson's specimens were probably from Sikkim, and not
Nepaul.
30
222 MUSCICAPID/E.
253. Cryptolopha flavigularis, Godw.- Austen, 7. A. S. B.
xlvii. p. 19, 1878 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. J3r. Mus. iv. p. 474, App. The YELLOW-
THROATED WARBLER.
Above ashy grey, purer grey on rump, rather darker on the head ; wings
pale amber brown ; tail ash brown ; the two outer feathers white on the
inner web, the next with a narrow edging of white ; lores white ; ear coverts
white and grey ; chin pure yellow, fading on the throat ; breast, nape, flanks
and thighs greyish white ; whitish on the breast ; a very faint yellow tinge on
the abdomen ; under tail coverts white ; a small patch of white on the inner
shoulder of the wing ; bill dark brown, buff below.
Length. 3-6 to 3-8 inches; wing 1*84; tail r8 ; tarsus 0-67; bill from
front 0*3. (Godwin-Austen and Sharpe.)
Hab. Sadiya near Brahmakhund, and hills of Eastern Bengal.
Gen. StOparola. Blyth.
Bill short, depressed ; the culm en not equal to twice its breadth at the gape ;
tip-hooked; rictal bristles numerous; wing rather long; 3rd, 4th and 5th
quills subequal ; tail moderate ; tarsus short.
254- StOparola albicaudata, Jerd. Madras, Journ. xi. p. 16 ;
id. Illust. Ind. Orn. pi. 14 ; Myth, J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 125 ; id. Cat. B. Mus.
A. S. B. p. 175 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Indian B. p. 210; Fairbank, Sir.
F. 1877, P' 4 O2> Eumyias albicaudata, (Horsf. & Moore] Jerd. B. Ind.,
i p. 464, No. 302 ; Hume> Sir. F. 1876, p. 396. The NEILGHERRY BLUE FLY-
CATCHER.
Above deep indigo blue, with a slight lazuline blue eyebrow ; forehead and
head also inclining to lazuline blue ; wing coverts and quills dusky black, exter-
nally edged with lazuline blue ; primary coverts dark brown, edged externally
with blue ; tail the same, the base of all the feathers, except the two centre
ones, white ; central tail feathers white-shafted ; under surface of body indigo
blue, rather greyish on the lower flanks and abdomen ; the lower abdomen and
vent slightly whitish ; under tails coverts dusky, with whitish edges to the fea-
thers ; bill and legs black ; irides dark brown.
Length. -6 to 6-5 inches ; wing 3-05 to 3*2 ; tail 2*3 to 2*10; tarsus 075 ;
culmen o'45.
Hal. South India.
This species is confined to Southern India, nearly throughout the high
mountain ranges of which it is found. The Neilgherries and Travancore, also
Madras, are noted as localities.
In Travancore, Mr. Bourdillon says it is common, though not abundant, up
to 2,000 feet elevation, and is frequently observed in the forest wherever there
are heaps of unburnt brushwood lying about. It is a winter visitor there from
December to March. In the Neilgherries Jerdon says it is very common,
SIPHIA.
223
generally in parties of five or six, capturing insects in the air. It makes its
nest in a slight hole in a bank. The eggs are three in number, lon-ish ovals
in colour varying from creamy white to warm cafe an lait with brown red
or very obscure markings; size 0*8 1 x 0*59.
255. Stoparola melanops, Vigors., P. z. s. 1831, p . 171 . Gould.
Cent. Him. B. pi. 6; Blyth, J.A.S. B. xvi. p. 174 ; Uume, Nes/s and Egs
Ind. B. p. 208 ; Adams, Str. F. 1874, p. 338 - Ball t. c. p. 405 ; Butler, Sir.
F. 1877, p. 230; Hume and Dav., op. cit. 1878, p. 227; Sharpe, Cat, B. Br.
Mus. iv. p. 438 ; Oates, B. B. Burnt, i. p. 285. Eumyias melanops ( Vig.),
Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 463, No. 301 ; Armstrong, Str. F. iv. p. 323 ; Anderson
Yunnan Exped. p. 622. Glaucomyias melanops, Scully, Str. F. viii. p. 277.
The VERDITER FLY-CATCHER.
Lores, feathers in front of the eye and at the base of the upper mandible
black, rest of the plumage verditer-blue, brightest on the forehead, chin, throat,
breast and upper tail coverts ; under tail coverts broadly tipped with white ;
tail blue, the shafts black and the inner webs edged with brown ; primaries and
secondaries blue on the outer and black on the inner webs ; tertiaries and
upper wing coverts blue ; bill and legs black; irides deep brown.
Length. 6 inches ; wing 3-2 to 3-4 ; tail 275 to 2-8 ; tarsus 0-65 ; culmen
0-45-
The female is like the male, but has the blue of the head and body much
duller, and the chin and throat are mottled with whitish.
Hal. Indian Peninsula, Burmese countries, and Sikkim, ranging into South-
em China. (Sharpe.) It visits the plains of India and Burmah during winter,
and is generally spread throughout the better-wooded parts of the country. It
also occurs in Arrakan. Oates found it in Pegu, Blanford got it at Bassein ;
Captain Ward law- Ramsay on the Karin Hills, Mr. Davison in Tenasserim,
and Captain Bingham in the Thoungyeen Valley. It breeds in the Himalayas,
making a neat cup-shapped nest, composed of moss, lined with fibres and hair,
which is generally placed under a wooden bridge, or under the eaves of roofs.
The eggs, four in number, are oval, in colour dull white, and with rufous spots.
Gen. Siphia. Hodgs.
Bill moderately wide ; length of culmen equal to twice the breadth of the
base at gape, slightly hooked at tip and notched ; nostrils covered by bristles and
frontal plumes ; wings pointed and long, but not reaching to the tip of the
tail ; 4th quill longest ; hind claw moderate and curved, not as long as the hind
toe ; toes scutate at base of claws ; tarsus as long as hind toe and claw.
256. Siphia pallidipes, Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 444;
Muscicapa pallipes, Jerd., Madras Journ. xi. p. 15. Cyornis pallipes (Blyth),
Jerd. B. Ind. I. p. 469, No. 309; Fair bank, Str. F. 1876, p. 357; Hume,
t. c. p. 397. The WHITE-BELLIED BLUE FLY-CATCHER.
224 MUSCICAPID/E.
Above dull blue, the forehead and eyebrow inclining to cobalt ; lores and
feathers in front of the eye black ; sides of face, throat and breast deep blue ;
wing coverts blue, the least series brighter and more cobalt ; quills blackish,
externally dull blue ; tail blue, the feathers dusky on their inner webs ;
under surface of body pure white, shaded with ashy on the upper breast and
bluish grey on the flanks ; thighs dull blue ; under wing coverts and axillaries
white ; edge of wing blue ; bill black ; legs and feet flesh colour ; iris brown.
Length. 57 to 6*5 inches > wing 2-9 to 3; tail 2-5 j culmen o'6 j tarsus
075-
Hab. Southern India and the Concan. It is recorded from Coorg in
Mysore, Sirci above Honore and the Coonoor Pass of the Neilgherries, and
Dr. Fairbank got it in deep ravines near (Parwar ?) Carwar on the Goa
frontier. Jerdon says it is probably an inhabitant of the upland forests of the
Western Ghauts ; he observed it on the Neilgherries darting on insects from
its perch on a low branch. Mr. Bourdillon also records it from the Travan-
core Hills.
257. Siphia UniCOlor, (Blyth) Sharpe, Cat. B Br. Mm. iv. p. 444-
Cyornis unicolor, Blyth. J. A. S. B- xii. pp. 941, 1007 ; id., Cat. B. Mus. t
A. S. B.p. 173; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 465, No. 303; Hume, Sir. F. 1875,
p. 401; 1876, p. 398; 1877, p. 489; Sharpe, Ibis, 1878, p. 418; Godw.-
Austen, J. A. S. B. 1878, p. 15. The PALE BLUE FLY-CATCHER.
Above light blue, inclining to cobalt on the rump ; forehead, over the eye,
as also the feathers round the eye, cobalt; sides of the face deep blue,
paler under the eye and fore part of the cheeks ; lores blue black ; wing
coverts bright blue ; the greater series and quills blackish, edged externally
with bright blue ; tail deep blue, all, except the two centre feathers, blackish
on the inner webs ; throat and breast light greyish blue, centre of abdomen and
under tail coverts whitish ; rest of the under surface of body very pale blue ;
under wing coverts fulvous or yellowish fawn ; edge of the wing blue ; bill
and legs black.
Length. 6 to 675 inches ; wing 3-2 ; tail 2'8 ; tarsus 07 ; culmen 0-5.
The female is dark ashy brown above, all the parts which are blue in the
male are rufous brown ; lores fulvescent ; ear coverts and sides of face and
neck dark ashy brown, with hair-like shaft streaks ; chin and throat pale rufous ;
fore neck and breast ashy brown ; abdomen dull white ; flanks and under tail
coverts fulvous ; under wing coverts buffy brown.
Length. 6'2 inches ; wing 3* I ; tail 2 - 6 ; tarsus 0*65.
The young are mottled all over with ochraceous spots.
Hab. The Eastern Himalayas, extending to the Malay Peninsula, Java
and Borneo. (Sharpe.) Recorded from Darjeeling and Sikkiin.
SIPIIIA. 225
258. Siphia rubeculoides, (Vigors), Skrt>,-, Cat. D. fir. Mm. \\.
p. 445 ; Gales, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 287. Phoenicura rubeculoides, Vig. P.
Z. S. 1831, p. 35; Gould., Cent. Him. B. pi. 25, fig. i. Cyornis rubecu-
loides, ///;///, J. A. S. B. xii. p. 941 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 466, No. 304 ; Blylh
and Wald., B. Burm. p. 103; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 2il;
id. Sir. F. iii. p. 104; Hume and Dav., Sir. F. vi. p. 227 ; Anders. Yunnan
Evp. p. 619; Hume, Sir. F. vii. p. 92. The BLUE-THOATED REDBREAST.
Male. Forehead and streak over the eye glistening blue; lores and feathers
at the base of the bill black ; ear coverts dusky blue ; cheeks, sides of the neck
throat and chin dusky Hue black ; whole upper plumage dark blue ; tail black-
shafted, the feathers brown on their inner webs ; wing dark brown, the
feathers narrowly edged with dark blue ; lesser wing coverts bright blue ; the
larger coverts brown, edged with dark blue, breast and abdomen bright ferru-
ginous, running up to a point on the throat ; lower abdomen and under
tail coverts white ; under wing coverts pale ferruginous ; bill black; iris brown.
The female has the upper plumage olive brown, tinged with ferruginous,
strongly so on the forehead, feathers, round the eye and upper tail coverts ;
lores albescent; chin, throat and breas I ruddy ferruginous; abdomen and
under tail coverts white.
Length. $"j inches ; tail 2-4 ; wing 275 ; tarsus 075 ; bill from gape 07.
Hal. India generally, extending to the N. W. Himalayas, Nepaul, Sikkim,
and the Burmese countries.
The Blue-throated Redbreast visits the plains of India during the winter
months. It is rare in the south of India, and occurs both on the Eastern and
Western Coasts. In the Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh and Bengal it is
tolerably common. At Darjeeling it is found at from 4,000 to 6,000 feet
elevation. In British Burmah it is also a winter visitor. It is recorded from
Arrakan, and is found both in the hills and plains of the Pegu District from
October to April. Mr. Davison says it is common throughout Tenasserim
and is a permanent resident. It breeds in holes in banks. Captain Hutton
found two nests at Mussoorie : they were made of moss and hair-like fibres.
The eggs, four in number, were dull pale olive, or olive green, faintly clouded
with clay colour and marked with dull rufous ; size 0^72 x 0*52.
259. Siphia tickelliae, (Blyth). Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv.
p. 448 ; Gates, B. Burm. i. p. 289. Cyornis tickelliae, Blylh, J. A. S. Jt.
xii. p. 491 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 367, No. 306; Hume, Nesls and Eggs, p, 212 ;
id., Sir. F. i. p. 436 ; Ball, Sir. F. ii. p. 405 ; Hume, Sir. F. iii. p. 468 ;
Wald. in Bl. B. Burm. p. 103. Cyornis banyumas (nee. Hors/.), Jerd. B.
I/id. i. p. 466, No. 305. TICKELL'S BLUE REDBREAST.
Above light blue ; forehead cobalt ; a narrow frontal line and space in front
of the eye blue black ; checks, ear coverts and a narrow line across the chin
at the base of the bill dark blue ; the ear coverts washed with lighter blue ; wing
226 MUSCICAPIDvE.
coverts cobalt blue ; quills and tail light blue externally and dusky brown on
the inner webs; two centre feathers and inner secondaries nearly entirely blue ;
entire throat and breast orange rufous ; under wing coverts and axillaries, the
lower abdomen and under tail coverts, white ; sides of the breast, edge of the
wing and thighs blue.
Length. 5-3 to 5*8 inches; wing 2'8 to 2*9; tail 2*3 to 2*5 ; tarsus 07;
bill from gape 075.
The female is similar to the male, but paler, and has no black on the chin
and face ; the frontal line and lores are dull white ; the ear coverts greyish blue,
with whitish shaft streaks.
Hab. India and Ceylon, ranging to British Burmah.
Tickell's Redbreast is recorded from the N. W. Provinces and Oudh, also
Bengal, Kattiawar, Raj putana, Central India, the Central Provinces, the Carnatic,
Malabar Coast, Guzerat, Concan, Deccan, South India and British Burmah.
It breeds during May and June throughout Central India, the Neilgherries, and
the Western Ghauts, nesting in the hole of a tree or wall. The nest is made
of moss and dry leaves. The eggs are greyish white (dull brownish pink ? Hume),
speckled with dull reddish brown ; size O'6 1 x 0*48. It affects open forests,
groves, and gardens.
260. Siphia magnirOStriS, (Blyth*), Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv.
p. 453 ; Oates, B. Br. Burmah, i. p. 290. Cyornis magnirostris, Blyth,
J. A. S. B. xviii. p. 814; Jerd. B. Lid. i. p. 469, No. 308 ; Godw.- Austen,
J. A. S. B. xxxix. p. 100; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 92; 1876, p. 223 ; 18/7,
pp. 339, 489 ; id., Hume andDav., Str. F. 1878, p. 229. The LARGE-BILLED
REDBREAST.
Whole upper plumage, cheeks, ear coverts, sides of the neck and wing
coverts dull deep blue ; brilliant on the forehead and over the lores and eyes ;
base of lower mandible and lores black ; chin, throat and breast chestnut ; sides
of the breast blue ; sides of the abdomen and flanks fulvous ; centre of abdo-
men and under tail coverts white; under wing coverts and axillaries buff ; tail,
quills and greater wing coverts dark brown, externally edged with blue ; bill
dusky ; legs pale whitish ; irides dark brown.
Length. 6 inches ; wing 3-1 to 3-2 ; tail 2-5 ; tarsus 07 ; culmen 0*55.
The female is ashy above, tinged with fulvous ; lores, a ring of feathers round
the eye, chin, throat and under tail coverts white ; rest of the under surface pale
buff ; quills dusky brown, edged with fulvous ; tail fulvous.
Length. 5-5 inches; wing 2*75 ; tail 2-3 ; tarsus; 07.
Hab. Eastern Bengal, on the Hills ; Cachar and throughout the Eastern
Himalayas, ranging to South Tenasserim, also Darjeeling and in Sikkim.
Oates says it is rare in South Tenasserim, and that it will be found generally
distributed throughout British Burmah.
SIPHIA. 227
261. Siphia nigromfa, (Jerd.) Sharpt, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv.
p. 455. Saxicola nigrorufa, Jcrd., Madras Journ. x. p. 266. Ochromela
nigrorufa, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 129; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 492, No. 300;
Hume, Nests and Eggs, B. Ind. p. 207 ; id, Str. F. 1876, p. 396; Fairbank,
Str. F. 1877, p. 401. The BLACK and ORANGE FLY-CATCHER.
Head, nape and back of neck dusky black ; cheeks and upper surface of
body orange-rufous ; wings black, the quills browner, white edged along the
inner web ; tail orange, thighs dusky, under wing coverts pale orange ; rest
of under surface of body orange-rufous, rather buffy on the middle of the
abdomen ; bill black ; legs dirty reddish ; irides hazel brown.
Length. 47 to 4-9 inches ; wing 2*4 ; tail 1-9; tarsus O-8.
The female is dusky on the head, also on the wings ; wing coverts washed
with orange.
Hab. Southern India and Ceylon.
Jerdon says it has only been found on the summit of the Neilgherries and
in Ceylon.
It frequents the dense forests, preferring shady, damp and swampy places.
Breeds on the Neilgherries. Eggs, 2 to 3, pale salmon in colour, 07x0-53;
nest a large ball of dry sedges placed in a bush.
262. Siphia Strophiata, Hodgs., Ind. Rev. i. p. 65 1 ; Jerd. B. Ind.
i. p. 479, No. 319 ; Godw.- Austen, J.A.S. B. 1870, p. 101 ; Sharpe, Cat. B.
Br. Mus. iv p. 455 ; Oates, B. Br. Burm. i p. 290 ; Hume, Str. F. viii.
p. 92; Scully, Str. F. viii. p. 278. The ORANGE-GORGETED FLY-CATCHER.
Above olive brown, the back and rump slightly tinged with fulvous, the
feathers of the latter long and silky and with a white subterminal bar ; upper
tail coverts black ; a narrow frontal line at base of upper mandible ; lores,
cheeks, chin, feathers round the eye and throat black ; forehead and a line
extending backwards over the fore part of the eye white ; sides of face and
ear coverts deep slaty ; a bright chestnut patch on the throat ; breast and
sides of the neck slaty ; abdomen, vent and under tail coverts white ; flanks
olive brown; thighs slaty grey; lesser wing coverts slaty grey, the other
coverts and all the quills brown, edged externally with fulvous ; tail feathers
blackish, the two centre feathers entirely blackish, the next feather on each
side with a white bar on the outer web, all the others white for the basal
half and blackish terminally ; under wing coverts and axillaries light buff ;
bill black ; legs brown ; iris dark brown.
Length. 5 to 5-3 inches; wing 2*9 to 3; tail 2-15 to 2-3; tarsus O'8 ;
culmen 0*45.
The female is similar, but the orange patch on the throat is smaller and
much paler chestnut, and the white frontal band is nearly obsolete. The young
228 MUSCICAPID/E.
bird is brown above and below, each feather streaked with fulvous, the
throat patch of chestnut is absent.
Hal. The Himalayas, from Nepaul to Sikkim, also Assam and the Naga
Hills, ranging into British Burmah.
The Orange-throated Fly-Catcher is recorded from Mussoorie and Nepaul,
and also from Darjeeling, where Jerdon says it is very common, and may
often be seen on the roadside seated on a fallen tree or stone, frequently
alighting on the ground to pick up an insect, and occasionally making a dart in
the air and returning to its perch. In British Burmah it has been met with
in South Tenasserim on the Mooleyit Mountains.
263. Siphia ruficauda, (Swains.) Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv.
p. 457. Muscicapa ruficauda, Sws., Nat. Libr. Flyc. p. 251. Cyornis rufi-
cauda, Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 468, No. 307; Godw.-Austen, J. A. S. B. 1870,
p. 268 ; Brooks, Sir. F., 1875, p 235 ; Fair bank, Sir. F. 1876, p. 257 ; Hume,
t. c. p. 396 ; Butler, Str. F. 1877, p. 228 ; Brooks, t. c. p. 470. The
RUFOUS-TAILED FLY-CATCHER.
Above olivaceous or ashy brown, somewhat buffy on the rump ; the upper
tail coverts and external edge of the tail feathers rufous, the centre tail feathers
and inner webs of the others ashy brown ; wing coverts and quills dusky, the
latter externally edged with ashy brown, the greater series with narrow pale
tips ; lores and a conspicuous ring round the eye whitish ; ear coverts ashy
brown, with narrow whitish shaft streaks ; under surface of body dull whitish,
ashy on the breast and flanks ; under wing and tail coverts f ulvescent ; bill
dusky ; irides deep brown.
Length. 4*5 inches (5'5 Jerd.) ; wing 2'6 to 3*1; tail 2*15 ; tarsus 0/65 ;
culmen 0*55.
Hab. The Indian Peninsula generally. Recorded from the Punjab and
N. W. Provinces, also Guzerat, the Concan, Deccan, and South India. It is
fairly common in the Kumaon, also Mussoorie between where and Gungotri it
was procured by Brooks. Jerdon obtained it in the Carnatic at Nellore and
the Coonoor Pass of the Neilgherries. Its habits are those of the last.
264. Siphia mandelli, Hume, Str. F. 1874, p. 510; id. 1876,
p. 396 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 453. MANDELL'S FLY-CATCHER.
Forehead, crown, occiput, cheeks, ear coverts and nape brown ; lores, a
ring round the eye and a patch at the base of the lower mandible white ; upper
surface of body brown, tinged with rufous near the rump ; wings hair brown,
darker on the primaries ; the secondaries, tertiaries, greater and median wing
coverts margined with pale ferruginous on the outer webs ; breast, sides and
flanks pale brown, margined very narrowly with pale rufous buff ; under wing
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA.
2.
*
1. DICENEA LEUCOMELANURA.
2. DIGENEA MONILICER. 6
Mmtem Bros ttK.
DIGENKA. 229
coverts and axillaries rufous buff ; abdomen, vent and under tail coverts white ;
bill blackish brown, paler at tip ; lower mandible yellowish horny ; legs and
feet fleshy.
Length. $'2$ inches; sving 2-9; tail 2 ; bill at front 0-45; tarsus 0-6.
(Hume.)
Hab. Sikkim. Nothing is known of its habits and nidification.
265. Siphia Olivacea, (Hume) Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 457.
Cyorni-s olivacea, Hume, Str. F. 1877, p. 338 ; id. Dav. and Hume, Str. F.
1878, p. 229. The OLIVE-BACKED FLY-CATCHER.
Above dull olivaceous, the head and nape very slightly tinged greyish ;
sides of the head, cheeks and ear coverts ashy grey, with paler shaft streaks ;
under surface whitish ; the breast and flanks tinged grey ; tail rufous brown,
brighter on the outer webs of the quills, edged with fulvous brown arfd tinged
with rufous brown externally; bill black; iris brown ; legs pinkish white.
Length. 5*8 inches ; wing 3 ; tail 2*5 ; tarsus 075 ; culmen 0*8.
Hab. Tenasserim, Java, and Borneo. According to Mr. Davison, this
species, like its other congeners, keeps to the forests or its outskirts, and is usually
seen singly. They perch on commanding twigs, whence they capture passing
insects with short sharp flights, returning to the same perch.
Gen. Digenea. Hodgs.
Bill narrow, not as long as hind toe and claw ; nostrils covered by rictal
bristles and frontal plumes ; wings pointed and long, but not reaching to the
tip of the tail ; hind claw moderate and curved, about equal in length to the
hind toe.
266. Digenea leucomelanura, (Biyth). Sharpe, Cat. B. Br.
Mus. iv. p. 459. Siphia leucomelanura, JBlyth, J.A.S.B xvi. p. 126;
Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 479, No. 320 ; Hodgs., icon. ined. Passer es App. pi. 1 13.
Siphia tricolor, Blyth, J. A. S B. xvi., p. 126; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 478,
No. 318; Brooks, Str. F. 1877, p. 471. The SLATY FLY-CATCHER.
PLATE, Fig. i.
Above dull slaty blue, brighter and more ashy blue on the forehead and
crown; ear coverts dark slaty blue; a narrow frontal line, lores and feathers in
front of and below the eye and the fore part of the cheeks slaty black ; wing
coverts slaty blue ; the greater series blackish brown externally, washed, with
slaty blue; secondaries the same; primaries brown, edged with ochraceotis
brown ; upper tail coverts darker than the back ; tail black, white at base, the
two centre feathers entirely black ; throat white, rest of under surface of body
ashy grey, the flanks dull greyish ; sides of upper breast slaty blue ; the centre
of abdomen white ; under tail coverts dusky blackish, with longitudinal white
central streaks ; under wing coverts and axillaries pale ochraceous, with
blackish bases to the feathers ; bill dusky ; feet brown ; iris dark brown,
31
230 MUSCICAPID/E.
Length. 4'6 inches ; wing 2*45 ; tail 2-2 ; tarsus 075 ; oilmen 0-4.
The female is olive brown, rather more rufous on the forehead, and inclin-
ing to fulvescent brown on the rump ; upper tail coverts and tail chestnut, the
latter brown at the tip and having indistinct transverse lines under certain
lights ; lesser wing coverts olive brown like the back, the median and greater
series dark brown, edged with rufous and tipped with a light rufous spot on
each ; quills dark brown, externally edged with rufous, more broadly on the
secondaries ; in front of the eye a dull whitish spot ; sides of face olive brown,
darker on the ear coverts ; the feathers round the eye fulvescent, the cheeks
and fore part of the ear coverts mottled with spots of ochraceous buff ; throat
light ochraceous brown, lighter in the centre ; breast, sides of body, and
under tail coverts light ochraceous brown, washed with olive on the sides of the
upper breast ; the centre of the abdomen whitish ; thighs brown ; under wing
coverts and axillaries light ochraceous buff ; quills sepia brown below, rufescent
along the edge of the inner webs.
Length. 4/5 inches ; wing 2-35 ; tail 2 ; tarsus 07 ; culmen 0-4.
Hab. The Himalayas from Nepaul to Sikkim. Has been recorded from
Mussoorie and Darjeeling. Breeds throughout the Himalayas, from Nepaul to
Cashmere, during June, laying 4 eggs of a pale buff colour, clouded with dull
rufous towards the larger end ; size 0-62 x 0*48.
267. Digenea cerviniventris, Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 460 ;
Siphia tricolor, Godw.- Austen, J. A. S. B. 1872, p. 142 (nee. Hodgs). Siphia
leucomelanura, Godiv.- Austen, J. A. S. B. 1878, p. 15 (nee. Blyth). The
FAWN-BELLIED FLY-CATCHER.
" Similar to D. leucomelanura, but deep fawn-coloured underneath instead
of white."
Length. 4 inches; wing 2-2 ; tail 1-9; culmen 0*35.
Hab. Khasia and neighboring range of hills (Munipoor). (Sharpe.)
268. Digenea moniliger, (Hodgs) Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p.
460 ; Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 300. Dimorpha ? moniliger, Hodgs. P. Z. S.,
1845, p. 26. Anthipes moniliger, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 172 ; Jerd.
B. Ind. i. p. 477, No. 317; Hume, Sir. F. 1877, P- 113. The WHITE
GORGETED FLY-CATCHER.
PLATE, Fig. 2.
Forehead and a broad but short superciliary band fulvous ; upper plumage
olive brown, tinged with rufous on the rump ; upper tail coverts and tail reddish
brown ; wirig coverts and wings brown, edged with rufous ; sides of the head
olive brown ; chin and throat white, surrounded by a distinct line of black ;
lower plumage brown, becoming albecent on the abdomen ; bill black ; legs
pale fleshy ; irides dark brown.
SINCE the publication of the 2nd part of the 1st Voume of this work, the
following species of Digenea has been described by Mr. Sharpe of the British
Museum :
269a. Digenea leucops, P. Z. S. 1888, pt. ii., p. 246 :
General colour above light olive brown, with somewhat of an ashy tinge ;
wing coverts like the back, the greater series somewhat more ruddy brown
externally ; bastard wing, primary coverts and quills dusky brown, externally
ruddy olive ; upper tail coverts rather more reddish brown than the back ;
tail feathers dusky brown, externally reddish brown ; crown of the head like
the back ; a white line across the base of the forehead widening into a large
supra-loral spot ; feathers about the eye washed with ashy grey ; lores ashy, as
also the feathers round the eye; ear coverts and cheek ashy washed with
olive ; throat white ; the chin and a broad band on each side of the throat
black, continued downwards, and forming a collar on the foreneck ; chest and
breast pale ashy, with a slight tinge of olive brown ; abdomen white ; sides of
body and flanks olive brown ; thighs olive brown ; under tail coverts white,
also the under wing coverts and axillaries. " Bill slaty brown ; feet white
tinged fleshy ; iris bright dark brown." (jR. G. War dlaw- Ramsay.)
Length. 4/3 inches; wing 2-5 ; tail 175 ; tarsus o'8 ; culmen 0*45.
Hab. Shillong and Karenne, B. B.
An allied species (D. malqyand) is also described from Perak.
VOL. I., p. 231.
NILTAVA. 23-1
Length. 4*2 to 5 inches ; wing 2-3 to 2-4 ; tail 2 ; tarsus o'8 ; culmcn O'S
to 0*6.
Himalayas, Arrakan, Naga Hills, and Karin Hills in
Burmah, also Nepaul.
Jerdon says this species is common in the hilly regions of Arrakan and
Tenasserim, and probably occurs also in Assam. It is not uncommon about
Darjeeling, frequenting open forests, and may be often seen seated on a low
branch or the stump of a tree, sometimes catching insects in the air or de-
scending to the ground to pick one up.
269. Digenea SUbmoniliger, (Hume) Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus.
iv. p. 461. Anthipes moniliger, Hume, Sir. F. 1874, p. 475 (nee. Hodgs.).
Anthipes submoniliger, Hume, Sir. F. 1877, p. 105; id. Dav., Sir. F. 1878,
p. 232. HUME'S WHITE GORGETED FLY-CATCHER.
Upper plumage fulvous brown ; forehead, lores, a broad supercilium and a
circle of feathers round the eye rich golden fulvous ; chin and throat white, with
a few black feathers on the sides of the chin ; a narrow, scarcely noticeable
brown line bounds the white on the throat ; lower breast and flanks olive brown ;
abdomen, vent and under tail coverts white; wings and coverts brown, edged
with rufous ; tail ferruginous ; bill black, yellowish on lower mandible ; legs
and feet pale fleshy white.
Length. $-2 inches ; wing 2*45 ; tail 2 ; tarsus 0*87 ; culmen O*6.
Had. Tenasserim, where Mr. Davison met with it, about Mooleyit and its
spurs.
Gen. Niltava. Hodgs.
Bill rather short and stout, slightly depressed at base ; tip deflected and
strongly notched ; nostrils hidden by frontal plumes ; rictal bristles feeble ;
wings very short, the distance between wings and tail more than twice the
length of the tarsus ; quills unequally graduated ; 5th longest ; tail moderate.
270. Niltava SUndara, Hodgs., Ind. Rev. \. 658 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i.
p. 473, No. 314; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B.^. 213; Bl. B. Burm.
p. 102 ; Hume and Dav., Sir. F. p. 231 ; Hume, Sir. F. vii. p. 93 ; Sharpe,
Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 463; Hume, Sir. ix. p. 234; Oates, B. Br.
Burm. i. p. 295. The RUFOUS-BELLIED FAIRY BLUE-CHAT.
Forehead, lores, sides of the head, chin, and throat deep black ; crown of
head, nape, rump, upper tail coverts and a spot on either side of the neck
glistening blue ; lesser wing coverts the same ; median and greater coverts and
quills dark brown, edged with purplish blue ; back and scapulars purplish
black ; tail black, the outer webs tinged with bright blue ; lower plumage and
under wing coverts chestnut; edge of wing blue black; bill black; legs
brown ; iris dark brown.
Length. 6-5 inches ; wing 31 ; tail 2-8; tarsus o'S$ ; culmen 0-45.
232 MUSCICAPID^E.
The female has the upper plumage olive brown, tinged with fulvous - r the
tail is rufous, the forehead and sides of the head are mingled buff and ashy
brown ; ear coverts paler shafted ; neck spot blue ; under surface ashy brown,
becoming whitish on the abdomen ; front of neck with a white patch.
The young are dark brown, streaked above and below with fulvous ;, outer
webs of wings and tail tinged with blue. No blue neck spot.
Length. 6'O inches wing 3*1 ; tail 2'S; tarsus 0-85.
Hab. The Himalayas, extending to the Burmese countries and Western
China. (Sharpe). The Rufous-bellied Fairy Blue-Chat occurs in the Punjab,
N. W. Provinces, Oudh, British Burmah and Nepaul. It inhabits the whole
extent of the Himalayas, being common at Simla, and extending to Assam.
About Darjeeling, Jerdon adds it is not rare. It has been recorded from
Arrakan and Tenasserim, and Captain Wardlaw-Ramsay procured it in Karin.
It frequents thick bushy ground, often near water, is shy and wary, seldom
showing itself. It feeds chiefly on insects, which it captures on the ground or
picks off leaves and branches.
It breeds in the Himalayas during April and May. The nest is usually
placed on some rocky ridge or crevice, or in some decayed stump of a tree.
The eggs are 4 in number, and longish oval, in color pale reddish buff,
faintly freckled with dingy ; size 0-93 x 071.
271. Niltava Vivida, (Swinhoe). Sharp*, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p.
463; Oates y B. Burm. i. p. 297. Cyornis vivida, Swinhoe, Ibis, 1.864, p. 363 ;
Hume and Dav., Str. F. 1878, p. 229; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 92.
SWINHOE'S RUFOUS-BELLIED BLUE-CHAT.
Whole upper plumage, lesser wing coverts and sides of the neck deep
purplish blue, becoming ultramarine on the head, rump and upper tail
coverts ; a narrow frontal line, lores, and feathers in front of the eye black ;
cheeks and ear coverts blue-black ; chin and throat bluish black, the rest of
under surface chestnut; central tail feathers blue, the rest black, broadly
margined on the outer web with blue ; quills black, washed externally
with purplish blue ; lesser and median wing coverts the same ; under wing
coverts chestnut ; bill black ; legs and feet dark brown or purplish plumbeous ;
irides deep brown.
Length. 57 to 6 inches; wing 3*25 to 3*5 ; tail 2*65 to 3; tarsus 0*75;
culmen 0*5.
The female is olive brown above, with a grey shade on the mantle ; the lores,
feathers at the base of the upper mandible and round the eye are mixed
ferruginous and grey ; crown olive brown washed with blue ; median and
greater coverts and quills are brown, margined externally with a shade of
blue ; tail brown, margined externally with ferruginous ; chin and throat
NILTAVA. 233
ochraceous buff ; under wing and under tail coverts the same ; rest of
under surface ashy, tinged with ochraceous ; the centre of abdomen whitish.
Hab. Formosa and the Tenasserim Province of British Burmah.
Swinhoe's Rufous-bellied Chat was obtained by Davison on the Mooleyit
Mountain in Tenasserim. It extends to China. According to Davison this
species moves about on the tops of trees by short flights. He always saw
them singly.
272. Niltava grandis, (Btyh ). Jerd. B. ind. i. p. 476, No. 3 i6; ;
Hume, Nests and ggs, p. 2 15 ; Bl. B. Burnt, p. 102 ; Hume, Sir. F. v. p.
103; Hume and Dav. vi. p. 232; Sharpc, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 464 ;
Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 93 ; Oates, B. Burm. i. p. 297. Chailaris grandis,
Blyth, J, A. S. B, xi. p. 189. The LARGE FAIRY BLUE-CHAT.
Above dark purplish blue ; the forehead, crown, nape, rump, upper tail
coverts, lesser and median wing coverts and a large spot on each side of the
neck brilliant smalt-blue ; lores, feathers above the eye, sides of face and
entire throat and fore neck black ; greater coverts and quills black, narrowly
margined externally with blue. Central tail feathers purplish blue ; rest brown,
margined externally with blue ; under surface of body dusky black, tinged with
purplish, the under tail coverts edged with white ; bill black ; legs reddish
black ; iris dark brown.
Length. 7-5 to 8 inches; wing 4*2 ; tail 3-6 ; tarsus 0*9 ; culmen o 7.
The female is brown above, tinged with fulvous ; the tail is chestnut brown ;
forehead, sides of the head, chin and throat bright fulvous brown, mottled with
dusky ; under surface ochraceous brown, tinged with ashy on the abdomen.
Hab. The Himalayas, extending into the Burmese countries and to
Sikkim and Nepaul.
The Large Fairy Blue-Chat is found in the hill tracts of Eastern Bengal.
Jerdon says it is common about Darjeeling, and Mr. Davison says it is not
uncommon on the Mooleyit Mountain and its spurs. In Assam, too, it is fairly
common. It is quite a forest bird, seen only on trees, dry brushwood, and
even fallen trees. It occasionally catches insects on the wing. According to
Hodgson it lays during April and May. Nest massive, composed of green
moss and lichen, and lined with fine moss roots. Eggs, four in number, of a
buffy color. In size they average ro x 0*73.
273. Niltava leucoprocta, (Tweed.} Wardlaw-Ramsay, Tweed.
Jlfcm. App. p. 668; Oates, B. Br. Bunn. i. p. 298. Trichastoma leucoproctum,
Tweed. P. Z. S. 1877, p. 366 ; Hume, Sir. F. vii. p. 318. Niltava Icuctira,
Ann. Nat. Hist. Ser. 4, xx. p. 95. Muscilrca cyan (/a, Hume, Sir. F. v.
p. 101 ; Hume, Sir. F. vi. p. 207; id. Sir. F. vii. p. 318, viii. p. 91. The
WHITE-TAILED BLUE-CHAT.
234 MUSCICAPID^E.
Nasal plumes and lores black ; forehead, crown, nape and a small patch on
the wing coverts near the edge of the wing cobalt blue ; upper plumage and
wing coverts deep blue ; quills dark brown, edged with blue ; four central
feathers dull blue ; the next pair dark brown, edged with blue and with a
long streak of white on the outer web ; the next two pairs brown on the outer
webs and almost entirely white on the inner webs ; the outermost pair brown,
merely white at the base ; sides of the head and neck, chin and throat, dull
blue; abdomen and sides of the body bluish grey; vent and under tail coverts
pure white ; under wing coverts ashy.
The female has the nasal plumes and lores reddish brown ; the upper
plumage olive brown tinged with rufous ; wing coverts and quills dark brown,
margined with rufous ; tail the same, the white on the feathers the same as in
the male, except that the outermost feathers are broadly edged with white
on the inner web ; chin, throat, breast and sides of the body rufous olive ;
foreneck with a large patch of white ; centre of abdomen whitish ; vent and
under tail coverts white ; under wing coverts and axillaries rufous ashy ; bill
black ; legs light brown ; irides deep brown. (Limborg.)
Length. 7 inches; tail 3 ; wing 3*6; tarsus O'9 ; bill from gape I. (Gates.)
Ilab. Tenasserim, where it was procured by Mr. Limborg ; at Taoo and on
the Mooleyit Range at elevations of 5,000 and 2,000 feet. It is, according to
Davison, an eminently forest bird. It has the habit of rapidly expanding its
tail, thus showing the white on it.
274. Niltava macgrigorise, (Burton.) Jerd. B. imL i. p. 475,
No. 315 ; Hume, Nests, and Eggs, p. 214 ; Wald in BL B. Burm. p. 102 ;
Hume and Dav., Sir. F. vi. p 231 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 465;
Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 93 ; Phoenicura macgrigorios, Burton, P. Z. S. 1835,
p. 152. Niltava vivida, Hume, Sir. F. ii. p. 475. The SMALL FAIRY BLUE-
CHAT.
Above rich purplish blue ; forehead, eyebrow, rump, upper tail coverts and a
spot on each side of the neck brilliant rich cobalt ; lores, sides of face, feathers
above the eye and entire throat deep purple ; lesser wing coverts purplish blue ;
median coverts and quills black, edged externally with purplish blue ; tail
feathers deep purplish blue, all but the centre feathers black on the inner web ;
lower plumage ashy, becoming albescent on the abdomen and under tail
coverts ; under wing coverts and axillaries pure white ; bill black ; legs reddish
black ; iris dark brown.
The adult female is plain olivaceous above, lighter below, with a neck patch
of light lavender blue.
Length. 4 '6 to 4'8 inches ; wing 26; tail 2*15 ; tarsus 0*7; culmen o'6.
Hab. The Himalayas up to Simla in the N. W. Provinces, also Oudh, the
hills of Eastern Bengal, Assam, Sikkim, British Burmah and Nepaul.
SYLVIA. 035
Jerdon says it is common at Simla and about Darjeeling, and, according to
Gates, has been recorded from Arrakan ami Tenasscrim by IJlyth. Ao
ing to Hume (Nests and Eggs) it breeds in Nepaul and Sikkim from April to
June at from 3,OoO to 5,000 feet. The nests arc placed on the ground and are
composed of soft moss of different kinds. Eggs 3 to 4 in .number.
Family. TURDID^E.
Bill slender but rather wide and depressed ; wing long and flat, with a very
stfiall bastard primary not more than half the length of the second, the latter
generally longer than the secondaries. Composed of birds generally migratory.
Sub-family. SYLVIIN/E GREY WARBLERS.
The young in first plumage differ very slightly in color from the adult,
both being unspotted both above and below. In rare instances in which the
upper parts are spotted in the adult the spots are less conspicuous in the
young. (Seebohm.)
Gen. Sylvia. Scop.
Bill Sylviinse, generally with more or less dark underneath ; nostrils in a
groove. Tail nearly even, generally with white on the outermost tail feathers ;
bastard primary not extending beyond the primary coverts, or not more than
o'3 ; 2nd primary generally shorter than the 3rd and 4th ; feet and tarsus stout,
latter scutellated in front. The males of many have dark heads.
275. Sylvia Cinerea, Bechst. Om. Taschcnb. i. p. 170; Tern. Man.
d'Ont. p. 112; Gray Gen. B.\. p. 174; Heugl. Orn. N. O. Afr. i. p. 307;
Blf. Geol. and Zool. Abyss, p. 379; Shelley, B. Egypt, p. in. Curruca
cinerea (Bcchst.) Gould B. Eur. ii. pi. 125. Sylvia rufa, (Bodd) Ft. E.
P- 35 J apud. Newt. ed. Yarr. B. Eur. pt. 1 ; Hume, Str. F. iii. 488 ; Murray,
Hdblc. Zool., $r., Sind, p. 163; Murray, Vert. Zool, Sind, p. 162. The
EUROPEAN WHITE-THROAT.
" Male. Over the eye is a streak of yellowish white. Head on the crown
slate grey with a tinge of brown ; neck on the sides pale brownish grey ; on
the back and nape, lighter greyish brown than the head ; chin and throat silvery
white, the latter has the feathers somewhat puffed out as when it is inflated in
singing ; breast above pale dull white, tinged with rose colour, and on the sides
shaded off to yellowish white, and into greyish white below ; back reddish
brown, but tinged with olive on its lower part. The wings extend to within an
inch and a half of the end of the tail. Expanse 8| inches. The first primary
extremely short ; the 2nd and 3rd of equal length and the longest ; edge of
outer quill white ; underneath grey ; greater and lesser wing coverts reddish
brown ; primaries pale brown, narrowly edged with chestnut ; the secondaries
and tertiaries also pale brown, broadly edged with brighter chestnut than
the former ; tail somewhat rounded, graduated and brown j middle feathers
236 TURDID/E.
margined lighter; outer feather on each side dull white over the greater portion
or the whole of outer web, and often a portion of the inner ; next two feathers
tipped with the same. Tail underneath grey ; upper tail-coverts inclining to
olive brown ; under tail coverts pale brownish white, with a tinge of faint rose
red ; legs pale rusty brown ; toes darker with more of an olive tinge ; claws
dusky brown.
" Length. 5| to 6 inches; bill bluish brown, base of under mandible
yellowish brown, and the corners of the mouth yellowish green ; iris
brownish yellow. A winter visitant." Morris, Br. Bird, vol. iii. p. 227.
Hab. Europe, extending to Persia, Siberia and Turkestan ; Sind, Punjab,
N. W. Provinces, Bengal, Guzerat, Western, Central and Southern Africa.
276. Sylvia jerdoni, Biyth, J.A. S. B. xvi. p. 439; Blf. East.
Persia, ii. p. 172 ; Hume, Str. F. i. p. 197, ii. 330; Seebohm Monog. B. Br.
Mus. v. p. 16 ; Murray, Vert. ZooL, Sind, p. 161. THE EASTERN ORPHEAN
WARBLER.
Adult Male. General colour slaty grey ; head, lores, and feathers behind the
eye, ear coverts and nape sooty black ; primaries and secondaries brown, their
outer margins whitish, the secondaries edged at the tips with greyish white, as
also some of the tertiaries ; tail darker brown than the wings, the outermost
feathers white on the outer web, and nearly one-half of the inner, the next two
tipped white; in some specimens the centre feathers are margined very
narrowly and tipped with f ulvescent white ; chin and throat white ; belly, flanks,
vent and under tail coverts greyish white, darker on the under tail coverts ; bill
dark brown ; the base of the lower mandible pale yellowish ; legs and feet
dusky brown; irides hazel.
Length. 675 to 7 inches; wing 3 to 3-25 ; tail 275. The Female differs
from the male in having the brown of the head less darker than the back.
Hab. Northern, Southern and Western India, Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces,
Beloochistan, S. E. Persia, Afghanistan, Turkestan, Kutch, Kattiawar ; Jodh-
pore, Jeypore, North Guzerat, Mount Aboo and Deccan. Breeds in Persia
and Turkestan ; winters in Arabia and the plains of India.
277. Sylvia affinis, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc.p. 187; Hume,
Sir. F. vii. p. 60 ; i. 197 ; ii. 332 ; iii. 272; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. 209, No. 582 ;
Murray, Hdbk., Zool., fyc. y Sind, p. 163. Sylvia curruca, apud. Jerd. B. Ind.
iL p. 209; apud. Blf. East. Persia, ii. p. 175 ; Murray, Vert. ZooL, Smd t
p. 161. THE ALLIED GREY WARBLER.
General colour pale slaty or brownish grey ; supercilium indistinct ; wings
and tail brownish ; outermost tail feather on each side white on their outer
webs; chin, throat, belly, and under tail-coverts, also axillaries and under
wing coverts, white, tinged greyish brown on the breast and flanks ; bill and
legs brown ; irides light brown.
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA
Sylvia muuisculcL
Mintern BroslitK.
SYLVIA. 237
Length. 6 inches ; wing 2-5 ; tail 2-25 ; bill at front 0-51.
Hab. Nearly all India and Ceylon, Sind, Punjab, N. \V. Provinces, Bchar,
Deccan, Kutch, Guzerat, Kattiawar, Jodhpore and Sambhur; also Beloochistan,
Persia, S. Afghanistan and Turkestan. Seebohm says it breeds throughout
Siberia, extending northwards almost to the limit of forest growth.
278. Sylvia althea, Hume, Sir. F. vii. p. 60 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Dr.
Mus. vol. v. p. 20 ; Sylvia aflinis, Blylh apud. Jerd. B. Ind. vol. ii. p. 209;
aptid. Legge, B. Ceylon, p. 538; Murray, Vert. ZooL, Sind, p. 162. THE
HIMALAYAN LESSER WHITE-THROAT.
Upper surface darkish grey, slightly tinged with brown on the back. Under
surface white ; 2nd primary intermediate in length between, or equal to 6th
and 7th, or 7th and 8th; wing 27 to 2-8 ; culmen 0-56 to o'5i ; tarsus 0-8 to
075.
Hab. Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh, Deesa, Concan and Deccan.
A winter visitant.
279. Sylvia minUSCllla, Hume, Sir. F. i. 198; vii. 58 et seq. ; viii.
PP- I0 3 3<38, 498 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vol. v. p. 20, pi. I ; Murray,
Vert. ZooL, Sind, p. 161. HUME'S LESSER WHITE-THROAT.
PLATE.
Forehead and crown pale bluish grey ; back, rump and upper tail coverts
isabelline fawn, or pale sandy brown; chin, throat and under surface
white ; 2nd primary equal to the 7th, in some intermediate between 7th and
8th; wing 2-3 to 2*45.
Hab. Sind, Beloochistan, Afghanistan, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Rajputana,
Kutch and Guzerat.
280. Sylvia nana, Hempr. et Ehr. Symb. Phys. Aves. fol. c. c. ;
Gray, Handlist B. p. 212 ; Hcugl. Orn. N. 0. Afr. i. p. 306; Dresser, Ibis,
1876, p. 80 ; Blf. East. Pers. ii. p. 187; Sir. F. i. 199; ii. 330; Murray,
Hdbk., Zool. fyc., Sind, p. 164; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 26.
Sylvia delicatula, Harllaub. Ibis, 1859, p. 340, pi. x. fig. i. j Blylh , Ibis,
1867, p. 28; Hume, Ibis, 1869, p. 355 ; Sir. F. i. p. 199; Murray, Vert.
Zool-, Sind, p. 163. THE DESERT WARBLER.
" The lores are greyish white ; from the nostrils to the upper margin of the
eye runs a very narrow yellowish streak, whiter and less grey than the lores ;
this line ceases to be visible in nine out of ten skins, but is sufficiently
apparent in the freshly killed bird. A circle of yellowish white feathers
surrounds the eye ; forehead, crown, occiput, nape, back and scapulars pale
fawn brown ; rump and upper tail coverts pale rufous ; central tail feathers
pale rufous, with dark shafts ; external lateral feathers wholly white ; next
32
238 TURDID^E.
pair white on the outer webs, and with a moderately broad white tip to both
webs, the rest of the inner webs dark hair brown ; the rest of the feathers
dark hair brown, margined on the outer webs with pale rufous. The whole
of the lower parts white, with, in the freshly-killed birds, a just perceptible
rufescent tinge ; wing lining and axillaries pure white ; wing pale brown,
narrowly margined and tipped with rufescent white ; the tertiaries pale dingy
rufescent with brown shafts.
" Length. 4-8 to 4-9 inches ; expanse 7 to 7'2 ; tail from vent I *8 to 2 ; wing
2 to 2*2 ; wing when closed reach to within I to 1*2 of end of tail ; bill at
front O'3 to 0*33 ; tarsus 0*8 ; irides yellow to orange yellow; legs and feet pale
yellow, in some very pale lemon yellow ; claws dusky ; bill pale yellow, dusky,
or horny grey on culmen and at tip." (Hume, Str. F. i. p. 199.)
Hal. Sind, Beloochistan, Kokand, Southern Persia and Algiers ; also
Punjab, N. W. Provinces and Rajputana. Breeds in Turkestan. In Sind it is
a winter visitant, affecting arid plains, and sides of hills wherever there is an
abundance of scrubby vegetation.
281. Sylvia familiariS, Mene fries, Cat. Rats. Cauc. p. 32; Seebohm.
Monog. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 36. Aedon familiaris (Menetr.) Gray, Gen. B. i.
p. 173 ; id. Handlist B. i. p. 21 1 ; Dresser, B. Eur. pt. xxxii. ; Hume, Str. F.
iii. p. 476; Murray, Hdbk., Zool. fyc., Sind, p. 151 ; Murray ', Vert. Zool n
Sind, p. 163; THE GREY-BACKED WARBLER.
The following is Mr. Hume's description of Indian specimens, ex " Si ray
Feathers" vol. iii. p. 477.
"A broad superciliary stripe from the nostrils over and for some little
distance behind the eyes dull white or yellowish white ; a brown stripe from
the nostrils to the anterior angle of the eye, continued backwards, though not
conspicuous, for some distance from the posterior angle ; forehead, crown,
occiput, sides of the neck, entire back and wing dull earthy brown, paler and
more drabby in some ; quills and coverts margined and narrowly tipped with
dull yellowish or brownish white, with usually a slight rufescent tinge on the
margins of the primaries. Rump brownish chestnut ; upper tail coverts and
tail chestnut ; central tail feathers more or less brown on one or both webs ;
all the other tail feathers with a conspicuous subterminal'dark brown band
(which in the outer feathers runs some distance down the outer web) and
tipped, the two pairs next the centre narrowly with rufescent, and the other
three successively more and more broadly with pure white. Chin and throat
sordid white, with an indication of a darker line at the angle of the gape ;
ear coverts and the rest of the lower parts similar, but tinged with a faint
brownish shade usually ; wing lining and axillaries with a very faint yellowish
salmon tint ; inner margins of quills, on the lower surface, with a decided
buffy salmon tinge.
PHYLLOSCOPUS. 239
Length. Male, 6-5 inches; expanse 975 ; tail from vent 2*62 ; wing 3-3;
tarsus O'97 ; bill at front 0*77 ; bill at gape 0*87.
Length. Female, 7-5 inches; expanse 10-62; tail 2-62; wing 3-5 ; tarsus
1-03 ; bill at front ro8 ; bill from gape 0*93 ; mid-toe and claw 0-87 ; hind-toe
and claw 0-56.
" The first quill is about 075 long ; the third quill is longest ; the second
and fourth, which are nearly equal, about o'O6 shorter; the fifth about 0-25
shorter, tail somewhat rounded ; outer tail feathers about 0-35, shorter than
those next the central pair, which latter are shorter than those next them by
about 0-15; the frontal feathers are prolonged over the base of the bill,
extending laterally quite to the nostrils ; legs and feet dusky or livid fleshy ;
irides dark brown ; bill dusky brown ; lower mandible yellowish, fleshy at the
base."
Hab. Afghanistan, Beloochistan, Persia, Sind, Kutch, Jodhpore and
North Guzerat, visiting Sind in the course of its migration about the middle of
September.
Gen. PhylloSCOpUS. Boie; WILLOW-\VARBLERS.
Bill Acrocephaline, pale underneath, slender, small, straight, with a few
short rictal bristles ; wings long, flat, and pointed, or short and rounded as in
those which inhabit the plains and breed in the mountains near by; bastard
primary small ; greater wing coverts with pale tips in the spring plumage ;
axillarics and imder wing coverts yellow.
This genus comprises a group of birds, mostly of small size, familiarly
known as Willow or Tree Warblers, tolerably abundant throughout India
during winter a very few only of which are known to breed in the Himalayas.
They are exclusively fly-catchers or insectivorous, feeding on minute insects
and flies, which they pick off leaves and branches or capture in the air, and
may be said to be strictly arboreal. The majority have their summer resi-
dence in Europe or Western Asia, and migrate thousands of miles in winter.
Seebohm says : "In their breeding range these birds are palaearctic, ranging
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, one species being known even to cross
Behring's Straits into Alaska." Those which breed in the Himalayas ascend
till they reach a palaearctic climate.
No mesial line on the crown.
282. PhyllOSCOpUS borealiS, (Bias) Seebohm, Ibis, 1877, p. 69;
Dresser, B. Eur. ii. p. 509; Hume and Dav., vi. p. 352 ; Hume, Sir. F. viii.
p. 102; Seebohm, Ibis, 1879, p. 9> *'<? ^ at - & ^ r ' Mus. v. p. 40; Oaies,
Str. F. x. p. 222; id. B. Burm. i. p. 77. Phyllopneuste borealis, Bias.
Naum. 1858, p. 3 1 3. The ARCTIC WILLOW-WARBLER.
240
Above olive green, lighter or somewhat yellow on the rump ; wing coverts
brown, the outer webs margined with olive greeen ; median and greater coverts
with yellowish white tips forming two bars, a well-defined narrow yellow or
greyish white eye stripe extending to the nape ; lores and feathers behind the
eye brown; ear coverts olive mingled with yellowish ; under wing coverts and
axillaries, also the thighs, pale yellow ; tail brown, the outer webs olive green,
the inner webs except the central feathers brown, margined with greyish white ;
under surface of body white, slightly suffused with yellow ; bill Acrocephaline ;
upper mandible dark brown, under mandible pale ; iris dark brown ; legs
and feet brown ; 2nd primary intermediate in length between the 5th and 6th ;
3rd and 4th longest; 1st primary 0-3 to 0*45.
Length. 4'8 inches; wing 2-5 to 27 ; tail 2 ; tarsus 0*8; culmen o ! 68.
In summer the upper parts become greyer, the olive green margins to the
wing and tail feathers and the' tips to the wing coverts disappear, and the under
surface is nearly pure white.
Hab. The Arctic Willow- Warbler is a winter visitor to Burmah. It has
been found in Pegu and Kyeikpadien and in the southern half of Tenas-
serim at Bankasoon and Malewoon. It extends down the Malay Peninsula
and Archipelago as far as Timor and Flores, also Cochin-China. On the
Andaman Island it has also been procured, but no where north or west of
Burmah.
Mr. Seebohm found the nest in Siberia. It was built on the ground in a
wood thinly scattered with trees, and was placed in a recess on the side of a
tussock or mound of grass. It was semi-domed, the outside being composed
of moss and the inside of fine dry grass. The eggs, five in number, were
white, profusely spotted all over with pale pink.
283. Phylloscopus nitidus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xii. p. 965; xiv.
P- 59 1 ; Jerd.B.Ind. ii. p. 193, No. 559; Hume, Sir. F. 1873, p. 197;
Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 22 ; Seebohm, Ibis, 1877, p. 72; id. Cat. B. Br. Mus.
v. p. 43 ; Murray, Hdbk., Zool. &c., Sind, p. 162 ; Murray, Vert. Zool.,
Sind, p. 159. Phyllopneuste nitida, (Blyth} Adam, Str. F. 1873, p. 382.
The GREEN WILLOW- WARBLER.
Head, nape, back, scapulars, rump and upper tail coverts yellowish green ;
supercilium extending to the nape yellow ; lesser wing coverts and tips and
edges of the median ones like the back ; greater wing coverts brown, edged
with yellowish green and tipped yellow, forming a conspicuous wing band ;
primaries, their coverts and secondaries brown, edged on their outer webs with
yellowish green ; 2nd primary intermediate in length between 6th and 7th ;
exposed 1st primary 0*55 to 0*6; edge of the wing, under wing coverts and
entire under surface yellow or yellowish green ; in some specimens albescent
on the chin ; bill dusky brown ; the lower mandible pale ; legs light brown ;
irides dark brown.
PHYLLOSCOIH .s. 241
Length. 4-5 to 475 inches; wing 2-5 ; bill at front 0*5.
Hab. Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Concan, Deccan,
Southern India, Ceylon, and Nepaul ; breeding in the Himalayas and wintering
in the plains.
284. Phylloscopus viridanus, Biyth, J. A. S. B. xii. p. 967 ;
Jerd. B. Jnd. ii. p. 193, No. 560; Brooks, Ibis, 1872, p. 31; Scully, Sir. F.
iv. p. 148; Seebohm, Ibis, 1877, p. 73; Hume, Sir. F. vi. p. 356. Phyl-
lopneuste viridanus, Blyth and Wald., B. Biirm. p. 105. Phylloscopus
seebohmi, Hume, Str. F. v. p. 355- The INDIAN WILLOW-\VARBLER.
Similar to Phylloscopus nitidus, except that the quills are narrowly tipped
with pale white and that the greater coverts only are tipped with pale yellowish
white, and so forming only one wing bar; 3rd, 4th and 5th primaries longest;
2nd intermediate in length between 7th and 8th, sometimes between 6th
and 7th ; 2nd primary 0*5 to Cr65.
Length. 4 inches ; wing 2-3 to 2-5 ; tarsus 075 ; culmen 0-45 to 0-5.
Hab. The Himalayas up to Cashmere, where it breeds. In winter it is
found all over India nearly. It has been recorded from Arrakan, in Tenas-
serim at Thatone, Moulmein, and Tavoy, and extends through the Indo-
Burmese countries to Cochin-China. In India proper it is recorded as
having occurred in the N. W. Provinces, Oudh and Bengal, also Rajputana
and Southern India ; also from Nepaul. Mr. Brooks found its nest in Cashmere
at an elevation of 11,000 feet. It was a domed structure, placed on the steep
bank side of a ravine full of birch trees, but it did not contain eggs.
285. Phylloscopus plumbeitarsus, SwM., Ibis, i86i,p. 330;
Seebohm, Ibis, 1877, p. 76 ; Hume and Dav. vi. p. 355 ; Brooks, Str. F. vii.
p. 508; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 385; Bingham, Str. F. ix. p. 187; Seebohm,
Cat. B* Br. Mus. v. p. 45. Phyllopneuste plumbeitarsus, David et. Oust. Ois
Chine, p. 270. MINDENDORFF'S WILLOW-WARBLER.
Similar to Phylloscopus viridanus, except that the greater and median coverts
are pale tipped and form two bars on the wing ; the ear coverts are greenish
yellow, and the under plumage pale greyish yellow ; bill pale yellow on
lower mandible, brown on the upper.
Length. 4'2 inches; wing 2'2 ; tail 17; tarsus 07; culmen 0*6 ; 2nd
primary intermediate in length between 7th and 8th, occasionally equals the
8th ; ist primary O'5 to 07. Legs plumbeous.
Hab. British Burmah. According to Gates it is a very common winter
visitor to Pegu.
Mr. Davison obtained it in December near Moulmein, and Captain Bingham
observed it in the Thoungyeen Valley. It passes through China on migration,
242 TURDID/E.
and appears to summer in Turkestan and Southern Siberia. It frequents
thickly foliaged trees. Nothing is known of its nidincation.
286. PhyllOSCOpUS tenellipes, Swinh., Ibis, 1860, p. 53; Seebohm.,
Ibis, 1877, p. 75 ; Brooks, Str. F. iv. p. 276; Hume and Dav., Sir. F. vi.
PP- 3S4 5 5 J 7 ; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 102 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p.
46 ; Oates, Sir. F. x. p. 222 ; id. B. Br. Burm., i. p. Si. The PALE-LEGGED
WILLOW- WARBLER.
Above olive brown, suffused with buff, especially on the rump ; a huffish
white narrow eye streak extending to the nape ; lores and feathers behind the
eye blackish ; ear coverts mingled buff and brown ; wings brown, edged with
olive brown ; the median and the greater coverts tipped with buff, forming two
distinct wing bars. Under surface of body white, suffused with buff, especially
on the flanks and vent.
Tail feathers brown, externally margined with pale buffish brown, and the
inside webs with huffish white.
Bill Acrocephaline ; upper mandible dark brown, lower mandible pale
iris brown ; legs, feet and claws pale flesh colour ; 3rd, 4th and 5th primaries
longest; 2nd equal to the 7th ; 1st primary O'5 to 0-53.
In autumn plumage the olive brown of the upper parts is replaced by
russet brown, the eye stripe and under surface more suffused with buff.
Length. 5-15 inches ; wing 2*2 to 2-67 ; tail 2 ; tarsus 073 ; bill from gape
0-65.
Hab. British Burmah and southwards in the Malay Peninsula. It is also
recorded from Cochin-China, Amoy, and Pekin. Oates says the Pale-legged
Willow- Warbler is a winter visitor to Burmah, but a comparatively rare one. It
was obtained by Davison in various parts of Tenasserim. It is said to breed
in Japan. Habits the same as other Phylloscopi.
287. Phylloscopus magnirostris, Biyth, J. A. S. B. xii. p. 966 ;
Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 191, No. 556; Brooks, Sir. F. iii. p. 243 ; Seebohm, Ibis,
1877, p. 77 ; Hume and Dav., Sir. F. vi. p. 355 ; Hume, Sir. F. viii.
p. 102 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 47 ; Oates, B. Br. Burm. \. p. 82.
Phyllopneuste magnirostris, Bl. B. Burm. p. 105. The LARGE-BILLED
WILLOW- WARBLER.
Above dark olive green, slightly darker on the head and somewhat greener
on the rump ; eye stripe pale yellowish white ; lores and feathers behind the
eye brown ; ear coverts yellowish white, suffused with brown ; wing coverts
and wings brown, edged with olive ; the median coverts with small and the
greater coverts with large yellowish white tips, forming two distinct wing
bars ; tail brown, edged with olive green on the outer webs and tipped paler
PIIYLLOSCOPUS. 243
beneath ; the inner webs, except those of the central tail feathers, with a
narrow greyish white margin. Under surface of body pale greyish yellow,
greyest on the breast and flanks ; auxiliaries, under wing coverts and thighs
greyish yellow. Bill much decurved at tip, the rictal bristles well developed ;
upper mandible dark brown, under mandible pale, darker towards the tip ;
legs, feet and claws bluish brown ; 4th and 5th primaries longest ; 2nd inter-
mediate between 7th and 8th, 1st primary O'6 to 075.
Length. 5.4 inches ; wing 27 ; tail 2-2; bill from gape 0-65.
Hab. The Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Central India, the
Central Provinces, Deccan, and South India, also British Burmah, Cash-
mere and Nepaul. It has been recorded from Arrakan by 'Blyth. Davison
procured it in Tenasserim, and Mr. Hume records it from the Malay Penin-
sula. It is generally spread over the whole Peninsula of India, Ceylon, and
the Andamans, and summers in the Himalayas up to Cashmere, where it breeds.
Mr. Brooks, who met with this species in the Himalayas, says : " The condi-
tions this bird require are wooded cliffs or very steep rocky banks impracti-
cable for man, and plenty of flowing water below. Above a roaring torrent it
is in its element and sings most vigorously.
288. PhylloSCOpUS lugUbriS, Blyth, Ann. Nat. Hist. xii. p. 98 ;
Blyth and Walden, B. Burnt., p. 105; Blyth, J. A. S. B. xii. p. 968;
Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 192, No. 558 ; Seebohm, Ibis, 1877, p. 78 ; Hume, Str. F.
v 'i'P-355; Anders. Yunnan. Exped. p. 624; Hume, S/r. F. viii. p. 102 ;
Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 48 . Gates, B. Br. Burn., i. p. 83.
BLYTH'S WILLOW-WARBLER.
Closely allied to Phylloscopus magnirostris, being absolutely identical in
colour and in its seasonal changes, and would scarcely be entitled to specific
rank were it not that it appears to have a more eastern geographical range.
It is somewhat smaller, with a more rounded wing ; the 4th and 5th primaries
are longest and the 2nd is equal to the loth ; 1st primary 0*7 to O'8 inch.
Length.^ inches; wing 2-4 to 2'6 ; tail 2*0 to 2*1 ; tarsus 075 ; culmen
0'45 to 0-62.
This is one of the most abundant species of the genus. It is found in the
Eastern Himalayas, where it breeds, and as far west as Nepaul. It extends in
winter to Assam and Lower Bengal. Jerdon records it from the Neilgherries, the
Wynaad, Bengal and Sikkim. Round Pegu Gate's says it is very common.
Dr. Armstrong got it at Elephant Point, Mr. Davison in the northern half of
the Tenasserim Division, and Dr. Anderson procured it near Bhamo.
Seebohm says it straggles in the winter to the Philippine Islands.
Like the last this species is entirely arboreal in its habits, affecting the
high tree tops.
A pale mesial line on the crown.
244 TURDID^.
289. PhyllOSCOpUS OCCipitaliS, (BlytJi). Seebohm, Cat. B. Br.
Mus. v. p. 150. Phyllopneuste occipitalis, (Jerd.) fide. Blyth J . A. S. B.
xiv. p. 593. Reguloides occipitalis, (Jerd). fide Jerd., B. bid. ii. p. 196,
No. 563; Brooks, Ibis, 1869, p. 457; Cock and Marsh, Sir. F. 1873,
p. 355 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 362. Phylloscopus occipitalis,
(Jerd). fide Seebohm, Ibis, 1877, p. 80. JERDON'S CROWNED WILLOW-
WARBLER.
Above olive green, slightly yellower on the rump and upper tail coverts ; a
well-defined narrow yellowish white eye stripe from the base of the bill to the
nape on each side, and a pale rather broader mesial one on the crown, the
interspaces dark olive green ; wing coverts olive green ; the median and greater
series with greyish white tips, forming two pale bars across each wing ; quills
brown, tipped narrowly with greyish white, externally edged with yellowish
green and emarginated as far as the sixth primary ; tail brown, externally edged
with yellowish green, and, except the two central feathers, the inner webs have
a narrow well-defined greyish white margin ; under surface greyish white, very
slightly suffused with yellow, greyest on the breast and flanks ; axillaries,
under wing coverts and thighs pale yellow ; bill Acrocephaline ; upper man-
dible dark brown ; under mandible pale, slightly darker towards the tip ; legs,
feet and claws dark brown ; 3rd, 4th and $th primaries nearly equal and longest ;
2nd intermediate between 7th and 8th ; ist primary 0-55 to 07.
Length. 475 to 5 inches; wing 2-65 to 27 ; culmen 0*5 to 0-6.
The summer plumage is greyer on the upper parts, the lower parts become
abraded, the light tips to the quills and wing coverts also become abraded, and
the yellowish green edgings greyer. The autumn plumage is rather brighter
everywhere, otherwise it is similar to that of the summer.
Hab. The Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh and Bengal, also British Burmah
(Tenasserim Province), Cashmere and Nepaul.
Jerdon's Willow-Warbler breeds in Cashmere and throughout the Himalayas
generally during the latter half of May, June and the first half of July from
4,000 to 8,000 feet. The nests are placed in holes under the stump of a
tree, or steep bank sides. Eggs 4 to 5 in number, pure white, 0-65 x 0-5
inch.
290. PhyllOSCOpUS COronatUS, (Temm.) Swinhoe, Ibis, 1863, p. 93 ;
Seebohm, Ibis, 1877, P- 795 ^- ^ at - & ^ r - Mus. v. p. 49; Oates,B. Br.
Burm., i. p. 84. Ficedula coronata, Tern, et Schleg. Faun. Jap. Aves. p. 48,
pi. xviii. Phyllopneuste coronata, "David, et Oust. Ois Chtne, p. 269. Reguloides
coronata, Hume and Dav., Sir. F. vi. p. 356; Hume, Str. F. viii.p. 102.
TEMMINCK'S CROWNED WILLOW-WARBLER.
PHYLLOSCOPUS. 245
Upper plumage olive green, the head suffused with dusky ; a yellowish
white mesial line on the crown, and another on each side from the base of the
bill to the nape ; lores and feathers behind the eye brown ; ear coverts mixed
yellowish and dusky ; wings and wing coverts brown, externally margined with
yellowish green ; the median and greater coverts tipped with yellowish, forming
two wing bars ; tail olive brown, externally margined with yellowish green, and,
except the two centre feathers, narrowly margined on the inner webs with
greyish white ; under surface white suffused with yellow, the breast and flanks
greyish; under wing coverts, axillarics, thighs and under tail coverts pale yellow.
The summer plumage is duller. Upper mandible brown, lower mandible
yellowish; mouth yellow; legs and feet plumbeous.
Length. 5 1 2 inches; tail 2*1 ; wing 2'4 ; tarsus O'y ; bill from gape 0*6 ;
1st primary O'5 to 0*55 inch; 2nd primary longer than the 7th and shorter
than the 6th.
Hab. British Btirmah, in the Pegu and Tenasserim Provinces ; south-
wards down the Malay Peninsula as far as Java and Cochin-China. Accord-
ing to Seebohm it breeds in Japan in the valley of the Ussuri and in the
sub-alpine districts of South East Persia. Its habits are not known.
291. Phylloscopus reguloides, Biyth, J. A. S. B. xi. p. 191 ; xii.
p. 963; Seebohm, Cat. B, Br. Mas. v. p. $. Reguloides trochiloides, (Sund.)
Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 196, No. 564 ; Hume, Sir. F. iii. p. 139 ; Bl. and Walh
B. Bunn. p. loS ; Hume and Dav., Sir. F. vi. p. 358; Hume, Str. F. viii.
p. 102 ; Scully, Sir. F. viii. p. 307; Brooks, Str. F*. x p. 169. Reguloides
viridipennis, (-#/) Jcrd.B. Ind. ii. p. 198, No. 567. Phylloscopus viridipennis,
(BL) Sccbohm> IbiSi 1877, p. 82. Phylloscopus flavolivacea, Hume, Sir. F.
v. p. 504 ; II ume and Dav., S/r. F. vi. p. 358. Reguloides flavolivaceous,
If ume, Str. F. viii. p. io2; ix. p. 291. BLYTH'S CROWNED WILLOW-
WARBLER*
An ill-defined coronal streak from the forehead to the nape, and a well-
defined superciliary streak on each side pale yellowish. Upper parts olive green*
slightly yellower on the rump and upper tail coverts ; the interspaces on the
crown dark olive ; wings and wing coverts brown, edged externally with bright
olive green ; the median and greater coverts with yellow tips forming two con^
spicuous wing bars ; quills brown, very narrowly tipped paler, and the outer
webs margined with bright olive green ; lores and feathers behind the eye
brown ; ear coverts mixed brown and yellowish ; lower plumage greyish white,
whiter on the belly, and more or less suffused with yellow ; under wing coverts,
axillaries and thighs bright yellow. In summer, as in all the Phylloscopi^
the plumage is duller. Upper mandible dark brown ; lower one with the gapa
and the edges of the upper mandible yellow ; iris dark hazel ; legs yellowish
brown.
33
246 TURDID^E.
Length. 4'6 inches; wing 2*25 to 2-4 inches; tail r8$ to 2'O; tarsus o'7 <
bill from gape O'6 ; ist primary cr6 inches in length, the 2nd about equal to
the loth ; 3rd, 4th and 5th about equal and longest.
Hab. The Himalayas from Nepaul eastwards, in the alpine districts of
which it is supposed to breed. It winters in both the Indian and Burmah
Peninsulas.
It has been recorded from the N. W. Provinces of India, also from Oudh,
Bengal, British Burmah and Nepaul. Gates says it is common throughout
Southern Pegu, and, quoting Davison, that it has been met with in Tenasserim,
Dr. Armstrong procured it at Amherst. It is said to be common also from
Cashmere eastwards, and to have occurred in China. Jerdon, under R. tro*
chtloides, says he got it at Calcutta, and that Mr. Blyth has seen it from Dehra
Doon, and again, under R. viridipennis^ that he obtained it at Darjeeling,
It is found on trees, searching the leaves for insects.
292. Phylloscopus viridipennis, myth, J, A. S. B. xxiv. p. 275 ;
If time, Sfr. F. v. p, 330; Brooks and Hume , Sir. F. ix. pp. 290, 291 ; Seebohm,
Cat. B. Br. Mas. v. p. 53. Fhylloscopus presbytis, {Mull.) Seebohm, Ibis, 1877,
p. 883. Reguloides viridipennis, (Bl) Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 202. WALLACE'S
CROWNED WILLOW-WARBLER.
Similar to Phylloscopus reguloides, except that it is smaller and that the
inner webs of the three outermost tail feathers on each side are white. The
lower plumage, too, is more suffused with yellow. Bill dark brown, the lower
mandible pale.
Length. 4*3 inches ; wing 2'o5 to 2*1 tail 1*7, tarsus 0*75 ; bill from gape
O'5S ; 2nd primary equal to the lOth ; 1st O'55 inch to 0'7 ; 4th and 5 th
primaries longest,
Hab. British Burmah and southwards down the Malay Peninsula. Seebohm
says it breeds in the mountains of British Burmah and winters in the plains,
ranging also as far as Timor and probably also Sumatra. Mr. Davison procured
it on the Mooleyit Mountain in Tenasserim, and he also found a nest in
February. It was a globular structure, made of moss mingled with dry leaves
and fibres, and lined with vegetable down. The nest was placed in a mass oi
creepers on the face of a rock, and contained 3 pure white eggs.
No bar across the wings ; bill slender, depressed at base.
293. Phylloscopus tristis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xii. p. 966; xiv.
p. 59; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 190, No. 554; Dresser, B. Eur. pt. Ixvi. 1875 ;
Blf. East. Pers. ii. p. 1 80 ; Scully t Str. F. iv. p. 148; Seebohm, Ibis, 1877,
p. 97; 1879, p. 10; id. Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. 63; Murray, Hdbk. Zool.
fyc., Sind, p. 1 6 1. Phyllopneuste tristis, (Blyth) Gould. B.Asia, pt. xvii.
Phylloscopus brehmi, Homey er, apud. Blf. East Persia* ii. p. 182. The
SIBERIAN WILLOW-WARBLER.
PHYLLOSCOPUS. 247
Above dull earthy brown, with an olive green tinge on the lower back and
rump ; lores and behind the eye and ear coverts like the back ; supercilium
pale buffy white ; wings brown, their coverts with pale margins, and the
primaries and secondaries edged on their outer webs with greenish; edge of
wing and under wing coverts yellow ; tail brown, the feathers edged on their
outer webs with yellowish green ; the inner web faintly and narrowly margined
with whitish ; under surface albescent ; bill dark brown ; legs black ; irides
brown.
Length. 5 inches ; wing 2*5 ; tail 2 to 2*3 ; culmen 0*45 to 0*48.
Hab. Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Beloochistan, S. E
Persia, Afghanistan, and East Turkistan ; Deccan, Kutch, Kattiawar, Jeypore,
Jodhpore, and North Guzerat. In Sind, as in other parts of India, it is a
winter visitor. According to Seebohm "The Siberian or Brown Tree
Warbler breeds in the valleys of Petchora, the Obb and the Yennessee,
extending northwards beyond the limits of forest-growth, and southwards as
far as Perm in the west and Yennasaisk in the east. It passes across the
Khirgiz steppes and Turkestan on migration, and winters in Beloochistan and
the plains of India. It also breeds abundantly at Cashmere and in the moun-
tains near Lake Baical."
294. Phylloscopus affinis, (Tick.) Ely. J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 44 2. ;
Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 194, No. 561 ; Blanf. J. A. S. B. xli. pt. 2, p. 8i;
Brooks, Ibis, 1872, p. 31 ; Godw.- Austen, J. A. S. B. xlv. pt. 2, p. 80 ; Hume
and Dav., Sir. F. vi. p. 356; Seebohm, Ibis, 1877, p. loo; id. Cat. B. Br.
Mus. v. p. 65. Motacilla affinis, Tick., J . A. S. B. ii. p. 576. TICKELL'S.
WILLOW-WARBLER.
Upper parts olive brown> very slightly darker on the head ;. superciliary
Stripe deep yellow ; wing and tail feathers brown, externally washed with olive
brown, the former emarginated as far as the 6th quill ; under surface deep
yellow, shading into buffish yellow on the breast and flanks ; axillaries and
under wing coverts deep yellow. Bill Phylloscopine ; upper mandible dark
brown, lower pale brown ; legs and feet brown ; 3rd, 4th and 6th primaries
longest, 2nd equal to the 9th or iQth ; ist primary about half the length of the
second (07 to 0*8 inch).
Length. 4'$ inches ; wing 2'2 to 2-4 ; tail 1-95 to 2-23 ; bill 0-46 ; tarsus 07.
Hab. The Himalayas, from Cashmere to Sikkim and British Burmah.
It is recorded from the N. W. Provinces, Bengal, South India, British Burmah
and Nepaul. Jerdon says it is spread over all India ; but this is not accurate,
being absent from the Concan and Deccan and the drier parts of the
Peninsula. He adds that a specimen was procured at Sikkim.
Tickell's Willow-Warbler is said to breed in the Himalayas from Cashmere
to Burmah.
248 TURDID/E.
295. PhyllOSCOpUS tytleri, Brooks, Ibis, 1872, p. 237 ; Hume, Nesfs
and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 362; id. Str. F. iii. p. 279; Seebohm, Ibis, 1877,
P. 101 ; id. Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 66. TYTLER'S WILLOW-WARBLER.
Above olive brown, shading into greenish olive on the rump ; superciliary
stripe narrow, greyish white, not .extending quite to the nape ; quills and tail
feathers brown, externally margined with greenish olive ; under surface
yellowish white, greyish on the breast and flanks ; axillaries and under wing
coverts yellow ; bill very long and slender, dark brown, paler on the under
mandible ; legs dark brown ; 3rd, 4th and 5th primaries longest ; second inter-
mediate between 8th and 9th ; 1st less than half the length of the 2nd ; o'SS
to 0-68.
Length. 4-5 to 47 inches; wing 2-35 to 2'43 inches; tail l"j to 1*9; cul-
men 0-5.
Hab.^ South India (?) Nepaul. It breeds in Cashmere and winters in India.
The nest is deep and solidly built, composed of grass, fibres, moss, and lichen,
thickly lined with hair and feathers ; eggs 4, pure white, 0*58 x 0*45.
Two bars across the wings ; upper mandible dark ; generally a pale mesial
line an the crown.
296- PhyllOSCOpUS humiL Brooks, Str. F. vii. p. 131; Seebohm,
Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 67 ; Abrornis tenuiceps, Hodgs. MSS. B. of Nepaul.
Reguloides superciliosus (Gmel.), Brooks, Ibis, 1869, p. 236; id. Ibis, 1872,
P. 24. HUME'S BARREL WILLOW- WARB.LER.
Above olive, browner on the head and greener on the rump ; a well defined
luff eye stripe extends from the base of the bill to the nape sometimes (rarely)
slight traces of a mesial line are visible ; lores and the space behind the eye
brownish olive ; wing coverts brown, the lesser wing coverts with broad olive
green margins ; the median wing coverts with obscure pale tips and the greater
series with broad well defined bufBsh yellow tips forming a conspicuous pale
bar across each wing ; quills brown ; all the secondaries and four or five of the
primaries narrowly tipped with greyish white; outside webs of the quills
edged with yellowish green and emarginated as far as the sixth ; tail feathers
the same, but the inner webs with a narrow greyish white margin ; under parts
greenish yellow, nearly white on the throat and shading into buff on the flanks ;
inner margin of quills nearly white. Bill dark brown, under mandible paler
at base ; legs and feet dark brown ; 4th primary slightly the longest ;
second intermediate between 8th and 9th, occasionally between the ^th and Sth^
or 9th and iQth ; ist primary 0*45 to 0*5 5 inch.
Length. 2-38 to 2-45 inches wing 2-ot to 2-3; tail 1-5 to r8; culmen
0*4 to 0-45.
Bab* Afghanistan, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Rajputana*
Central India and the Central Provinces to Nepaul and Cashmere, and probably
British Burmah,
PIIYLLOSCO; 240
Wherever Hume's Barred Willow-Warbler occurs ii is fairly numer-
affecting both high trees and shrubby jungles. It breeds in Cashm.
8,000 feet. The nest is globular, composed of coarse grass, and placed on the
side of a bank : it is usually lined with hair. Kggs, 4 or 5 in number, 0-56 x
0*44, white, and profusely spotted with red.
297- PliyllOSCOptTS SUperciliOSUS, (Grnel.) Seebohm, Cat. B. Br.
J\fus. v. p. 68; Dresser, B. Eur. pt. xxx. 1874; Seebohm, Ibis, 1877,
Motacilla superciliosus, Gmel. Sys/. Nat. i. p. 975 ; Oates, B. Br. Burm. i.
p. 87. Reguloides superciliosus, Bl. B. Burm. p. 106 ; Armstrong, Sir. F.
iv. p. 329; Hume and Dav., Sir. F. vi. p. 358 ; Brooks, Sir. F. vii. pp. 128;
336, 475 5 f?ume,S(r. F. viii. p. 102 ; Brooks, Sir. F. viii.p. 393. Reguloides
proregulus, (Pall.) Jerd. B. Lid. ii. p. 197, No. 566. The YELLOW-BROWELJ
BARRED WILLOW- WARBLER.
Upper plumage olive green, yellower on the rump and upper tail coverts ;
a well defined supercilium reaching to the nape pale yellow ; an indistinct
pale yellow coronal streak also present and reaching to the nape ; crown of
the head slightly darker than the back, also the space before and behind the
eye ; wings and wing coverts dark brown, edged with yellowish green, the
median and greater wing coverts tipped with yellow, forming wing bars ; quills
tipped with whitish ; tail brown, edged with yellowish green on the outer webs
and margined with greyish white on the inner ; under surface white, suffused
with yellowish green ; axillaries yellow ; under wing coverts and thighs
greyish yellow ; bill slender, dark brown, paler at base of lower mandible ;
legs, feet and iris brown; 3rd, 4th and 5th primaries longest; second
primary intermediate in length between 7th and 8th ; 1st primary 0*5 to 0*55
inches.
Length. 4 inches ; wing 2 f i to 2*35 ; tail 1*7 to r8 ; oilmen 0-4.
Hab.1\\Q Punjab, N, W. Provinces, Oudh, Central India, Assam, Bengal,
British Burmah and Sikkim.
According to Jerdon the Yellow.browed or, as he calls it, the " Crowned Tree
Warbler" is common in most parts of India during the cold weather and at
all times on the Himalayas. He got it at Nellore on the Malabar Coast, in
Central India, and at Darjeeling. Gates says it is one of the commonest
birds in Burmah during winter. It is found abundantly in erery portion of
Pegu. Bljth records it from Arrakan. Davison found it in Tcnasserim as far
south as Mergui, and Captain Bingham observed it in the Thoungyeen Valley.
In the Karin Hills it has been procured up to altitudes of 2,500 feet. It is
found throughout the Indo-Burmese countries, also in Sikkim and Assam,
According to Blyth it is a solitary bird. It is a cheerful and active bird,
frequenting alike large trees and low hedges in pursuit of its insect food,
3\Ir. Seebohm says it breeds in North Siberia and at a high elevation in the
mountains of South Siberia. The nest he found was composed of dry grass
250 TURDID/E.
and moss, and lined with reindeer hair. The structure is semi-domed and
built usually in a small tuft of grass, moss, and bilberries. The nest contained
six white eggs, spotted with reddish.
298. PhyllOSCOpUS maCUlipenniS, (Blyth} Seebohm, Cat. B.
Br. Mus. v. p. 70; id. Ibis, 1877, p. 107. Abrornis chloronotus, Hodgs.
MS. Drawings B. Nepaul ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 372. HODG-
SON'S BARRED WILLOW-WARBLER.
Upper parts yellowish green, the rump with a broad yellow band. Head,
nape, hindneck, lores and space behind the eye dark olive brown ; mesial
line on crown and eye stripe pale buff ; wing coverts and quills brown,
margined with yellowish green ; the median and greater coverts tipped with
yellow and forming two bars across the wing ; innermost secondaries tipped
with white on the outer web ; tail brown, externally edged with yellowish green ;
2 to 3 outermost feathers on each side white, the basal third of the outer web
yellow and the terminal third of the same brown ; under surface greyish white ;
the axillaries and under wing coverts, also the middle of the abdomen, greyish
yellow; legs and claws brown; ist primary half the length of 2nd ; 2nd
equal to xoth ; 4th and 5th longest.
Length. 3-3 inches ; wing i'8 to 2-0 ; tail 1*3 to i '6 ; culmen 0^35 to 0-4,
Hab. The Himalayas from Nepaul to Sikkim. Breeds probably in the pine
districts.
299- PhyllOSCOpUS proregUlUS, (Pall.) Seebohm, Ibis, 1877, pp.
104, 162; id. Cat. B. Br. Mus.v. p. 72. Motacilla proregulus, Pall. Zooh
Rosso. As. i. p. 499. Abrornis chloronopus, Hodgs. Gray, Zool. Misc. p.
82. Reguloides chloronotus (Hodgs) Jtrd. B. Ind. ii. p. 197, No. 566.
Reguloides proregulus (Pall.) Seebohm, Ibis, 1863, p. 307 et sub-seq. ; Blanf.
J. A. S. B. xli. pt. 2, p. 53 Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 368 ; id. Str.
F. vi. p. 368 ; Hume and Dav., Str. F. viii. p. 102 ; Scully, Sir. F. viii. p..
309 ; Brooks, Sir. F. viii. p. 392. PALLAS'S BARRED WILLOW- WARBLER.
Upper parts dark green, the head slightly darker ; coronal stripe and supercilia
pale yellow ; rump yellowish green to bright yellow ; wings and wing coverts
brown, the outer webs of all margined with greenish yellow, and the median
and greater coverts broadly tipped with pale yellow forming two wing bars ;
quills margined with greyish white on their inner web ; tail olive brown, edged
with greenish yellow externally ; the inner webs and shafts of the three outer-
most feathers on each side pure white, and the outer webs of these yellowish
white tinged with greenish basally and brown terminally ; under surface dull
greenish yellow, brighter on the middle of the abdomen ; axillaries, under wing
and tail coverts and thighs yellow ; legs light brown ; bill dark brown ; the
lower mandible dusky ; irides dark brown.
Length. 3-5 inches; wing 1*95 to 2*05; tail 1*4 to r6 ; tarsus 07;
culmen 0-3 to o 4.
05 1
The female is smaller. In the summer pinnule the coronal and super-
ciliary stripes, also the yellow tips to the coverts, are pale by abrasion.
Hab. The Himalayas, Cashmere, Nepaul, N. \V. Provinces, Bengal an 1
British Burmah during winter.
Pallas's Willow-Warbler was got in Tenasserim by Mr. Davison in the pine
forests of the Salween near Pahpoon. Captain Cock found its nest in Cashmere
in May and June. The nest is placed high up on the bough of a tree (pine).
It is domed or roofed, and made of moss with a lining of feathers. The eggs
appear to be usually 5 in number, are white, and richly marked with brownish
red, particularly at the larger end, where they form a zone. Size 0*54 x 0*43,
300. PhyllOSCOpUS pulcher, (Hodgs.) Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus.
v. p. 73. Abrornis erochroa, (Hodgs.} Gray's Misc. p. 82. Reguloides erochroa
(Hodgs.) Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 199, No. 568 ; Wald. in HI. B. Burnt, p. 106 ;
Hume and Dav. vi. p. 358; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 102 ; Brooks, Sir. F. viii.
pp. 392, 482 ; Scully, Str. F. viii p. 309. Phylloscopus erochrous, Seebohm ,
Ibis, 1877, p. 106. The ORANGE-BARRED WILLOW- WARBLER.
Upper parts dark green ; rump with a yellowish green terminal band cover-
ing the upper tail coverts ; superciliary stripe and coronal streak not well
defined, the latter nearly obsolete ; the interspaces on the crown dark olive
green, also the lores and space behind the eye to the nape ; wing coverts brown,
the lesser series with broad green margins, the median with green tips, and the
greater series with broad well-defined orange tips forming a conspicuous lower
wing-bar; quills brown, margined externally with greenish, fading into yellowish
white, and becoming broad and conspicuous on the terminal portion of the inner-
most secondaries ; tail with the central feathers brown, edged externally with
greenish ; the inner webs and shafts of the three outermost feathers on each
side pure white, the outer webs of the same greenish yellow on the basal
half and terminated with brown ; under surface of body dull greenish yellow,
brighter on the middle of the abdomen ; legs, bill and irides dark brown ; 4th,
5th and 6th primaries longest; 2nd about equal to the loth ; the ist, or
exposed portion of bastard primary 0-55 to 0-65 inch.
Length. 4-2 inches ; wing 2-4; tail 175, tarsus O'S ; oilmen o'$ ; from
gape o 8.
Hab. The Himalayas, from Nepaul and Simla to Bhootan. Recorded from
the N. W. Provinces of India, Darjeeling, Sikkim and Simla, also Burmah ;
in the latter a winter visitor. It has been found on the Mooleyit Mountains in
Tenasserim and at Karin at 3,000 feet elevation. It is said to breed in the
pine regions of the Himalayas, in Nepaul and Sikkim, coming down into
the valleys during winter, but rarely, or never, descending into the plains of
India. Brooks says its note is a Thrush-like zip, and Dr. Scully that in Nepaul
it is always found hunting about in the bushes at from 6,000 to 7,500 feet
elevation.
252
301- PhyllOSCOpUS SllbviridiS, Brooks, Proc. As. Socy. Bengal,
1872, p. 148 ; Hume, Sir. F* iv. p. 494 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br.Mus. v. p. 74 j
v [[ f 4! 7. BROOK'S BARRED WILLOW-WARBLER.
PLATE.
Upper parts olive green, shading into light yellowish green on the rump j
coronal and superciliary streaks ill defined ; lores, behind the eye and inter-
spaces on the crown olive ; wings and wing coverts brown, margined with olive
green ; the median coverts with slightly paler tips, and the greater series with
broad well defined pale tips forming a conspicuous dirty yellowish white
bar across the wing ; tail brown, margined externally with yellowish green
under surface of body nearly uniform greenish yellow ; legs, feet, claws and
irides brown; 4th primary slightly the longest; 2nd generally intermediate
between 8th and 9th, 7th and 8th, or 9th and loth.
Length. 3 '6 inches ; wing 2-3, tail 1*9 ; culmen 6/45.
ffab. Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh and NepauL Has been recorded
from Moorshedabad, Etawah, Cawnpore, and N. W. Himalayas. Breeds in the
highlands of N. W. Cashmere,
302. Phylloscopus sindianus, Brooks, Stt\ F. viii. p. 476 ;
Murray, Vert. Zool., Sind, p. 160. The SitfD BARRED WILLOW-WARBLER.
" Above uniform dull brown, rather lighter than in P. tristis, and much the
colour of the upper surface of Hypolais rama ; below albescent, with a ruddy
tinge on the pale supercilia, sides of face, neck, breast and flanks ; axillaries
and edge of wing yellowish white, sometimes almost quite white, and not
pure sulphur yellow as in P. tristis ; no greenish on bend or shoulder of wing,
nor any green edging to the primaries, secondaries and tail feathers generally
observable in P. tristis ; no greenish tinge on rump ; like P. neglectus and
//. rama, the uniform light greyish brown upper surface is characteristic ;
bill Phylloscopine, like trislis, dark brown ; the base of lower mandible
yellowish/'
Male, length. 4-40 to 470; wing 2'22 to 2*4 ; tail 1*85 to'2*05 ; bill at
front -3 to '35.
Female, length. 4*20 to 4*45 ; wing 2-05 to 2-15; tail 1*75 to 1-9.
Hab. Sukkur, Sind.
Gen. HypOlaiS. Brehm*
Bill slender, wide basally j rictal bristles few ; wings moderate axillaries
buff, white or grey ; greater wing coverts without pale tips bastard primary
extending beyond or shorter than the primary coverts or considerably less
than half the length of the second ; 3rd and 4th quills longest ; tail even or
rounded ; no white on outermost feather j tarsus scutellated in front.
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA
V:'-* :' I/.'
/*
Fhylloscopus stibviridis.
IfinUm Bros ktk.
HVPOLAIS.
303. Hypolais pallida, Hemp, et Ehr, Symb. Phys. Aves. to!.
b. b. Hypolais pallida (Ehr.} Duboix, Ois. Eur. pi. 71. ; Dresser, B. Eur. pt.
xxxi. ; Blf. East. Pers. ii. p. 187; Hume, Sir. F. vol. vii. pp. 398, 504;
Murray, Zool, fyc., Sind, p. 160 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vol. v. p. 82 ,'
Murray, Vert. Zool., Sind, p. 156. Hypolais elaeica, (Lindern) Gerbe, Ker.
Zool., 1844, p. 440; Htugl. Orn. N. O. Afr. i. p. 297; Blanf. Geol. and
Zool., Abyssinia, p. 380; Sharpe, Cat. Afr. B. p. 33; Shelly, B. Egypt,
p. 100. The OLIVACEOUS TREE-\VARBLER.
Adult Male. Upper parts pale dull olive brown, clearer on the back in
colour, and rather lighter on the rump ; from the base of the bill over the eye a
rather indistinct yellowish stripe ; wings dark brown ; the inner secondaries
lighter in colour, all the feathers having lighter margins ; tail dark brown, very
narrowly edged with lighter brown; under parts buffy white; the throat and
centre of the abdomen almost pure white ; flanks washed with pale brownish ;
bill horn brown, dull yellowish at the base of the lower mandible ; legs pale
horn brown ; iris dark brown.
Length. About 5 inches; culmen 0*62; wing 2-63; the first primary
extending 0*27 beyond the wing coverts and IM$ shorter than the 2nd ; 2nd
0-2 shorter than the 3rd ; 3rd and 4th equal ; tail 2'2 ; tarsus 0*83. (Dresser,
Birds Europe) ex. S. F. vol. vii. p. 398.
Hab. Europe, Africa, Greece, Constantinople) Palestine, Egypt, Sind,
Beloochistan, Persia, S. Afghanistan, Turkestan. This species and the next
two (caligata and rama) are winter visitants in Sind and affect the same
situations. All appear to be varieties of Hypolais langutda, a species found
in S. E. Persia, at Quetta in Beloochistan (Chaman), S. Afghanistan, and
probably also in Sind. Mr. Seebohm, grouping H. opaca, pallida, rama,
caligata and obsoleta, says that an unbroken series may be found from the
largest opaca from Spain, through the smaller H. pallida from Greece and
Asia Minor, and the still smaller "EL. pallida and H. rama from Persia down
to the small skins of H. rama from India, and the still smaller H. caligata
from Turkestan and India. Skins from Sind of these three last do not appear
to have been in the British Museum collection. In reference to H. pallida,
comparing Indian skins, Mr. Hume observes (Str. F. vol. vii. pp. 396, 398)
that it is very close to rama, but is somewhat larger, with a longer and decidedly
larger bill ; and that the two forms, rama and pallida, quite run into each
other, many of the Sind and Beloochistan specimens being quite intermediate.
There does not appear to be any very appreciable difference in colour in the
series I possess of these species from Sind, Beloochistan, Afghanistan and the
Deccan, except the seasonal abrasion of feathers ; this is also remarked by
Mr. Seebohm. H. languida, he says, has apparently only just succeeded in
isolating itself, and adds that he is not sure whether in a large series of the
species intermediate forms might not occur between it and E. pallida. 1
34
254 TURDID^E.
extract the following key to the species from Mr. Seebohm's Cat. B. Br. Mils,
vol. v. p. 76.
(Subgeneric Group Idunce.)
A. General colour of the upper parts brown or grey ; under parts white
or pale brown ; outside tail feathers 0*15 to o'2 inch shorter than the
longest.
(a) 2nd primary intermediate between the 5th and 6th, bastard
primary falling short of the primary coverts by O'l inch,
or extending O'O5 beyond them. Length of wing 3-05 to
2 f S inches , H. languida.
B. Bastard primary exceeding the primary coverts by at least OT inch.
(a) General colour of the upper parts pale sandy brown or
isabelline brown H. olsoleta.
C. General colour of the upper parts darkish rufous brown or grey.
(a) 2nd primary generally intermediate between the 5th anJ
6th ; bastard primary exceeding the primary coverts from
o'l to 0*3 inches. Length of wing 275 to 2*5 inches;
culmen 07 to 0*6 H. pallida.
(J)) 2nd primary generally intermediate between the 7th and
8th, or 8th and gth ; bastard primary exceeding the primary
coverts from 0*2 to 0*4 inch. Length of wing 2-53 to 2-3
inches; culmen 0*6 to 0^53 Jl.rama.
(c) 2nd primary generally intermediate between 6th and 7th ;
bastard primary exceeding the primary coverts 0*15 to 0*26.
Length of wing 2*38 to 2-28 inches; culmen 0-51 to
O'5 H. caligata.
304. Hypolais rama, Sykes P. Z. S. 1832, p. 89; Blf. East. Pers.
ii. p. 187 ; ffume, Str. F. vol. vii. 183, 396; Murray, Hdbk. ZooL, fyc., Sind,
p. 1 60 ; Seebohm, Gat. B. Br. Mus. vol. v. p. 84. Phyllopneuste rama, (Sykes)
Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 189, No. 553; Murray, Vert. ZooL, Sind, p. 157. SYKES'
TREE-WARBLER.
Seebohm (Cat. B. Br. Mus.) describes this as " a shade darker in colour,
both above and below, than typical, H. pallida* It is on an average a some-
what smaller bird, with a shorter second primary and a longer bastard primary.
The 3rd, 4th and 5th primaries are nearly equal and longest ; the second is
usually intermediate in length between the 7th and 8th, and not infrequently
between the 8th and 9th, and in rare instances between the 6th and 7th. The
bastard primary exceeds the primary coverts by o'2 to 0*4 inch/'
Length. Of wing 2-53 to 2-3 inches ; tail 2-25 to 19; culmen o'6 to 0*53 ;
tarsus 0-85 to O'8 ; outside tail feathers o'25 to 0-15 inch shorter than longest.
After the autumn moult the under parts are somewhat more suffused with pale
HYPOLAIS. 255
biiffish brown than appears to be the case after the spring moult ; otherwise,
I can discover no differences attributable to age, sex, or season, beyond the
usual wear and tear of abrasion.
/fab.- Sind, Beloochistan, S. E. Persia, Afghanistan, East Turkestan,
Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh, Cashmere, Kutch, Kattiawar, N. Guzerat,
Jodhpore, Concan, Deccan and South India.
305. HypOlaiS caligata, (Lie/if.) Evenm. Reis. Buchara, p. 128 ;
Degle et Gerbe. Orn. Eur. i. p. 510; Dresser, B.Eur.^i. xxxviii. 1875;
Dresser, Ibis, 1876, p. 88 ; Murray, ~H.dbk.ZooL, fyc., Sind, p. 160; Seebohm,
Cat. B. Br. Mus. vol. v. p. 86. Phyllopneuste rama, (Sykes) apud. Jerd. B.
Ind. vol. ii. p. 189 (partim). Jerdonia agricolensis, Hume, Ibis, 1870, p. 182.
Calamodyta agricolensis (Hume) Tristram, Ibis, 1870, p. 494. Salicaria
microptera, Severtz., Str. F. iii. p. 425 ; id. vii. p. 397 ; Murray, Vert. Zool.,
Sind, p. 158. The BOOTED TREE-WARBLER.
Male. Head, hindneck, back, scapulars, ear coverts and sides of the neck
a greyish brown ; supercilium, extending from the base of the bill to the ear
coverts, whitish buff ; rump and upper tail coverts brownish, the feathers of
the rump tinged very slightly with a shade of rufescent; w r ings concolorous
with the tail ; their coverts, as well as the primaries, secondaries and tertiaries,
margined with rufescent brown, in some specimens greyish white, more
broadly on the tertiaries and wing coverts ; edge of wing and under wing and
thigh coverts pale buffish white ; tail brown, the feathers narrowly margined
with fulvescent in some specimens ; the outer web of the outermost feather
on each side indistinctly fulvous white, the others, except the centre feathers,
tipped greyish white or fulvous ; under surface pale buffy white, albescent
on the chin, belly and lower tail coverts, and tinged brownish on the flanks ;
bill dark brown ; the lower mandible pale fleshy, dusky near the tip; legs and
feet fleshy or pale brownish yellow ; irides brown.
Length. 4-5 to $ inches; wing 2-2 to 2-38; tail from vent 1-95 to 2 ; bill
at front 0*35 ; tarsus o'S.
Hab. India to Ncpaul and Cashmere, Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces,
Deccan, Concan, Khandesh, Behar and Madras ; wintering in the plains of
India and breeding in Cashmere, Turkestan and Southern Siberia.
306. HypOlaiS ObSOleta, (Severtz.) Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vol.
v. p. 86. Salicaria obsoleta, Severtz. Turhest. Jevotn. pp. 66, 129; Dr
Ibis, 1876, p. 87; Murray, Vert, Zool., Sind, p. 158. The DESERT TREE-
WARBLER.
The following is Mr. Seebohm's description of this species: *' The geneidl
colour of the upper parts is a sandy brown or pale isabelline brown. In other
respects the colouration is thr same as that of the two or three preceding sub-
species i 3rd and 4th primaries n-.uK C.J.M! arvl loo iu
256 TURDJD^E.
from Turkestan intermediate in length between the 6th and 7th, and in one
from Sind between the 7th and 8th ; the bastard primary exceeds the primary
coverts by O'35 inch in both skins.
Length. Of wing 2*4 inches ; tail 2*0 ; culmen in the Turkestan skin 0*51 ;
in the Sind skin O'8, darkish brown." The colour of the soft parts are not
given. This has been included on Mr. Seebohm's authority, who says he has
a skin from Sind as well as from Turkestan. Comparing my small series,
I cannot find any to agree with the colouration as above.
Hob. Turkestan; wintering in Sind.
Gen. AerOCehaluS. Naum.
Bill large, depressed and broad at the base, with moderately developed rictal
bristles in two species only ; the bill is as slender as in Locustella ; wings
moderately long ; 3rd and 4th quills generally longest ; bastard primary minute
in one or two species only, extending in length beyond the primary coverts ;
tail more rounded than in Hypolais,
307- Acrocephalus bistrigiceps, SivM.lbis, 1860, p. 51 ; Waid,
in Bl. B. Burm. p, 104 ; Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi. p. 338 ; Hume, Str. F.
viii. p. 100 ; Seebohm, Cat. B, Br. Mus. v, p. 94; Gates, Str. F. x. p. 214 ;
Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 97 ; Salicaria maackii, Schrcncls, Vog t Amurland,
p. 370. SCHRENCK'S REED-\VARBLER.
Upper parts russet-brown, slightly brighter on the rump and upper tail
coverts, and greyer on the head, quills and tail feathers ; a distinct black
streak on either side of the crown of the head, below which is a broad super-
cilium running from the base of the bill ; lores dark brown ; ear coverts hair
brown ; breast and flanks pale rufous brown, shading into pale buff on the
middle of the abdomen and into white on the chin and throat ; wings and
tail brown, edged with russet brown on the outer webs ; axillaries, thighs, under
wing coverts and the inner edgings of the quills pale brownish buff ; bill
slender, locustelline ; upper mandible dark, lower mandible pale ; legs, feet
and claws horn-colour ; iris brown ; mouth pale yellow.
Length. 5 to 5*1 inches; wing 2*1 to 2'2 ; tail 1*85 to 2 f l ; culmen 0*52
to 0-67 ; from gape 07 ; tarsus O'8 ; 2nd primary shorter than the 6//2, generally
intermediate between the 6th and *]th, or equals the 7th ; the first primary is
0*5 inch, or exceeds the primary coverts by 0*15 to 0*25 inch.
Hab. The Amoor Valley, where it breeds ; also Japan, China, and Tenas-
serim.
Schrenck's Reed-Warbler, Oates says, occurs commonly in the neighbour-
hood of Kyeikpadein in Pegu. Mr. Davison procured it at Tavoy in Tenas-
serim. It occurs in China. Mr. Swinhoe met with it in Amoy and Pekin. It
affects inundated rice and paddy fields, grass jungles, and low brushwood.
ACROCEPHALUS.
308. Acrocephalus orientalis, TV///, ct. Schifg. Fan,,, jap.
Airs. p. 50, pi. xx. B. ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. \. p. 97 ; Gates, S/r. F.
iii. p. 337; Hume and Dav., Sir. F. vi. p. 338; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 100 ;
Gates, Str. F. x. p. 213. Acrocephalus magnirostris, Swinh., Ibis, 1860,
p. 51. The EASTERN GREAT REED-WARBLER.
Upper plumage olive brown, tinged with fulvous, especially on the rump
and upper tail coverts ; wings and tail brown edged on the outer web with
fulvous brown ; lores darker ; a pale indistinct supercilium buffish white ;
ear coverts and sides of the neck like the back ; chin and throat white, rest
of under plumage fulvous, paler on the abdomen ; throat and breast generally
streaked with brown ; bill dark brown, the lower mandible dusky or pale flesh
colour; legs and feet slaty ; 2nd primary between yd and $th generally equal-
ling the 4M ; the first is minute ; irides yellowish brown ; eyelids plumbeous.
Length. 7-7 inches; wing 3-0 to 3*5; tail 3; tarsus 1*15; culmen O'8
to 0-95 ; from gape ro.
Hab. The valley of the Amoor, North China and Japan, passing through
South China on migration, and wintering in the islands of the Malay Archi-
pelago and the Burmah Peninsula.
This species occurs in the grassy plains of Southern Pegu during winter,
also in Tenasserim, at Tavoy and Malewoon. It has a very wide range, being
found in the Malay Peninsula and Philippine Islands ; also in Batchian, Morty
and Lombock. It frequents large grassy tracts, bamboo thickets, and bushy
jungles.
309. Acrocephalus StentoreUS, Hemp, et Ehr. Symb. Phys.
Ares. fol. b.b ; Heugl. Orn. N. Afr. i. p. 287 ; Shelley, . Egypt, p. 95 ;
Blf. East Persia, ii. p. 194. Agrobates brunnescens, J ' erd. Madr. Journ.
x. p. 269. Acrocephalus brunnescens, (Jerd^ Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc.
p. 181 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 154, No. 515 ; Hume and Henderson* Lahore to
Yarkand, p. 214, pi. xvi. ; Murray, Hdbk. ZooL, $-c., Sind y p. 152 ; Str. F.
vol. ii. 330; iii. 369. The INDIAN GREAT REED-\VARBLER.
Above light olive brown, with a very slight ferruginous tinge, paler on the
rump ; wings and tail dark brown ; the quills and lateral tail feathers pale
edged ; supercilium buffy white ; chin white ; throat greyish white, as also is
the breast, but with a fulvous tinge ; rest of under surface yellowish or fulvous
white ; bill dark brown, fleshy at base of lower mandible ; irides yellowish ;
legs slaty brown.
Length. 7-5 to 8'5 inches; wing 3 to 3-35 ; tail 3 ; tarsus i to ri.
Hab. India generally, extending to Nepaul. Appears to be a resident
in Egypt ; breeds in Turkestan and the highlands of Persia, also in Cashmere
and Nepaul. (Seebohm.) In Sind it breeds in August. Probably also a
resident of Beloochistan and Afghanistan, where it occurs in some numbers.
Recorded from Rajputana, North Guzerat and Kutch.
258 TURDID^E.
310. Acroceplialus dumetorum, Biyth, J. A. s. B.
p. 815; Jerd. B. 2nd. ii. p. 155, No. 516; Dresser, B. Eur. pt. liii.;
Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 96- Calamodyta dumetorum (BlytK), Gray.
Handlist, B. p. 207. Salicaria eurhyncha, Sever tz. Turkest. Jevotn. pp. 66,
128; id. Str. F. 1875, p. 425. BLYTH'S REED-WARBLER.
Upper parts olive brown ; supercilium very pale, nearly obsolete ; wings
and tail slightly darker brown, narrowly edged paler on the outer webs ;
beneath brownish buff, paler on the chin and throat ; under wing coverts
buffy white ; bill dusky, fleshy at base of lower mandible ; legs pale horn
brown ; irides yellowish.
Length. 6 inches ; wing 2'5 ; tail 2'3 ; bill 07.
Hab. Europe, breeds in the Himalayas, and winters in Sind, Punjab, N. W.
Provinces, Deccan, Travancore, Ceylon, Neilgherries, the Carnatic, Central
India, Bengal to Assam, and Nepaul.
311. AcrOCephaluS agriCOla, Jerd., Madras Journ. xiii. pt. ii.
p. 131 ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 182; Jerd. B. 2nd. p. 156, No. 517 ;
Murray, Hdb~k. Zool., fyc., Sind, 153; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vol. v.
p. 105 ; Dresser, B. Eur. pt. liii. Salicaria capistrata, modesta et gracilis,
Sever fa. Str. F. 1875, pp. 425, 426. The PADDY-FIELD WARBLER.
Above from pale rufous brown to earthy brown ; supercilium faint, nearly
obsolete ; wings, wing coverts and tail feathers slightly darker, the feathers
edged rufescent or earthy brown ; beneath whitish with a fulvous tinge ; bill
brown, fleshy at the base of the lower mandible ; legs horn brown ; irides
yellowish.
Length. 5^25 to 5-5 inches ; wings 2-25 ; tail 2-25 ; bill at front 0-55.
Hab. According to Seebohm, this little Warbler breeds in the valley of the
Lower Volga and extends its range eastward in the Palaearctic region, at least
as far Turkestan, and probably to China. It also breeds in the Himalayas from
Cashmere to Nepaul, and winters in the plains of India. Occurs as a migrant
in Southern India, Sind, Deccan, Punjab, Beloochistan and Afghanistan.
Gen. Locust ella. Kaup.
Bill of moderate length, slender, straight, compressed, barely deflected at
the tip, which is slightly notched ; rictal bristles nearly obsolete ; wings long ;
the 1st quill minute, rarely extending beyond the primary coverts; 2nd nearly
equal to the third, which is longest; tail of 12 feathers rounded, the outer-
most feather, except in one species, shorter than the under tail coverts;
tarsus scutellated in front ; hind claw curved ; plumage lark-like, striped 01
spotted.
312. Locnstella certhiola, (A?//.) S t >ei,<j,m- Cat. n. /:,. j///. r .
v. p. 114; Hum?, Str. />'. viii. p. 100 ; Gates, />'. n. i. p. 102.
Motacilla certhiola, PalL Zoogr., Rosso- Asiat. i. p. 509. Locnstella rube--
tflyth t J. A. S. B. xiv. p. 582; JenL B. Ind. iii. p. if.o. Locu
temporalis, Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 160. Calamodyta doria?, Sah. Atti. R. Ac.
Sc. Tor. iii. p. 531; Sharpe, Ibis, 1876, p. 41, pi. ii., fig. 2. The LESSER
REED-\VARBLER.
Upper parts russet brown, greyer on the head, more tawny on the
rump and upper tail coverts, and paler on the edges of the wing coverts ; tail
feathers blackish brown, irregularly margined with rufous brown, and broadly
terminated with whitish ; stripe over the eye and a streak from the bill under
the cheeks and ear coverts yellowish buff; ear coverts hair brown ; under wing
coverts whitish ; primaries and secondaries dark brown, narrowly edged with
rufous brown ; under surface buff, paler on the throat and upper breast, which
and the whole breast are spotted with black brown. In the next stage the
throat and breast are unspotted, and the whole under surface, including these,
are brighter yellow ; the rump is also unstreaked or almost so ; the rectrices
are not so broadly tipped white, and the eye streak, chin, throat, and the whole
lower plumage are yellowish buff. In spring the adult birds have the head
blackish brown, each feather narrowly edged with pale reddish brown. An
unmarked reddish brown collar is present in some ; the back, scapulars, and
wing coverts dark blackish brown, rather broadly edged with reddish brown ;
the rump is also reddish brown ; the upper tail coverts reddish brown with a
central spot of black ; outer tail feathers nearly all black, with scarcely any
rufous margins ; towards the middle the feathers become less black and more
margined with rufous, the central pair being rufous with only a black shaft
line ; all the feathers are tipped with white ; chin, throat and centre of abdomen
whitish ; rest of the under parts delicate buff ; bill dark brown ; legs whitish ;
irides sepia brown.
Length. 5*5 inches ; wing 2-3 j tail 2-2 ; tarsus 0-85 ; bill from gape 0*7.
Hab. Central and Eastern Siberia, where it breeds. It passes through
China on migration, and winters in India, Ceylon, the Burmah Peninsula, and
the Islands of the Malay Archipelago. In India it is found in the N. \V.
Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, and Central India, also Assam. It is also recorded
from the Khasia Hills. In Burmah Gates says it occurs in Pegu, and
probably also in Arrakan and Tenasserim. It summers in Siberia and occa-
sionally straggles into Europe. It is shy, and never by any chance seen
except by accident. Gates says it swarms in inundated paddy fields to an
incredible extent. After the i6th December the bird disappears entirely.
Quoting Dybowsky, Gates has it that it makes its nest in a tuft of grass close
to the ground, and lays five or six eggs, which are rosy white, speckled widi
reddish brown.
260
313. LOCUStella Straminea, (Sever IK). Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus.
v. p. 117. Acridiornis straminea, Severtz, TurkesL, Jevotn. p. 66, 1873.
Locustella lanceolata, (Tern.) apud. Dresser, Ibis, 1876, p. 90. Locustella
Hendersoni, (Cass.) apud. Hu?ne, Sir. F. vi. p. 340, 1878. The SIBERIAN
GRASSHOPPER WARBLER.
Upper parts pale olivaceous brown, each feather having a well denned dark
brown centre ; lores and feathers behind the eye olivaceous brown, obscurely
streaked, supercilium nearly obsolete ; wings brown, the outside webs edged
with pale olivaceous brown ; tail brown, also edged paler externally and
tipped obscurely with the same ; chin, throat, and centre of abdomen white,
shaded with brownish on the flanks and breast, and greyish white on the under
tail coverts, which are centred brown ; upper mandible dark brown, the lower
pale horn ; rictal bristles obsolete.
Legs, feet, and claws pale horn. (Seebohm.)
Length. 4*95 inches; wing 2*4 to 2*05; tail 1*9 to 2'2j culmen 0*48
to O'55 ; 2nd primary between ^th and $th or $th and 6th.
Hab. N. W* Provinces (Etawah).
Seebohm says it is supposed to breed in South-Western, Siberia from the
Ural Mountains to Turkestan, and to winter in the plains of India.
314. Locustella lanceolata, (Tem.) Wait, ibis, 1874, p. 139; M> in
Blyth, B. Burm. p. 121 ; Dresser, B. Eur. ii. p. 617; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br.
Mus. v. p. 1 1 8 ; Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 104 ; Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi.
p. 1 1 8. Sylvia lanceolata, Tem. Man. d'Orn. iv. p. 614. Lusciniopsis hendersoni,
Cass. in Proc. Phil. Ac. Sc. 1858, p. 194. Locustella minuta, Swinh. y P. Z. S.
1863, p. 93. Locustella macropus, Swinh., P. Z. 8, 1863, p. 93. Locustella
subsignata, Hume, Str. F. i. p. 409. TEMMINCK'S GRASSHOPPER WARBLER.
Upper parts russet brown, each feather centred with dark brown ; quills
brown, the primaries and secondaries externally edged with russet brown, and
the tertiaries on both webs ; tail brown, obscurely edged paler ; ear coverts
hair brown ; sides of the head streaked with russet and dark brown ; chin,
throat, and centre of abdomen ochraceous white ; rest of under surface darker
ochraceous, streaked with blackish brown ; under wing coverts pale vinaceous ;
legs fleshy white ; claws pale horn ; upper mandible dark brown, the lower
yellow at base and brown at tip; iris brown ; 2nd primary generally between
the yd and ^th.
Length. $"2. inches; wing 2'i to 2-25 ; tail r8 to 2; tarsus 075 to 078;
culmen 0-55 ; from gape 0*6.
Hab. British Burmah and the Andaman Islands during winter. In Pegu
Gates found it abundant from October to February. Mr. Davison procured it at
LUSCINIOLA. 261
various places in Tenasscrim quite down to the extreme southern portion nt
the Division. It is diffused over China, and possibly in the Islands of the
Malay Archipelago. It summers in Siberia. Its habits are not unlike those of
Z. straminea*
Gen. LtlSCiniola, Gray.
General characters of Locustella ; wing rather short ; 1st quill longer than the
primary coverts, and never more than half the length of the 2nd, which is a
little shorter than the 3rd and 4th, which are equal ; tail graduated ; tarsus
moderate, more or less distinctly scutellated in front.
315. LuSCiniola sedon, (Pall) Seebohm, Cat, B. Br. Mus. v. p. 121.
Muscicapa oedon, Pall. Reis. Russ. Reichs, iii. p. 695. Phragmaticola
olivacea, (Blyth) Jerd., Madr. Journ. xiii. pi. ii. p. 129. Arundinax olivaceus,
Jerd^ B. Ind. ii. p. 157, No. 518. Arundinax aedon, Hume, Sir. F. ii.
p. 234; Armstrong, Sir. F, iv. p. 328; Hume and Day., vi. p. 339; Hume,
Sir. F. viii. p. 100. Arundinax axlon, Blyth, B. Burm. p. 104 ; Oates, Sir.
F. x. p. 215 ; Oates, B. Br. Burm. \. p. 98. FALLAS'S GRASS- WARBLER.
Upper parts fulvous olive brown, brightest on the rump ; wing coverts,
quills, and tail brown, all edged with fulvous olive brown externally ; lores
brown ; ear coverts and sides of the neck fulvous olive brown ; no superciliary
streak ; under surface bullish white, lighter on the chin, throat, and abdomen
and suffused with russet brown on the flanks, vent and under tail coverts ; axil-
laries and under wing coverts buff ; upper mandible dark horny brown, lower
flesh colour tipped with orange ; legs and feet plumbeous ; claws horn colour.
Length. 7-7 inches; wing 3- to 3-3; tail 3' I to 3-5 ; tarsus ii ; culmert
07 to crS ; from gape o 88 ; 2nd primary intermediate between 7th and 8th
or equal to 7th.
Hab. Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, the Carnatic, also Nepaul
and British Burmah during winter. It is spread well over the whole of
Northern India and British Burmah. In the latter, it has been found over the
whole of Pegu, also in Arrakan, Tenasserim, and the Andamans. Breeds in
S.-E. Siberia and North China. It is usually seen on reeds, in marshes,
ponds, &c.
316. LuSCiniola thoracica, (Blyth) Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus.
v. p. 124. Dumeticola thoracica, Blyth, J . A. S. B. xiv. p. 584 ; id. Cat. B.
As. Soc. p. 183. Dumeticola affinis, (Hodgs.) Jcrd. B. Ind. ii. p. 158;
Brooks, Sir. F. 1875, p. 286. HODGSON'S GRASS- WARBLER.
Upper parts dark russet brown, tinged slightly with olive ; lores and feathers
behind the eye dark brown; eye stripe pale ashy white, rather indistinct ; wiiu.*s am!
tail like the back; chin and centre of abdomen m\uly white, |b idiiu,' intn pale
ashy grey on the throat and breast, and olive brown on the tiank^ ami under
35
262 TURDID^.
tail coverts, which latter are broadly tipped with whitish ; throat spotted with
dark brown ; bill dark brown ; 2nd primary equal to the 9th or loth, the
first, half the length of the 2nd ; legs, feet, and claws pale horn colour ;
axillaries greyish white.
Length- 4-95 inches; wing 2 to 2*3; tail i8 to 2'5 ; culmen 0-52; tarsus
078 to 0'83.
Hodgson's Grass-Warbler is said to breed in South Siberia and N.-W. China.
It is known only from N.-W. India, in the Himalayas, and between Simla
and Mussoorie. It is also recorded from Nepaul.
317, LuSCiniola luteiventriS, (Hodgs.) Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mtis.
v. p. 125. Tribura luteoventris, Hodgs* M. S. Drawings Nepaul Birds*
Dumeticola mandelli, Brooks, Str. F. 1875, p. 286. Dumeticola luteoventris,
(Hodgs) Brooks, Str. F. 1875, P 2 ^6. The BROWN GRASS-WARBLER.
Upper parts russet brown, inclining to olive ; lores and behind the eye
dark brown ; eye stripe pale chestnut, very indistinct ; wings and tail slightly
darker than the back ; chin, throat, and centre of abdomen nearly white,
shading into pale chestnut on the breast, flanks, thighs, and under tail coverts ;
axillaries and under wing coverts buffish white, mottled with brown on the
shoulder ; inner margin of quills pale brown ;. upper mandible dark brown,
under mandible pale horn colour ; wing short ; 2nd primary equal to- the
secondaries ; legs, feet, and claws pale brown. (Seebohm.)
Length. 4*9 to 5-5 inches; wing 1-95 to 2*25; tail 2*2 to 2*6; culmen
0*5 ; tarsus 0*7 to 0-8.
Brooks under Dumeticola mandelli (Str. F. 1875, p. 284,) gives the measure-
ments of two skins of this species as 5*4 and 5-5 inches, both from Native
Sikkim. Under Tribura luteoventris (t. c.) from the same locality and the
Bhootan Doars, he gives the length as 5-10 to 5-25 ; wing 1-97 to 2-23.
The Brown Grass-Warbler is confined to the Himalayas, having hitherto only
been found in Nepaul, the N.-W. Provinces, and Sikkim. It is recorded by
Seebohm from Darjeeling.
318. LuSCiniola indica, (Jerd.) Seebohm, Ibis, 1880, p. 277 ; id.
Cat. B. Br. Mm. v. p. 126. Sylvia indica, Jerd., Madr. Journ. xi. p. 6.
Phyllopneuste indicus, (Jerd?) Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 194; Brooks, Ibis, 1869,
p. 56; Godw.-Austen J. A. S. B. xli. pt. 2, p. 142; Seebohm, Ibis, 1877,
p. 87. JERDON'S GRASS-WARBLER.
Upper parts earthy brown with a slight tinge of ochraceous on the rump ;
eye stripe deep yellow, shading into buffy from behind the eye ; lores and
feathers behind the eye earthy brown ; quills brown, very narrowly tipped with
pale ; tail brown, the feathers narrowly tipped and margined with greyish
white on the inner web ; under surface of body buffish yellow ; axillaries and
wing coverts buff ; bill Phylloscopine ; upper mandible dark brown, the under
mandible pale horn colour ; legs, feet, and claws brown ; irides dark brown.
LUSCINIOLA. 2C3
Length. 5-25 inches; wing 2-2 to 2-65; tail 175 to 2*2; culmen 0-55;
tarsus 0-8 ; 4th and 5th primaries nearly equal and longest ; 2nd about equal
to loth ; 1st 0-65 to 0*85 inch.
Hal. N.-W. and Central Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Central India, and the
Concan ; at Matheran and Deccan.
Jerdon's Grass- Warbler has been obtained near Jaumah in Central India,
also on the Northern Ghauts and at Mhow, Saugor, and Khandeish. Jerdon
says it frequents trees, but is more common in bushes and shrubs near rocks,
and especially on rocky cliffs, which it appears to affect much. It probably
breeds in the alpine districts of the Himalayas.
319. LuSCiniola fllSCata, (Blyth) Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v.
p. 127. Phyllopneuste fuscata, Blyth, J. A. S.fi.xi.p. 113; Blyth and
Wald. B. Burm. p. 105. Horornis fulviventris, Hodgs. MS. Drawings B.
Nepaul, pi. 63; id. P. Z. S. 1845, P- 31. Phylloscopus brunneus, Blyth,
J. A. S. B. xiv. p. 591. Phylloscopus fuscatus, (Blyth) Jerd. B. Ind. ii.
p. 191; Seebhom, Ibis, 1877, p. 85; Armstrong, Str. F. iv. p. 329; Hume
and D&v., Str. F. vi. p. 352; Cripps, Str. F. vii. p. 285 ; Hume, Str. F.
viii. p, 102. Herbrvocula fuscata, (Blyth) Oates, . Br. Burm. i. p. 92.
The BROWN BUSH- WARBLER.
Upper parts brown ; wing and tail the same, but edged exteriorly with olive
brown, and on the inner webs with pale buff or olive brown ; supercilium,
reaching to the nape, buff ; cheeks and ear coverts buff, tinged with brown.
Chin, throat, and abdomen buffy white ; breast, flanks, axillaries, vent, and
under tail coverts rich buff; bill Phylloscopine ; upper mandible dark brown;
under mandible pale ; rictal bristles fairly developed ; iris brown ; legs and
feet dusky flesh colour ; claws yellowish horn colour.
Length. 5*3 inches; wing 2*3 to 2*55; tail 2'2 to 2-4; culmen 0-45 to
0*49 ; tarsus O'S to 0*9.
Hab. N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Assam, British Burmah, and Nepaul.
In India it is a winter visitor. Oates says during this season it is common
to every portion of Pegu. Mr. Davison got it at Tenasserim as far south as
Tavoy. It also winters in South China. In summer it is found in Eastern
Siberia and Japan. According to Seebohm it breeds in South-Eastern Siberia.
The Brown Bush-Warbler confines itself to low jungle and grass land, and,
according to Seebohm, is especially fond of wet localities and the banks of
nullahs and ditches. It has a low single note, which it frequently utters while
flitting from spot to spot.
320. LuSCiniola SChwarzi, (Radde) Seebohm, Ibis, 1880, p. 277 ;
id. Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 128. Sylvia (Phyllopneuste) schwarzi, Raddc,
Reis. Sibir. Voy. p. 260. Herbivocula schwarzi, Swinh. P. Z. S. 1871,
p. 3 $4 ; Oafes, B. Br, Burm. i. p. 9. Phylloscopus brooksi, Wald. in Bl.
264
B. Burm. p. 105. Neornis flavolivacea, Hodgs. ? apud. Hu?ne, Str. F. HI
P- 1 39 ; 00/^5-, *SVr. F. x. p. 221. Phylloscopus schwarzi, Brooks, Sir. F.
iv. p. 277; Seebohm, Ibis, 1877, p. 84; Hume and Dav., Sir. F. vi. p, 353 ;
Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 102 j Bingham, Sir. F. ix. p. 1 86. RADDE'S BUSH-
WARBLEK.
Upper parts olive brown tinged with tawny, especially on the rump ; wings
and tail brown, edged 1 on the outer web with the colour of the back ; super-
cilium, reaching to the nape, buff ; lores and feathers behind the eye dark
brown ; ear coverts buff and brown ; under surface rich tawny buff, paling
on the throat and abdomen ; axillaries and under wing coverts buff ; bill short,
thick, and wide at base; upper mandible dark brown, under mandible
pale ; 4th and 5th primaries longest j 2nd intermediate in length between 7th
and 8th; the ist frequently more than half the length of the 2nd; legs and
feet pale horn colour.
Length. 5-6 inches ; wing 2*35 to 2-5 ; tail 2'2 to 2-05 ; culmen 0-48 to O'5
In summer the lower parts are nearly white with, in some, a slight tinge of
yellowish white or buff.
Hab. British Burmah, where Gates says it has been frequently met with in
winter, and in North Pegu. It has also been obtained at Kyeikpadien, and by
Davison in the northern half of the Tenasserim Division, at Pahpoon, and
other places. Captain Bingham got it in the Thoungyeen Valley. It also
winters in South China. Breeds in South-Eastern Siberia. Affects low bushes
and dense jungle.
321. Lusciniola fuliginhrentris, (Hodgs.) Seebohm, Ibis, 1880,
p. 277. Horornis fuliginiventer, Hodgs. P. Z S. 1845, p. 31. Phylloscopus
fuliginiventer, (Hodgs.) Blyth>Ibis, 1867, p. 28. The SMOKY GRASS- WARBLER,
Upper parts dark olive brown ; wings and tail dull chocolate brown ; an
indistinct supercilium and the whole of the under surface of the body, includ-
ing the axillaries and under wing coverts, pale olive brown, yellowish on the
throat and middle of abdomen; bill Phylloscopine; both mandibles dark
brown, the under mandible slightly paler at base ; legs and feet brown.
Length. 5-3 inches; wing 2'i to 2-3; tail 175 to2'o; culmen 0*45 to 0-5.
Hab. Nepaul and Sikkim.
322. Lusciniola neglecta, Hume, Ibis, 1870, p. 143 ; Blanf. East.
Persia, ii. p. 182; Seebohm, Ibis, 1877, p. 99; id. Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 131.
Phylloscopus neglectus, (Hume} Hume, Str. F. p. 195. Lusciniola neglectus,
(Hume) Murray, Vert. Zool., Sind, p. 150. HUME'S GRASS- WARBLER.
The following is Mr. Hume's description of the species :
"The lores are brownish white; a comparatively pure and very narrow
white streak runs from the nostrils over the lores and eyes, but not beyond ;
LUC1NIOLA. 265
the whole upper surface is dull earthy brown, with, in some, a faintly olivaceous
rufescent tinge on the back, most conspicuous on the rump ; the quill-
tail are a moderately dark hair brown, narrowly margined on the outer v
with pale olivaceous brown, much the same colour as the upper parts ; the
secondaries are very narrowly margined at the tips with albescent;' the
whole lower surface is albescent, tinged with very pale fulvous fawn, or earthy
brown, more strongly so in some specimens than in others j the sides and
flanks are pale earthy brown ; the wing lining and axillaries are white with, at
times, the faintest possible fulvous or brownish tinge.
" Length. 4 to 4-2 inches ; expanse 6-25 to 6*4 ; tail from vent 1-4 to 1*6 ;
wing barely 2 to 2-15 ; bill at front 0^27 to 0-3 ; tarsus o'68 to 0-71. The 4th
primary the longest, the 3rd and 5th a hair's breadth shorter, the 2nd 0*26 to
0-3, and the ist I to ri shorter than the 4th ; the irides are brown ; the legs
and feet black ; the bill black, paler or horny greenish in some at the base of
the lower mandible." Str. F. i. p. 196.
Hab Sind, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Beloochistan, and Persia. A winter
visitant ; chiefly affecting acacia groves.
323. Lusciniola melanopogon, (Tern.) Gray. List. Gen. B.
p. 28 ; Heuglin, Orn. N. D. Afr. Salvad. Faun. Ital. Ucc. p. 1 1 6 ; Hume,
Sir. F. 1873, p. 190; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 132 ; Murray, Vert.
Zool., Sind, p. 149. Sylvia melanopogon, (Tern.) pi. Col. 245, fig. 2.
Calamodus melanopogon, (Teni). Blanf. E. Persia ii. p. 198. The Mous-
TACHED GRASS-WARBLER.
A broad conspicuous white stripe from the nostrils over the eyes and ear
coverts ; a dark brown stripe from in front of, under, and through the eyes,
enveloping the upper portion of the ear coverts, darker in the males than in
the females ; the chin, throat, and lower parts, including the lower tail coverts,
white, faintly tinged rufescent on the breast, more strongly so on the flanks,
about the vent, and in some specimens the lower tail coverts also ; the sides
both of the neck and of the body tinged with greyish or, in some, olivaceous
brown ; forehead, crown, occiput, and nape very dark brown, the feathers
tipped and margined a paler yellowish olive brown ; in some specimens these
tippings entirely obscure the base, except on a narrow line immediately above
the white eye streak ; in others these parts appear to be very dark brown
regularly striated with a pale olive brown, while in some the tippings are almost
wanting ; the back, scapulars, rump, and upper tail coverts, the same yellowish
olive brown, becoming more rufescent on the lower back, rump, and upper
tail coverts ; the feathers of the centre of back with more or less conspicu-
ous dark central shaft-streaks ; in some birds the whole back seems regularly
streaked with dark lines, in others only a few faint darker streaks are visible
in the very centre of the back ; in some again the lower back is much more
decidedly rufous ; the wings arc hair brown ; the primaries very narrowly
266 TURDID^E.
margined and tipped on the outer web paler ; the secondaries and tertiaries
and most of the coverts more distinctly margined with a sort of rufescent
olive, the wing lining and axillaries pure or nearly pure white ; tail feathers
somewhat pale hair brown, obscurely margined with rufescent olive ; the
shaft dull white below. " The plumage," Mr. Hume says, " is rather variable,
and in some specimens the flanks and tail coverts are much browner than
above described the upper surface, too, varies a good deal in its general
appearance * * * ; all the quills are margined on their inner webs
albescent."
Dimensions from the fresh bird sexes not differing appreciably in size.
Length. 57 to 5-8 inches ; expanse 7-3 to 7-5 ; tail from vent 2 to 2-2 ; wing
2'4 to 2-5 ; wing, when closed, reach to within 1-25 to 1-4 of end of tail ; bill
at front 0*42 to 0*47 ; tarsus 0-82 to 0-87 ; hind toe and claw 0-55, claw only
from root to point 0*3 ; weight 0^35 to 0*4 oz. ; irides brown to pale brown ;
feet dark horny grey, in some dusky brown ; legs dusky brown ; soles pale
yellowish ; bill very dark brown, almost black, paler on lower mandible.
Hume, Stray Feathers, vol. i., p. 191.
Hab. Sind, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Beloochistan, Persia, and Afghanis-
tan. A winter visitant.
Seebohm says it appears to be a resident on both shores of the Mediter-
ranean, extending eastwards into Persia. In Sind and the N.-W. Provinces
it is only a winter visitor. Probably breeds in Turkestan.
Gen. Cettia. Bonap.
This genus contains a small group of Bush-Warblers, distinguished by
having only ten tail feathers. The wing is generally rounded ; the 1st primary
always half the length of the 2nd or a little more ; the 2nd is nearly
equal to the secondaries ; tail rounded, the outermost feathers two-thirds to
five-sixths the length of the longest ; tarsus and feet robust, the former
scutellated in front. The predominant colours are russet brown and olive
brown. (Seebohm.)
324. Cettia cetti, (Marm)Degl. Orn. Eur. i. p. 518; Murray, Vert.
Zool., Sind, p. 151; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 135. Sylvia cetti,
Marm. Mem. Ace. Tor. xxx. p. 254; Tern. Man. d' Orn. i. p. 194. Bradyp-
terus cetti, (Marm.) Cat. Mus. Hein. i. p. 43; Shelley, B. Egypt, p. 89;
Dresser, Ibis, 1876, p. 89. Cettia orientalis, Tristram, Ibis, 1867, p. 79.
Cettia stolickza, Hume, Str. F. ii. p. 520. Cettia cettioides, Hume, Sir. F.
\. p. 194. Bradyptetes cetti, (Marm.) Blanf. East Persia ii. p. 200. CETTI'S
BUSH-WARBLER.
" A spot in front of the eyes dusky ; a streak from the nostrils over the eye
and a circle round the eye fulvous white ; the forehead, crown, and whole
upper surface a warm rufous or ferruginous brown, more rufous on the rump
CETTIA. 267
and upper tail coverts ; the quills and tail hair brown, margined with rufescent
olive ; ear coverts, sides of the neck, body, flanks and vent feathers a pale dull
greyish or earthy brown ; chin, throat, breast, and abdomen white, lower tail
coverts slightly rufous brown (webs very lax and much disunited) narrowly
tipped with white ; axillaries and wing lining slightly greyish white ; the edge
of the wing just above the base of the primaries is white ; in some few specimens
the eye streak extends beyond the eye to more than half of the ear coverts,
but in most it ceases just beyond the posterior angle of the eye ; irides brown ;
legs and feet pale brown or fleshy brown, darker on toes and claw ; bill dark
horny brown, but paler on lower mandible.
"Length. 5-8 to 6*5 inches ; expanse 7*5 to 8*4 ; tail from vent 2.4 to 3 ;
wing 2' 5 to 2'8 ; wings, when closed, reach to within from 1*2 to 2 of end of
tail; bill at front 0*4 to 0*5 ; tarsus o - 8 to nearly 0*9 ; weight 0-4 oz." Stray
Feathers, vol. i. p. 191.
Hal. Sind, Beloochistan, Persia, and Afghanistan. Found in France,
Spain, Algeria, Greece, Asia Minor, Palestine and Turkestan.
It is found on both shores of the Mediterranean, extending eastwards as far
as Turkestan. It winters in Sind. Mr. Blanford obtained it in the Elburz
Mountains north of Tehran, where it abounded in bushes on the sides of
the valleys. Menetries found it on the Talish Mountains south of Lankoran.
Mr. Blanford found its nest near Asupas. He describes it as cup-shaped,
deep, rather roughly constructed of dried grass and lined with a little down
of plants. Eggs, two in number, uniform dull brick red in colour. Size 075
inch x 0-57.
Mr. Hume gives an interesting account of its skulking habits among the
almost impenetrable rushes.
325. Cettia fortipes, (Hodgs.) Seebohm, P. z;s. 1878, P% 980; id ,
Ibis, 1879, p. 36; id., Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 137. Horornis fortipes,
Hodgs. MS. Drawings B. Nepaul, pi. 63 ; Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv. p. 584;
Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 162 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 329 ; Brooks, Str. F.
viii. p. 475. Drymoica brevicauda, .Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 459. Horornis
assimilis, (Gray) Brooks, Str. F. x. p. 170. Neornis assimilis, BL Ibis, 1867,
p. 22 ; Godwn.-Austen, J. A. S. B. xliii. pt. ii. p. 167 ; Wald. in BL B.
Burm. p. 105 ; Hume and Dav., vi. p. 351 ; Schcenicola fortipes, Hume, Str.
F. viii. p. 10 1. HODGSON'S HILL- WARBLER.
Upper surface rich russet brown ; lores and ear coverts darker russet ; eye
streak indistinct pale brown, in some with a yellowish tinge ; wings and tail
brown, the outer webs edged with russet brown ; under surface of body buffish
brown ; axillaries and under wing coverts pale yellow ; bill dark brown, the
base of lower mandible paler; legs and feet pale brown ; irides pale brown.
Length. 4*5 inches; wing r88 to 2'28 ; tail r86 to 2'2i ; culmcn 0-48
to 0-56 ; from gape 0*62 ; tarus o^.
268 TURDID^.
Hob. The Himalayas from Cashmere to Assam, Sikkim, Eastern Bengal,
Western China, Burmah and the Island of Formosa. Recorded from Nepaiil,
Darjeeling, Kashgar and British Burmah. It has been procured in Karin
by Captain Wardlaw-Ramsay, and by Dr. Anderson in the hills east of Bhamo.
Colonel Godwin-Austen got it in the hill tracts of Eastern Bengal. Seebohm
says " in all localities it is doubtless a partial migrant, breeding at high eleva-
tions above the level of winter snow, and descending lower into the valleys
during the cold season.
326. Cettia flavolivacea, (Hodgs.) Seebohm, Ibis, 1879, p. 36; id.
Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 138. Neornis flavolivacea, Hodgs., MS. Drawings
B. Nepaul, pi. 6 1 fig. i ; Jer$. B. Ind. ii. p. 188, No. 552. Neornis
cacharensis, (Hodgs.) Gray, Cat. Mam. & J5. Nepaul, p. 67. The HIMALAYAN
BUSH-WARBLER.
Upper parts dark brownish green, paler on the rump ; lores and feathers
behind the eye brown ; supercilium rather indistinct, buffish yellow ; wings and
tail brown, the outer webs of the feathers edged with brownish green. Chin,
throat and centre of abdomen deep yellow, with a brownish tinge on the breast,
flanks, thighs and under tail coverts ; axillaries and under wing coverts bright
yellow ; inner margins of quills nearly white ; bill dark brown, paler at base
of lower mandible ; 4th, 5th and 6th primaries nearly equal and longest ; legs
and feet brown.
Length. 4*5 inches; wing 1*9 to 2-15; tail 1*9 to 2'2; culmen 0*51 to
0*48 ; tarsus 0*9.
Hab. The Himalayas from Nepaul to Assam. Breeds at high altitudes.
327. Cettia pallidipes, (Blanf.) Seebohm, Ibis, 1879, P- 36; id.
Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 139. Phylloscopus pallidipes, Blanf., J . A. S. B. xli.,
pt. ii. p. 162; pi. vii. (1872). Horeites sericea, Walden, ~Blyth, Wald. in
B. Burm. p. 119; Tweed., Ibis, 1877, p. 487; Hume, Str. F. v. p. 57.
Horeites pallidipes, Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi. p. 344 ; Hume, Str. F. viii.
p. loi ; Oates, B. Br. Burm., i. p. 122. BLANFORD'S HILL WARBLER.
Upper plumage, tail, and wings olive brown ; a broad supercilium greyish
white ; lores and feathers behind the eye olive brown ; ear coverts greyish
white ; under surface white, very slightly tinged with brownish on the breast,
flanks, and under tail coverts; axillaries and under wing coverts white.
Bill Phylloscopine, yellow, the under mandible pale brown ; 4th, 5th, and 6th
primaries nearly equal and longest; 2nd shorter than the secondaries ; ist
more than half the length of the second ; iris dull brown ; legs fleshy white.
Length. 4. inches; tail 17; wing 2-05 to 2'2; bill from gape 0-55.
Hab. Sikkim and Assam, also Tenasserim. Gates says, " Blanford's Hill-
Warbler was procured at Pahpoon in Tenasserim by Mr. Davison, and on the
CETTIA. 269
Rariri Mis east of Tounghoo by Captain Wardlaw-Ramsay. It was first dis-
covered by Blanford in Sikkim,\vhereitis probably a partial migrant, ascending
to a considerable elevation to breed.
328. Cettia brunneifrons, (Hodgs). Seebohm, Ibis, 1879, p. 36;
id., Cat. B. fir. Mus> vi. p. 143. rtoreites brunneifrons, Hodgs., M. S. Draw-
\ngs> B. Nep. Passer es, pi. 62, a fig I ; Ely., J. A. S. B. xiv. p. 585; Jerd.
B. Ind. ii. p. 163, No. 527 ; Brooks, J. A. S. B. xli. pt. ii. p. 78, (1878).
Horeites pollicaris (Hodgs.), Jerd* JB. hid. ii. p. 163, No. 528. The NEPAUL-
ESE BUSH-WARBLER.
Upper surface dark russet-brown, shading into brownish red on the nape and
head ; supercilium buffish white, extending to the nape ; wings and tail dark
fusset^brown, their outer webs edged with the same ; chin and centre of belly
nearly white, shading into ashy grey on the sides of the neck and breast and
into russet-brown on the flanks, thighs, and under tail coverts ; axillaries and
under wing coverts nearly white. Bill Phylloscopine, upper mandible dark
brown, the under mandible pale brown ; primaries, secondaries, and 1st quill
as in the last ; legs, feet, and claws pale brown.
Length. 4-37 inches; wing 1*7 to 1*95; tail 1-5 to r8 ; tarsus 073 to
075 ; culmen 0-4 to 0-45.
Hob. The Himalayas from Nepaul, the Mountains of Chinese Thibet to
Sikkim, as low as Darjeeling. Breeds at high elevations.
329. Cettia major, (Moore), Seebohm, Ibis, 1879, p. 36; id., Cat. B.
Br. Mus. v. p. 145, pi. vii. Horeites major, Moore, P. Z. S., 1854, p. 105 ;
(descr. prem.) ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 164, No. 529. MOORE'S BUSH or LARGE
HILL-WARBLER.
Upper surface olive brown, shading into russet on the wings and tail, which
are edged with dark olive brown, and into rich dark russet-brown colour on
the nape and head ; supercilium yellowish ferruginous, extending over the ear
coverts, which are brown tinged with ruddy ; chin and abdomen white ;
throat, sides of neck, and centre of breast olive brown, deeper on the flanks,
thighs, and under tail coverts. Bill Phylloscopine, dark brown ; under mandible
paler at base ; 5th and 6th primaries nearly equal and longest ; 2nd shorter
than the secondaries ; 1st more than half the length of the second ; legs, feet,
and claws pale brown.
Length. 3-9 to 4-5 inches ; wing 2-41 to 2-63 ; tail 2-2 to 2-4; tarsus ro2 ;
culmen 0*55.
ffab.The Himalayas, from Nepaul to Sikkim, and the Mountains of
.Chinese Thibet, descending into the valleys in the cold season. Seebohm adds
that it is probably a partial migrant breeding at or near the limit of forest
.growth on the Himalayas.
36
270
'GrROtTP BRADYPTERL
Aberrant Reed Warblers with 10-12 tail feathers, allied to the Grass- Warblers.
Gen. Schoenicola.
Bill moderate, rather deep, much compressed ; culmen slightly Curved $
'rictal bristles moderate, few ; wings moderate, slightly rounded ; 4th quill
longest, 3rd equal to the 5th ; tail moderate, the feathers broad ; under tail
coverts long, reaching to more than half the length of the tail ; tarsus long : ;
plumage lax.
330. Schcenicola platyura, (Jerd.) Biyth, J. A. 6*. B. xiii.
P- 374 5 Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 73, No. 442 ; Hume, Sir. F. 1878, p. 37 ; id.
Sir. F. 18*79, P- 97 5 -Brooks, Sir. F. 1881, p. 209 ; Hume, t. c. p. 211 ; Legge^
Birds, Ceylon, p. 532; Hume, Sir. F. 1880, pp. 234.260; Butler, Cat. B.
Bom. Pres. p. 43; Sharpe, P. Z. S. t88'i, p. 920; id. Cat. B. Br. Mus.
Vii. p. HO. Timalia platyura, Jerd. Madr. Journ. xiii. p. 170.' The
BROAD-TAILED REED-BIRD.
Upper surface russet or rufous brown, including the ear and wing coverts ;
quills dusky, externally margined with russet-brown, the innermost second-
aries the same on both webs ; tail russet-brown, obscurely banded with dusky
brown under certain lights ; the outer feathers darker and tipped with ashy ;
lores whitish ; supercilium fulvous, also the cheeks and sides of the neck ;
throat, centre of breast, and abdomen whitish^ the former washed with fulvous
on the lower parts, also the sides of the body, flanks, thighs, and under tail
i coverts the latter washed with ashy at the tips ; under wing coverts and
: axillaries buffish white. Bill horny yellow, 0-4 ; legs fleshy yellow ; irides
yellowish brown.
Length. 5'8 to 6-3 inches ; wing 2-5 to 2-65 ; tail 2'6 to 2'8 ; tarsus
0-8 to 0-85,
Hob. Southern India (Belgaum, Travancore, Wynaad, at the foot of the
Neilgherries, and Ceylon). According to Jerdon the Broad-tailed Reed-Bird
affects reeds in swampy places. In their actions and habits, Captain Butler
says : These birds resemble Chaternis striata and in the breeding season rise
constantly into the air, chirruping like that species, and descending afterwards
in the same way on to some low bush or tussock of grass, sometimes even on
to the telegraph wires. They are fearful little skulks. If you attempt to
pursue them, at once they disappear into the grass, from whence it is almost
impossible to flush them again unless you all but tread on them. They breed
in September. The food of the Broad-tailed Reed-bird consists chiefly of
insects. Captain Butler's notes, in Str. F. ix. p. 262, quoted by Mr. Hume,
in regard to the nidification of this species are to the effect that the nest is
composed of coarse grass, with an entrance on one side, built in long grass,
LATICILLA. 27F
and about a foot from the ground ; the eggs, he says, have r a purplish white
ground, sprinkled all over with numerous small specks and spots of purplish
brown and purple (brownish red, almost black in some), with a cap of the
same at the large end. They are moderately broad ovals, with but little gloss
Size 073 x o % 6.
Gen. Laticilla Blyth.
Bill of moderate length, compressed and slender ; the culmen slightly
curved ; wings short, rounded ; 5th and 6th quills longest ; second primary
shorter than secondaries ; tail strongly graduated, long and broad, the outer
tail feathers just reaching beyond the under tail coverts, beyond which the
outstretched feet do not reach. This genus comprises two species only both;
found in India.
331. Laticilla burnesi, (.Blyth) Blyth, y. A. S. B. xiv. p. 59 6 ;
Hume, Str. F. 1873, p. 180 ; 1879, p. 97 ; Doig, t. c. p. 370 ; Murray, Vert.
Zool., Sind, p. 134; Sharpe, Cat. B. Rr. Mus. viii. p. 1 1-8 ; Eiirycercus
Burnesii, Blyth. J. A. S. B., xiii. p. 374; Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 74, No. 443.
The LONG-TAILED REED-BIRD.
Above olive brown* paler on the head, rufescent on the back and sides of
the neck; the feathers, including the scapulars, mesially streaked with, dark
brown ; rump and upper tail coverts unstriped ; lores and round the eye white ;
ear coverts greyish white ^ tail olive brown, with faint transverse striae, the
lateral feathers narrowly margined at the tips with whitish ; a double line of
dark spots from the base of the lower mandible on either side of the throat;
under surface white ; the flanks and sides brownish, the feathers with fulvous
mesial streaks ; und^r tail coverts ferruginous ; bill horny brown, paler on
lower mandible ; irides brown ; legs pale horny.
Length. 7 to 7-7 inches ; wing 2 to 2-3 ; tail 4 ; bill at front O'4.
Hob. Sind, the Punjab, N.-W. Provinces and Bengal. Breeds in Sind fromi
July to September.
Affects high grass jungles,, from inside which it is most difficult to flush.
When once disturbed, it climbs about in the interior of the reeds and' grass,,
and seldom affords a chance of a shot. It requires much patience and
trouble to secure specimens. Hume adds that they cost him more trouble
than any other bird he met with in Sind. This is certainly the experience of
every one desirous of forming a collection of the species.
332. Laticilla cinerascens, ( w<M.) Hume, Sir. F. 1879, p. 97 ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vii. p. 1 19. Eurycercus cinerascens, Walden, Ann.
and Mag. Nat. Hist. (4), xvi. p. 156 (1874. The CINEKKOI s LOXG-TAIL.SD
REED-BIRD.
272
TURDID^E.
Adult Male, Above olive brown, washed with ashy and streaked with dark
brown down the centre of the feathers, a little more ashy on the rump and
upper tail coverts, and also on the forehead and sides of crown ; wing coverts
like the back, ashy on the least series j bastard wing feathers dark brown,
externally like the back ; primary coverts dark brown, edged with olive ; quills
the same ; tail feathers brown, washed with olive on the outer web, the centre
of the feathers darker brown ; lores, feathers in front of the eye and eyelid
white j cheeks and under surface of body white, ashy on the sides of the
breast and flanks, the latter washed with brown, as also the thighs externally ;
under tail coverts yellowish white or pale fulvous ; axillaries and under wing
Qoverts white, with a dusky spot near the edge of the wing.
Length. 6 inches; wing 2' I ; tail 3-15, tarsus 0'8 ; culmen 0*55.
* Bengal, Has not been recorded from any other part of India.
Gen.
Bill slender, compressed and of moderate length ; nostrils apert ; rictal
bristles few, strong, $rd quill longest ; 4th and 5th nearly equal to it ; tarsus
long, scutellated ; mid toe long.
333. Megalurus palustris, Horsf., Trans., Lin. Sac, xiii, p. 159;
Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As.' Soc. p. 139 ; Jerd., B. Ind, ii. p. 70; Hume, Nests
and Eggs, p. 276; Blyth, B. Burm. p. 118: Wald., Tr. Z. S. ix. p. 189;
Oates, Sir. F. v. p. 156; J^joeed, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 694; Hume and Dav.,
Sir. F. vi. p. 295 ; Anderson^ Yunnan Exp. p. 639 ; Hume, Str. F. viii.
p. 97; Gates, Str. F. x. p, 209; Sharp* , Cat. B. Br. Mus. vii. p. 123.
The STRIATED MARSH WARBLER.
Upper surface fulvous brown, the head rather rufous, and each feather with
$ mesial dark brown shaft streak ; wing coverts and quills blackish brown,
Broadly edged with the colour of the back ; tail fulvous brown, the shafts and the
CH^TORNIS. 273
portion of each feather near them dusky ; supercilium greyish white ; chin and
throat white ; sides of the neck and all the lower plumage earthy brown, tinged
with buff on the flanks ; vent and undertail coverts, also the breast, with a few
brown streaks.
The young are distinguished from the adult by the yellow colour of the under
surface and lores, the streaks on the throat are absent, and only slightly indi-
cated ; the flanks and under tail coverts uniform light rufescent brown ; bill
black, pale horn on the lower mandible ; iris pale brown ; eyelids plumbeous.
Length. 9 to 10 inches; wing 3-2 to 4 ; tail 4-5 to 4-9; tarsus 1-3; bill
from gape 0-95.
Hab. Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Bengal, Central India, Assam, and British
Burmah.
The Striated Marsh Warbler has a very wide range. It is found in the
Malayan Peninsula and Java. In Pegu, according to Gates, it is locally
distributed, being found only where there is long grass. It occurs on the
banks of the Irrawady and tributaries of the Godavery, also on the
Nerbudda, but is most abundant in lower Bengal, where the country is
intersected by rivers, and where long grass and reeds cover it for miles. It
generally keeps in couples, and seldom moves away from the spot it selects
for its feeding ground. During the cold weather, and up to the end of the
breeding season, this bird has a fine song, which it utters while flying from
one patch of grass to another, and which Blyth calls a fine flute-like voice.
In doing this, it is said to mount 30 or 40 feet into the air, and to come
down with motionless outspread wings. It breeds in May, making a partially
domed structure of coarse grasses, in tufts of grass not very high from the
ground. The eggs are usually 4 in number, white and speckled with purplish
brown.
Gen. ChSBtornis. Gray.
Bill short, about one-half the length of that of Megalurns, strong, high,
compressed, curved on the culmen, hooked at the tip and notched. Five
strong bristles on each side between the gape and the eye ; wings long, the
3rd quill longest ; legs and feet strong.
274 TURDID^.
334. Chsetornis locustelloides, (StytK), Btym, 7. A. S. B. xL
p. 602; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vii. p. 130. Dasyornis collurioceps, Blytk
torn, cti.p, 603. Chaetornis striata y Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 167, pi. 48, fig. 9;
Jerd., B. Ind. ii. p. 72, No. 441 ; Ball, Str. F. 1875, p. 288 ; Butler, Sir. F.
1877, p. 209; Ball, t. c. p. 416 ; Hume, Str. F. 1878, p. 215 ; Cripps, t. c.
p. 279; Butler, Cat. B. Sind, &c., Str. F. 1879, p, 29. The GRASS
WARBLER.
Upper surface brown, the feathers streaked mesially with dark brown, and
edged with fulvous or whity-brown ; lower back, rump, and upper tail coverts
less broadly streaked ; quills dark brown ; broadly edged externally with
rufescent or tawny buff ; centre tail feathers dark brown, darker along the
middle from where dusky bars radiate, forming dusky bands; rest of the
feathers dark brown externally washed with lighter brown and tipped with
white ; forehead fulvous brown ; lores dull whitish ; supercilium buffy white ;
throat and centre of body dull white, yellowish buff on the chest, sides of the
body, thighs, and under tail coverts ; axillaries and under wing coverts buffy
white ; bill dusky brown above, fleshy brown beneath ; legs brownish fleshy ;
irides dull greyish brown.
Length. 7-75 to 8 inches ; wing 3*3 to 3*5 ; tail 3-3 to 375 ; tarsus PI ;
bill at front 0-46 to 0*5.
Hab. Bengal, Southern India, and Central India. It has been found on
the Neilgheries and at Nellore during the cold season in long grass and rice-
fields, also in thickets of reeds. Its habits are quite those of Megalurus.
Group.CISTICOIwE.
The position of this group of birds has not been anywhere well defined.
There can, however, be no doubt as to its position being next the Badypleri,
with 10-12, tail feathers strongly graduated or round. The shape and form
of the bills of the different Indian genera comprising it show a general
affinity, as also the thick orbital bristles, which serve to protect the eyes of
the members forming the group, when forcing their way through tufts of
grass.
Gen. Suya. Hodgs.
Bill stout and compressed, slightly (generally o'l) shorter than that of
Choetornis striata, and proportionately less in width ; nostrils apert ; gape with
two strong rictal bristles on each side ; tail of 10 feathers very long and much
graduated.
335. Suya Crinigera, Hodgs., As. Res. xix, p. 183 ; Jerd., B. Ind. ii.
p. 183; Hume, Nests and Eggs,- p. 353; Wald. in Bl. B. Burm. p. 120;
Hume, Str. F. ix. p. 138 ; id., Str. F. vii. p. I ; viii. p. 151 ; Scully, Str. F.
SUVA. 275
Viii. p. 305 ; Sharpe, Cat, B. Br. Mus. vii. p. 177. Suva fuliginosa, Hodgs.
in Grays Zool., Misc.^ p. 82 ; Jerd., B. Ind. ii. p. 184 ; Hume, Nests and E%gi,
p. 355 ; id., Str. F. viii. p. 101. Prinia striata, Swinh., Journ.N. China, As.
Soc. 1859, p. 227. Suya obscura, Hume, Str. F. ii. p. 507 ; vii. p. 2. Suya
striata, Dav. et. Oust Ois. Chine, p. 259; Hume, Str. F. vii. p. i. Blanfordius
striatulus, Hume, Str. F. 1873, p. 300; id., 1879, p. IQI ; Murray, Hdbk.
Zool., fyc., Sind, p. 157; id., Vert. Zool, Sind, p. 153. The BROWN HILL
WARBLER.
Adult in breeding plumage. Above dull brown with a slight olive tint, the
feathers margined with greyish olive, causing a somewhat mottled appearance ;
lower back and rump more uniform ; wing coverts brown with greyish olive
edges, the outer coverts of the lesser series margined with yellowish white as
also the bastard wing and primary coverts ; -quills brown with hoary olive
margins and tips ; before the latter a dusky brown subterminal spot ; crown
<of the head ; Hke the back, and mottled in the same manner ; lores yellowish ;
no supercilium ; ear coverts and cheeks yellowish buff, the former dusky
along their upper margins; throat and under surface yellowish buff; sides
of the breast brown or mottled with dark brown bases to the feathers ;
abdomen a little clearer yellowish buff; -sides of the body and flanks light
olivaceous ; thighs a little more tawny like the abdomen ; under wing coverts
and axillaries light tawny. (Sharpe.)
black ; tarsus fleshy ; claws brown and dusky ; iris straw or golden
jellow. (Scully.)
Length. 5*8'; wing 2'i ; tail 2*3; tarsus O'S ; culmen 0*6.
In non-breeding plumage, Dr. Scully says the bill is brown above ; the
lower mandible pale yellowish or pinkish horny, the head and upper back
more or less rufescent, and more or less deep brown, conspicuously striated
with pale more or less rufescent fawn or yellowish brown ; the quills margined
with bright ferruginous, the supercilium small and inconspicuous and of a
creamy colour.
The young female (Suya obscura, Hume,) is described by Sharpe as being
brown above, with dusky centres to the feathers of the head and back, causing a
mottled appearance, less distinct on the back ; rump uniform brown ; lesser and
median wing coverts like the back ; greater coverts, bastard wing, primary
coverts and quills light brown, with reddish buff margins to the feathers, more
distinctly rufous on the outer edge of the primaries ; upper tail coverts darker
brown ; tail feathers brown ; with dusky cross bars under certain lights, the
edges and tips paler and more fulvous brown ; the tips plainer on all but the
two centre tail feathers and having a distinct subterminal spot of dusky brown ;
lores dull whitish, obscured by blackish tips ; no distinct eyebrow, but the super-
ciliary feathers, a little paler than the crown ; eyelid whitish ; ear coverts light
276
brown-, washed with yellowish buff ; cheeks, throat, foreheck and client
whitish ; breast and abdomen pure white ; sides of the breast washed with
.olive brown ; sides of the body, flanks) thighs, and under tail coverts clear
fulvous brown ; under wing coverts and axillaries pale tawny buff, whiter near
the edge of the wing.
Length. 5-9 inches; wing 2-15 ; tail 2*8 ; tarsus 0-85 ; oilmen 0-45.
A young bird in its first winter dress is described by Hume as Blanfordius
striatulus* The following is his description :
"An obscure rufous white streak from the nostrils to the upper part of the eye.
The whole upper parts dull greyish olive brown (the grey preponderating on
the head), all the feathers except those of the upper tail coverts conspicuously
centred with dark brown ; wings pale hair brown, all the feathers margined
with pale rufescent olive ; tail feathers a sort of olive brown, the feathers con-
spicuously darker, very stiff-looking, and with glistening shafts, all the feathers
obsoletely transversely rayed, the central ones most strongly so. All but the
central ones narrowly tipped fulvous white, and with an obscure subterminal
dark band ; on the under surface, the shafts are white ; the ear-coverts mingled
fulvous and pale rufous brown ; the sides of the neck streaked like the back ;
on either side of the throat descends from the gape, for about half an inch, a
band of tiny white feathers, with minute dark centres, so as to produce the
appearance of two or three regular rows of little spots on each side of
the throat ; the chin and the centre of the throat, breast and abdomen white,
tinged buffy on the two latter, and with all the feathers of the throat and
breast very faintly and narrowly tipped with brown, so as to produce the
appearance of a number of narrow, faint, transverse bars. The flanks, sides,
vent and lower tail coverts are tinged with dull olive brown mingled with
fulvous buff ; the wing lining is buffy white, and so are the inner margins of
the inner webs of the quills as seen from below.
"Length. (Of the dry skin; female) about 6 inches, wing 1-9, tail from
vent 2*75, bill at front about 0*45, tarsus 0*7, tail from vent 2*75, legs and feet,
fleshy, bill brown, pale fleshy on lower mandible." (Hume, Sir. F. i. p. 300.)
Hob. From Sind, throughout the Himalayas from Cashmere to Bhootan,
and thence through Yunnan to South China and Formosa. Occurs also in
the Burmese countries. Recorded from Cashmere, Nepaul, Darjeeling, Sikkim,
Bhootan, Momein, Thayetmyo, and Sind. There has been much confusion
in regard to the identity of the Brown Hill Warbler, owing to the very material
difference in the plumage of the species in its various stages, from nestling to
adult. The same remarks apply to all the species of the genus. This
circumstance has led to the long full descriptions given of this little species.
It is a resident species wherever it is found. It frequents brushwood, and may
occasionally be seen on low trees. It seeks its food on the ground, and lives
on small insects and larvae.. On tall grass it delights to sit, so Hutton says,
277
Jrom whence it pours forth a loud and long-continued grating note like the
filing of a saw. The nest is large, and loosely constructed of fine grass, with
an opening on one side. It breeds in May, June, and July. The eggs, 5 to 7
in number, are white and densely speckled with red.
336. Suya atrigUlariS, Hodgs. Icon. ined. in Br. Mus. Passeres,
App. pi. 36, No. 893 ; Moore, P. Z. S. 1854, p. 77 ; Jtrd., B. Ind. ii.
p. 184, No. 549; Beavan, Ibis., 1867, p. 455; Hume, Sir. F. 1878, p. 4 ;
Sharpe.^ Cat. B. Br. Mus. vii. p. 180. Prinia atrigularis, Gray, Hand L.
B. i. p. 197. The BLACK-BREASTED HILL or WREN-WARBLER.
Above dark olive brown, lighter on the rump and upper tail coverts ; crown
of the head, nape, occiput, and hind neck distinctly dusky, with darker centres
to the feathers of the forehead and sinciput ; lores and sides of crown dusky,
with a slight indication of a narrow white eyebrow; ear coverts dark ashy, with
whitish shaft lines ; feathers under the eye dusky ; cheeks whitish, the feathers
tipped with black forming a distinct moustache ; sides of the neck, throat,
foreneck and breast black ; abdomen whitish ; the sides of the body and flanks
olive brown ; thighs reddish olive ; scapulars and wing coverts like the back ;
the greater coverts dusky, externally edged with olive ; primary coverts dusky
brown with olive margins ; quills brown ; the secondaries externally reddish
near the base, the primaries edged with ashy olive or bufnsh; tail light
brown, paler on the edges of the feathers, which are narrowly tipped with paler
brown ; under tail coverts pale olive ; under wing coverts and axillaries pale
tawny buff ; bill horny brown ; legs pale fleshy ; irides yellow brown.
Length. 6 to 6*5 inches ; wing r85 ; tail 3*6 ; tarsus 0*85 ; culmen 0*55.
During winter the black of the throat is wanting, the wing coverts and quills
are broadly margined with tawny buff, a distinct white eyebrow is present, and
the feathers of the cheeks, throat and breast have slight blackish margins.
Hab. The Eastern Himalayas generally. Is recorded from Nepaul,
Darjeeling, and Sikkim. Like its congeners it frequents brushwood. The nest
is globular, and made of the same materials as that of the preceding, but with
an opening on the top. Eggs, 4 to 5, of a dull Indian red colour.
337- Suya khasiana, Godw -Austen, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist.
(4) xviii. p. 412, 1876 ; Hume, Sir. F. 1877, p. 59 ; id., Hume, Sir. F. 1878,
p. 3; 1879, p. 101 ; Sharpe t Cat. B. Br. Mus. vii. p. 181. The KHASIA
WREN-W T ARBLER.
Above rufescent brown, the head like the back, the rump rather more
fulvous ; wing coverts like the back ; primary coverts and quills washed with
olive brown on the margins ; lores blackish, with a narrow line of white
above ; ear coverts and a line along the sides of the crown in continuation
of the white streak dark ashy grey, extending on to t! of the neck;
cheeks white, forming a long moustachial streak : thro.it. foreneck and In
black, the latter mottled with suhterminu'. .uul abdomen
278 TURDID&.
white, with a few blackish margins to the breast feathers ; sides of the
and flanks olive brown ; thighs tawny buff ; under tail coverts olive brown \
under wing coverts and axillaries light tawny buff, white near the edge of
the wing.
Length. 6'2 inches; wing 1*9 ; tail 3*5 ; tarsus 0*95 ; culmen 0*6.
In the non-breeding plumage, according to Hume, the bill is paler, the white
supercilium conspicuous, the lores white ; chin, throat and upper breast nearly
pure white ; no mandibular stripes ; forehead, crown, and occiput clear rufous ;
tail feathers much broader and unabraded.
Hob. Khasia Hills.
Nothing is known of its habits nor of its nidification.
338. Saya albigularis, Hume, Str. F. 1873, p. 459; id., Str. F.
1880, p. 227 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br.Mus. vii. p. 182. The WHITE-THROATED
HILL WREN-WARBLER.
Adult ?. Above olive brown-, lesser wing and median coverts like the
back ; greater coverts slightly more rufous on the outer margins ; bastard
wing dusky, narrowly edged with whitish on the outer web ; primary coverts
and quills dusky brown, margined with fulvous brown, a little more rufescent
on the primaries ; upper tail coverts like the back ; tail feathers brown, edged
with fulvous brown, the outer feathers narrowly tipped with fulvous ; crown of
the head dull ashy grey, slightly washed with olive ; lores dusky, surmounted
by a narrow white line ; ear coverts dark ashy, the lower portion mottled
with whitish shaft lines ; cheeks white, slightly mottled with blackish tips
to the feathers ; sides of the neck dark ashy with a wash of olive ; throat,
foreneck and breast yellowish white, the feathers at the sides of the throat
and chest margined with black forming a black line; abdomen whitish;
sides of the body, flanks, thighs and under tail coverts fulvous brown, washed
with olive ; under wing coverts and axillaries pale tawny buff, whiter near the
edge of the wing ; bill greyish black ; tarsus pale flesh colour ; iris greenish
grey.
Length. 5*5 inches; wing 2 ; tail 27 ; tarsus 0^85 ; culmen 0*5. (Sharpe.)
Hab. British Burmah (?), ranging to Sumatra.
The evidence as to the identity of this species with Suya superciliaris is not
satisfactory. Gates places it as a synonym of superciliaris, simply on the asser-
tion of Mr. Hume that the Sumatra bird, which he named S. superciliaris,
is identical with the present species. Mr. Sharpe, however, says that a skin of
the species under notice was lent to him by Mr. F. Nicholson, and that it
agrees with Hume's description. He does not follow Mr. Hume in uniting
superciliaris and albigularis. S. albigularis, he says, " may have, to judge
from analogy, a black-throated breeding dress ; but in its non-breeding dress
it is very distinct from the Burmese, 5". superciliaris, which never has a grey
head." In its habits S. albigularis does not differ from its congeners.
f'RlNIA.
339. Suya SUperciliariS, Anderson, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 212; Swinh.
P. Z. S. 1871, p. 351 ; Hume and Dav., Str. F. 1878, vi. p. 350 ; id., Sir. F.
vii. p. 3; viii. p. 101 ; Skarpe, Cat* Br. B. Mus. vii. p. 182. Suya
erythropleura, Wald. in Bl. B. Burm. p. 120 ; Hume, Sir. F. v. p. 58;
Hume and Dav., Sir. F. vi. p. 351 ; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 10 1. ANDERSON'S
HILL- WARBLER.
Adult ? . Head uniform brown ; back, rump, upper tail coverts and tail
rufescent brown ; rectrices tipped pale ; supercilium broad, white, extending from
the nostrils to the nape ; lores black ; ear coverts pale brown with whitish shaft
streaks ; chin, throat, breast and abdomen white, tinged with fulvous ; sides of
the body, vent, thighs and under tail coverts ferruginous ; wings brown, edged
with dark rufous ; iris greenish brown ; legs flesh colour ; bill black above.
Length. 7 to 7-4 inches ; wing 1-95 to 2 ; tail 3-8 to 4-5 ; tarsus 0-85 ;
culmen 0*5.
Hab. British Burmah. Nothing is known of its habits, nor of its nidifi-
cation.
Gen. Prinia Horsf.
Bill of moderate length, stoutish, slightly deeper than broad at nostrils ;-
culmen moderately curving, and not exceeding the length of hind toe and claw;
rictal bristles well developed, 2 to 3 on each side ; wings short and rounded,
the first three primaries nearly equal ; 4th and 5th generally longest ; tail
graduated, long, and of 10 feathers ; tarsus long ; claws moderately curved.
340. Prinia inornata, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1837, p. 89,- Jerd., Mad.
Journ. xi. p. 4; Blyth, J. A. S. .tf.xiii. p. 376; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus.
vii. p. 195; Oates, B. Br. Burm, i. p. 114. Sylvia longicaudata, Tick., J. A.
S. B. ii. p. 576. Prinia fusca, Hodgs., Gray's Zool., Misc. p. 82 ; id., P. Z. S.
1845, p. 29. Prinia adamsi, Jerd., B. Ind. ii. p. 170, No. 533; Hume,
Nests and Eggs, p. 335; id., Sir. F. viii. p. 101. Drymoipus inornatus,.
Jerd., B. Ind. ii. p. 178, No. 543 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 346; Hume
and Henderson, Lahore to Yarka?id, pi. xvii. fig. I ; Brooks, Sir. F. iiu
p. 495 ; vii. p. 468. Drymoipus longicaudatus, Jerd., B- Ind. ii. p. 180*
No. 544; Butler, Sir. F. iii. p. 483 ; Brooks, Sir. F. iv. p. 229; Hume, Str^
F. iv. p. 407. Drymoipus fuscus, Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 348-. DrymoU
pus terricolor, Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 349; Brooks, Sir. F. iv. p, 229 ^
Hume, Sir. F. iv. p. 407. Drymoipus longicaudus, Hume, Nests and Eggs y
p. 350. Drymoeca longicaudata, BL B. Burm. p. 118; Hume, Sir. F. viii.
p. 101. Drymoica fusca, Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 101. Drymoeca insularis,
Legge, Birds, Ceylon, p. 529, pi. xxv. fig. 2. Prinia blanfordi, Wald. in
Bl.B.Burm p. 118; Oates,B.Br. Burm. i. p. 112. Drymoipus extensi-
cauda, (Swinh.), apud. Gates, Sir. F. iii. p. 3>lo. Drytnoica Manfonli. Hume
and Dav., Sir. F. vi. p. 3.jj. - The INDIAN \\'i : LJ-K,
280 TURDID/E.
Winter. Upper plumage and tail rufous brown, the feathers on the
crown dark centred the tail feathers tipped pale ashy, with a black subterminal
spot more distinct when seen from below ; wings brown, edged with bright
rufous ; under surface of body fulvous, rather darker on the breast, flanks, and
under tail coverts ; thighs dark rufous. The young in first plumage are very
rufous.
In breeding plumage, the upper surface is ashy or greyish brown, with
indications of dark centres to the feathers, especially of the head ; wings dark
brown, edged with ashy white or brownish ashy ; the primary coverts and
quills with narrow rufous brown edges, and the inner secondaries with fulvous
brown ; tail pale brown with dusky cross bars under certain lights ; all, except
the centre feathers, white at the tip, and a tolerably well defined subterminal
bar of blackish ; lores, supercilium, cheeks and ear coverts white, the latter
tinged with fulvous ; under surface of the body pale yellowish buff, whiter
on the throat ; thighs tawny rufous ; sides of upper breast ashy ; axillaries and
under wing coverts yellowish white ; bill black ; legs and feet pale yellowish
fleshy; iris hazel brown (Brooks), orange yellow (Gates).
Length. In summer 5*25 ; in winter 6 inches; wing 1-9 to 2; tail in
summer 2'25 ; winter 3 inches ; culmen 0-4 ; tarsus o'8.
Hob. The whole of India and Ceylon, ranging westward into Sind, east-
ward through Assam, the Burmese countries, Southern China, Formosa, and
Hainan. Occurs throughout Sind, parts of Beloochistan and Southern
Afghanistan, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, the Concan, Deccan,
South India, Behar, Khandesh, Cachar, all Burmah and Nepaul. Gates says
it is an amusing little bird. Perched on the summit of a stalk of elephant
grass, it gives out its monotonous song, consisting of one note repeated some
twenty times ; then, with its ample tail held at right angles to the back, it
skips away to the bottom of the next tuft only to reappear on the summit with
its persistent little song. These birds seem hardly able to regulate their
flight. They seldom fly more than twenty yards, and in this short space they
appear in imminent peril of turning sundry somersaults, for the bill on these
occasions points to the ground, while the tail bent well over the back is nearly
horizontal. The Indian Wren- Warbler breeds wherever it is found. The nest
is cylindrical or oval in shape, made entirely of fine grasses most strongly
woven together ; although the walls can be seen through, yet they resist any
ordinary efforts to tear them asunder. . Altogether the nest is a beautiful
specimen of bird architecture. The eggs, usually 4 in number, are pale blue,
jnarked with spots and scrawls of purplish brown.
341. Prinia Sylvatica, Jerd., Madr. Journ. xi. p. 4 ; Blyth, J, A.
, B, xiii. p. 376, Prinia neglecta, Jerd., Madr. Journ. xiii. p. 130. Dry-
moica sylvatica, Blyth, J. A. S. Seng. xvi. p. 458 ; id., Cat, B. Mus. As. Soc.
p. 142. Drymoica jerdoni, Blyth, J. A,. S. B. xvi. p. 459. Prymoica
BURNESIA.
neglecta, Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 164; Ball, Sir. F. ii. p. 218, Drymoipus
validus, Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 182. Drymoipus sylvaticus, Jtnl. t. c. p. i8r.
No. 545 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 351. Drymoipus jerdoni,
p. 1 80 ; Hume, Sir. F. 1873, p. 437 ; 1874, p. 453. Drymceca valida, Blyth,
Ibis., 1867, p. 302 ; Hume, Sir. F. 1879, p. 101 ; Legge, B. Ceylon, p. 525.
Suya gangetica, Blyth, Ibis., 1867, p. 23 ; Hume* Sir. F. 1877, p. 138; 1878,
p. 6; 1879, p. 101. Drymoipus rufescens, Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. Ji.
p. 351 ; Butler, Str. F. 1875, p. 484 ; Hume, t. c. p. 484 ; Brooks, Sir. F.
1876, p. 229. Drymoipus insignis, Hume, Nests and JZggs, Ind. B. p. 351.
Drymceca rufescens, Hume, Str. F. 1879, p. 101. Drymoeca neglecta, Hume,
t. c. p. 10 1 ; Dav.and Wenden. t. c. p. 407 ; Vidal, Str. F. 1880, p. 480. The
JUNGLE WREN-WARBLER.
Breeding Plumage. Above dark brown, slightly paler on the lower back
and rump ; head and hindneck dusky ash brown ; lores dull white ; no super-
cilium present ; ear coverts dusky brown, with obscure yellowish shaft lines ;
cheeks and under surface of body yellowish white, the abdomen pure white ;
sides of breast ashy ; flanks fulvescent ; thighs tawny brown ; under tail
coverts pale yellowish white ; upper tail coverts and centre tail feathers pale
reddish brown, crossed with obscure dusky bars under certain lights ; the next
feathers brown along the outer web and white on the inner, shaded more or
less with pale sooty brown ; external tail feather almost entirely white ; lesser
and median wing coverts, also scapulars, dark brown with ashy margins ; greater
coverts margined with reddish brown, also the quills. In the winter plumage,
the tail feathers have no white on the inner web, but the external feathers
are tipped with white, and have a tolerably distinct subterminal black bar ; bill
brown black ; irides hazel ; legs and feet yellowish.
Length. 6-3 to 6'5 inches; wing 2-55 to 2'6 ; tail 2*85 to 3-3 in winter
plumage ; tarsus O'9 ; culmen 0*55.
Hab. The whole of India, south of the Himalayas, and Ceylon. Recorded
from the N. W. Provinces, Bengal, Assam, Concan, Deccan, Central and
Southern India, Malabar Coast, Travancore, Nepaul and Cashmere.
Habits same as the last. Mr. Hume in his Nests and Eggs, Indian Btrd,
refers to the nidification of this species under all the synonyms quoted above.
Generally it may be said that the nest is a deep cup, made of grass, well woven
and neat, usually fixed in a thorny shrub, and lined with a little soft down.
Eggs, 2 to 4, pale blue, with large purplish brown blotches, or unmarked.
Gen. Burnesia. Jerd.
Bill longer and more slender than in Prinia. Culmen exceeding the length
of hind toe and claw ; rictal setae fine and minute, not reaching beyond nostrils ;
plumage streaked ; tail, of 10 feathers, strongly graduated.
282 TURDID/E.
342- Bumesia flaviventris, (Deless.), Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus.
vii. p. 204. Orthotomus flaviventris, Deless., Rev. Zool. 1840, p. 101 ; id. Voy.
Inde, part ii. p. 30. Prinia flaviventris, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiii. p. 376 ; xvi.
P. 455 J Bp* Consp. i. 284 ; J erd. B. Ind. ii. p. 169, No. 532 ; flume, Nests
and Eggs, p. 334 ; Bl. and Wald., B. Burm. p. 1 18 ; Oates, Str. F. v. p. 158;
Wardlaw- Ramsay , Ibis., 1877, p. 466; Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi. p. 347 ;
Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 101 ; Doig, Sir. F. viii. p. 378; Butler, Str. F. ix.
p. 386; Oates, Str. F. x. p. 219; Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. m. Prinia
rafflesi, Tweed, Ibis., 1877, p. 311, pi. vi. fig i. The YELLOW-BELLIED WREN-
WARBLER.
Forehead, crown, lores and ear coverts dark ashy ; nape, back, scapulars,
rump and upper tail coverts olive or yellowish green ; tail brown, tinged with
fulvous and margined with olive yellowish ; quills and wing coverts brown,
edged with olive or yellowish green ; cheeks, chin, throat and breast white,
tinged with yellowish ; abdomen, sides of the body, vent, and under tail coverts
bright yellow ; thighs olive brown ; under tail coverts, axillaries and under
wing coverts pale yellow.
In new plumage the tail is tipped with pale yellow, which, however, soon
wears off ; mouth black ; irides reddish yellow ; eyelids plumbeous ; bill black ;
legs orange fleshy ; claws yellowish.
Length. 5-4 to 5-7 inches; wing 1-75 to r8 ; tail 2*5 to 3'O; tarsus 0*85 ;
culmen 0*55. Females are a little smaller.
Hab. Bengal and N. W. Provinces, and westward into Sind ; eastward
along the Terai to near Calcutta and the Bengal Soonderbuns, and through the
Burmese countries to Malacca and Sumatra. (Sharpe) . Extends also into Assam,
and Sylhet. It does not occur in the Concan or Deccan, nor in Southern
India. In Lower Bengal, Jerdon says it is abundant in high grass, especially
near the Ganges. It makes its way through the thick reeds with great facility
in seeking food. Oates says, at frequent intervals it mounts to the top of a tall
reed and utters a short merry song, and then suddenly plunges into cover
again with a peculiar long-sounding snap of the bill. During May and up
to September it breeds among the tall elephant grass in which it lives, attaching
its nest to two or three stems. The nest is an oval cup-like structure, made
of vegetable down and the flowering end of fine grass, held together by other
strong grass. Eggs brick red, generally four in number.
343. Bumesia SOCialiS, (Sykes), Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vii.
p. 208. Prinia socialis, SyJces, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 89; Jerd., Madr. Journ.
xi. p. 3; id., Birds Ind. ii. p. 170. No. 534; Blanf., Ibis, 1867, p. 464;
Butler, Str. F. 1875, p. 479; Fairbank, Str. F. 1876, p. 259; id, 1877,
p. 406; Vidal, Str. F. 1880, p. 67. Prinia steward, Blyth, J. A. S. B.
xvi. p. 455 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 171, No. 535 ; Hume, Str. F. 1875, p. 480 ;
id. Str.F. 1876, p. 497; l8 7 8 > P- 3 J 9; 1879, P- 101. Prinia brevicauda,
Legge, B. Ceylon, p. 521. The DARK- ASHY WREN-WARBLER.
283
Crown of the head and back, also upper tail coverts, dark slaty grey ; lores
and a streak above the eye buffy white , a dark spot in front of the eye ; ear
coverts and cheeks light tawny buff, slaty grey along the upper margin of the
former ; rump with a few tawny buff feathers on each side ; lesser and median
coverts like the back ; greater coverts dusky brown, externally edged with light
brown ; tail feathers light brown, with a subterminal broad bar of black and
tipped white ; throat whitish, slightly washed with fulvous ; lower throat,
foreneck, chest, breast, sides of the body, flanks, thighs and under tail coverts
tawny buff, paler on the latter ; abdomen white ; under wing coverts and
axillaries light tawny buff, upper mandible black ; lower, pale horny ; legs dull
yellowish brown ; iris brown.
Length. 4-6 to 5 inches; wing r8 ; tail r8 ; tarsus O'8.
The young bird is rufous brown above, a little more dusky on the head;
rump and upper tail coverts brighter rufous ; tail rufous brown, tipped with
fulvous white, and with a subterminal black bar ; an ochraceous superciliary
streak present.
Hab. Nepaul to Assam, Northern, Southern, Central and Western India
generally. Recorded from north of the Godavery, the N. W. Provinces, at
Agra, Cashmere, Punjab, the Deccan, Concan, Kaltiawar, Saugor, the
Neilgherries, Khandeish, and Dehra Doon.
Its habits are those of Burnesia flaviventris, except that, unlike flaviventris,
it also frequents gardens, hedges, and vegetable crops. Eggs usually reddish
white or brick red, with numerous darker red spots at the large end. Nest
similar to that of P. flaviventris.
344. Burnesia lepida (Biyth), Jerdon, B. Ind. \\. p. 185, No. 550.
Prinia lepida, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiii. p 376. Drymoica lepida, Blyth,
y . A. S. B. xvi. p. 460. Burnesia gracilis (Non. Rupp}, Hume, Nests and
Eggs, Ind. B. p. 356 ; id., Sir. F. 1873, p. 195 ; Adam, t. c. p. 382; Butler,
Str. F. 1875, p. 485 ; Hume, t. c. p. 485 ; id. Str. F. 1878, p. 58 ; id., Sir.
F. 1879, p. 102 ; Doig, t. c. p. 371 ; Murray, Hdbk., Zool., fyc., Sind, p. 158 ;
id., Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 154. Burnesia lepida, A. Anderson, Ibis., 1872, p. 237.
Brooks, Str. F. 1879 p. 47 6 J l88o > P- 228 '> Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vii.
p. 211. Drymoeca gracilis, Blanf., East Pers. ii. p. 206. Drymoipus lepidus
Brooks, Str. F. 1876, p. 274. The STREAKED WREN- WARBLER.
Head, back, scapulars and upper tail coverts light olive grey, each feather
mesially streaked with dusky brown ; quills dusky brown, the feathers margined
on their outer webs with the colour of the back ; lores and supercilium whitish ;
tail olive grey, the feathers with distinct but obsolete transverse dusky bars, a
subterminal dark spot on the inner web of each feather and tipped white ; chin,
throat, breast, belly and vent greyish white: bill dusky brown; the lower
mandible pale fleshy ; irides yellowish brown.
284 TURDID/E.
Length. 5-25 to 5*5 inches ; wing 1-75 ; tail 2-5 ; bill at front nearly O f .
Hab. Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Beloochistan and Persia ; also Bengal,
Deccan, Kutch, Kattiawar, Jeypore, Jodhpore, and North Guzerat. As in
most parts of Western India, it is a resident in Sind, breeding from May to
July.
Blyth has well described the habits of this species. Jerdon quotes him too.
He says it is an inhabitant of low scrub, intermixed with tufts of coarse sedgy
grass growing in sandy places by the river side, and it frequently flies out to
feed among the herbage growing along the margin of the sand dunes.
Tamarisk scrub, too, it delights to hop about in, also sedges, &c., growing at the
seaside. It is a very difficult bird to shoot, as, like Cettia cetti, it is a great
skulk, only occasionally coming up from among the roots and uttering a feeble
song. It breeds amongst thickets of flexible grass, making a neat nest, almost
always in the vicinity of water. Eggs spotted with red brown.
Gen. ScotOCerca, Sundev.
General characters of Burnesia ; tail nearly square and not graduated.
345. Scotocerca inquieta, Rupp. Syst. Uebers,^. 56; Hengl. Ibis.,
1869, p. 129 ; id., Orn. N. O. Afr. i. p. 244 ; Sund. Meth. Nat. Av. Tent.
p. 7 ; Blf. Ibis., 1874 ; id., East Persia ii. p. 207, pi. xiii. f. 2 ; Sir. F. i. 200 ;
ii. 329 ; Murray, Hdbk., Zool., fyc. Sind, p. 159 ; id. Vert. Zool., Sind, p. 154.
Malurus inquietus, Rupp. Atl. Reise. N. Afr. Aves. p. 55. Curruca famula,
Hemp, et Ehr. Symb. Phys. Aves. fol. b. b. Melizophilus striatus, Brooks, Proc.
A. S. B. 1872, p. 66; id., Ibis., 1872, p. 180; Hume, Str. F., i. p. 200.
RUPPEL'S WREN-WARBLER.
PLATE.
Above light brownish greyj with narrow dark brown streaks on the head as
far as the shoulders ; a broad pale rufous brown supercilium ; the cheeks and
ear coverts are also of this colour, which extends down the sides of the neck
and breast, becoming very pale and diluted under the wings and on the
flanks ; wings light brown ; the edges of the quills and coverts greyish ; tail a
very much darker or rather blackish brown ; the outer feather on each side is
rather lighter, and tipped with white ; the tail feathers are cross rayed,
particularly the outer ones.
Lower surface of body, except sides of neck, breast, and flanks, white, with
narrow brown streaks from chin to upper breast. These streaks are well de-
fined in one specimen, and faint in another. Lining of wing and edge of the
same reddish white. Bill dark brown, except basal half of lower mandible,
which is dull brownish orange ; legs and feet yellowish brown ; claws brown.
Length. 4*55 to 4'8 inches ; wing 1*93 to I '95 ; tail 2^14 to 2-33 ; tarsus "77
to '82; bill at front -35 ; from gape -46. The bill is excessively like that of
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH LNDIA
Seotocerca inuietfL.
MmternBroa.litk
ilns prorincialis ; the wing also resembles that |,inl, ex&pt llii
iirst primary is larger in proportion. Tail of similar form, hut proportionately
shorter; the outer feathers arc '3$ shorter than the central ones; length 47,
expanse 6'2, tail from vent 2, wing 1-9; wings, when closed, reach to within
i'6 of end of tail, bill at front 0*35, tarsus o'S, weight 0-3 of an oz. (Brooks)
/,'v. Str. F. i. p. 200.
Hdb. Sirid, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Beloochistan, S. K. Persia, S.
Afghanistan. Ruppel's Streaked Wren Warbler is a resident of the bare stony
hills which run down from the Khyber Pass to the sea. It breeds from
February to April, building in low thorny scrub a globular nest of thin dry
grass stems, with an opening the side and lined with fine down. Eggs pure
to pinky white, speckled arid streaked witli bright red, most dense towards the
larger end. Size o'6 by 0*5 inch.
Gen. Sutbria. Nicholson.
Bill long and slender, rather wide at base ; rictal bristles few ; culmen
exceeding the hind toe and claw in length ; 5th and 6th quills longest and
equal; tail of 12 feathers, strongly graduated or rounded, with the middle tail
feathers elongated beyond the rest and pointed. The birds of this genus, also
of Orthotomus', are remarkable for the beautiful nests they make.
346. Sutoria SUtoria, (Forst.\ Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vii. p. 215 ;
Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 107. Motacilla sutoria, Forst., Ind. Zool., p. 17.
Motacilla longicauda, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 954. Orthotomus longicauda,
Moore, P. Z. S. 1854, p. 81 ; Jerd., B. Ind. ii. p. 165, No. 530; Hume,
Nests and Eggs, p. 331; Hume, Sir. F. iii. p. 135; Bl. and Wald., B
Burm. p. 120; Murray, Vert. Zool., Sind> p. 151. Orthotomus edele (Tern.)
apud. Bl. and Wald., B. Burm. p. 120. Orthotomus siitorius, Sharpe,
Ibis. 1877, P- IO 9 j Oates, Str. F. y. p. 158; Hume and Dai>., Slr.F.\\.
p. 345 ; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 101 ; Scully, Str. F. viii. p. 305. The INDIV.V
TAILOR Buii).
Forehead and crown rufous; back of head and heck ashy, with a \x-iy taint
rufous tinge 5 sides of nape with two dark brown setse on each side ; back,
scapulars, rump and upper tail coverts yellowish green ; edge of wing white ;
primaries and secondaries brown, edged with olive green, more distinct on the
secondaries ; all, for two-thirds their length, narrowly margined basally on the
inner webs with whitish; under wing coverts buffy white; tail light brown.
the central feathers greenish, and the lateral ones edged on the outer web with
the same and tipped with white ; chin, throat, breast, belly and under tail
coverts white ; the flanks cinereous ; a dark spot on each side of the throat ;
bill horny brown, paler on the under mandible ; legs brown; irides reddish-
yellow.
38
286 TURDID/E.
Length. 6 to 6' $ inches ; wing 1-9 to 2 ; tail 3*5 ; bill at front 0*5.
Jlab. Throughout India to Nepaul and Cashmere, Ceylon and British
Burmah. Common in the Deccan, Concan, Kutch, Kattiawar and North
Guzerat, also the Punjab, N. W. Provinces, fc)udh, Bengal, and Central India.
In Sind it is common' in all the open country studded with trees, and affects
the acacias chiefly. Breeds in July and August. Eggs, 2 to 4, white, spotted
with reddish brown, thicker and closer at the larger end. Nest made of leaves,
stitched with cotton or fibre, and lined with wob'l a*nd cotton.
Gen. Orthotomus?.//*/".
General characters of SUtoria. Middle tail feathers not elongated beyond
the rest.
347- OrthotomUS atrigUlariS, Tern. PL Col. li-<r. 101 ; Moore,
P. Z. S. 1854, p. 78; Sharpe, Ibis., 1877, pp. 16, 113; Hume and Dav.,
Str. F. vi. p. 345 ; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 101 ; Dates, Sir. F. x. p. 219.
Orthotomus flaviviridis, Moore, P. Z. S. 1854, p. 70; Wald. in Blytli, B.
Burm. p. I2l. OrthotomUS nitidus, Runic, Str. F. ii. pp. 478, 507; iii.
p. 525. The BLACK-NECKED' TAILOR BIRD.
Lores and whole top of the head from, the nostrils to the nape bright chest-
nut ; ear coverts rufous white ; chin, throat and cheeks dull white, the black
bases of the feathers showing through a good deal ; under side of neck black,
with a few narrow broken white bars ; breast, abdomen and vent white ; under
tail coverts bright yellow ,- flanks white, suffused with yellow ; back, scapulars,
rump and upper tail coverts yellowish green, brighter on the latter ; tail brown,
edged externally with yellowish green j- under surface of tail yellowish ; under
wing coverts pale yellow^ edge of wing bright yellow ; quills brown, margined
externally with bright greenish yellow ; the wing coverts brown, margined on
both webs with greenish yellow ; thighs yellowish tawny.
The female is like the male; but has no black on the throat, and the yellow on
the edge of the wing is duller ; generally the tail feathers show a distinct
subterminal bar of blackish brown, which is scarcely visible in the males. Bill
pale brown above, the lower maridible and gape flesh colour j irides orange
brown ; eyelids plumbeous ; legs flesh colour.
Length. 4'5 inches ; tail r6 j wing r8 ; tarsus 0-8 ; bill from gape 07 .
culmen 0*6.
Hab. Borneo and Sumatra, extending throughout the Malay Peninsula to
British Burmah and to Eastern Bengal.
The Black-necked Tailor Bird is common in Southern Pegu, from Rangoon
to up the Valley of the Pegu River. Mr. Davison found it in Tenasserim, and
Colonel Godwin-Austen procured it in the hill tracts of Eastern Bengal. It
PHYLLERGATES. 287
frequents thick forest and brushwood, and is not found much on cultivated
land. It is strictly arboreal in its habits.
348. OrthotOmUS ruficeps, (Lesson) Moore, P. Z. S. 1854, p. 79;
Salvad. Ucc. Borneo, p. 248; Sharpe, Ibis., 1877, p. 114; Tweed. P. Z. S.
1878, p. 619; Hume and Davison, Sir. F. 1878, p. 346; id. 1879, pp. 64,
101 ; Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1879, p. 341 ; id. Cat. B. Br. Mus. vii. p. 324. Edela*
ruficeps, Less., Tr. d' Orn. p. 309. Orthotomus sericeus, Tem.pl. col., text to
JOJ. The RED-HEADED TAILOR BIRD.
Forehead, crown and nape bright chestnut, also the lores ; rest of sides of
the face yellowish buff ; upper rnargin of ear coverts bright chestnut like the
crown ; back, scapulars and rump ashy brown, inclining to ashy grey on the
rump ; upper tail coverts ashy rufous ; tail chestnut ; wing and coverts brown,
edged with ashy or ashy grey, the quills very slightly washed with rufous
towards the tip of outer web ; cheeks, lower half of ear cpverts and entire under
surface of body yellowish buff ; thighs chestnut ; under wing coverts fulvous ;
irjs yellow, salmon, or pale brown.
Length. 5-12 to 5*2 inches; tail I'S to 175 ; wing 1*82 to 2-0; tarsus 0-8
IQ 0^85 . Females are very slightly smaller.
Hab. The Indo-Malayan Islands, the Malay Peninsula, and the southern
Boundary of Tenasserim.
Of its habits nothing is qn record j but there can be little doub.t of its being
trje same as thqse of its other congeners.
Qen. Phyllergates. SW/tf.
Tail of 12 feathers; the outermost much longer than in OrlhoJomus, and
falling short of the remainder by 0*4 to o - $ inches; bill more equilateral.
Other characters as in Qrtho.tomus.
349. Phyllergates COrOnatUS, (Jerd. and Blyth), Sharpe, Cat. B.
Br. Mus., vii. p. 230. Qrthotomus coronatus, Jerd. and Blyth, P. Z. S. 1861,
p. 200. Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 1 68, No. 531 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B.
P- 334; Wald. in Blyth, B. Burnt, p. 121 ; Sharpe, Ibis., 1877, p. 1 15 ; Hume
and Dav-, Str. F. vi. p. 346; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. loi. Phyllobates*
coronatus, Oqtc$, B. Br. fiurm.i.p. no. The GOLDENTHEADED TAILOR BIRD.
Forehead and fore part of crown bright orange, the nape greenish, the hind-
neck and sides of neck grey ; round the eye a ring of yellow feathers, also a
short yellow supercilium ; lores and sides of the face grey, the ear coverts
whitish on their lower margin ; cheeks, throat and forcncck white, rest of
* Evidently a misprint for Fhyllergates.
288 TURDID/E.
nder surface bright yellow, including the thighs and under wing and under
Jail coverts ; wings brown, edged with yellowish green ; tail brown, narrowly
edged with yellowish green, the outermost feather white along the entire inner
web and the penultimate one for the greater part of its extent ; legs and
feet yellowish fleshy ; upper mandible, tip and edges of lower mandible along
commissure black ; rest of bill yellowish fleshy; irides brown.
Length. 4 to 4-5 inches; wing r8 to 1-9; tail VI to 1:8; tarsus 075 to
O'8 ; culmen 0*6.
Hab. Eastern flimalayas. Common east of Tovmghpo in British Burmah,
also on the higher slopes of the Mooleyit in Tenasserim, It occurs in Dar-
jeeling and in Nepaul, and in the hills of North Cachar and hill tracts of
E. Bengal.
In habits it does not differ from tjie Indian Tailor Bird. Mr. Davison
observes that they are not easily overlooked, as on the approach of danger
{hey utter a low buzzing note of alarm.
Gen. Graminicola. Jerd.
Bill moderate, rather stout and compressed ; culmen curved ; four rictal
bristles on each side curving outwards ; wings short and rounded ; tail of 12
feathers, much graduated and broad ; tarsi stout, of moderate length.
350. Graminicola bengalensis, Jerdon, B. ind. \\. p. 177;
Godw.-Austen^ J . A. S. B. xliii. p. 167 ; Hume, Sir. F. 1879, p. 101 ; id.,
1880, p. 255. Drymoeca bengalensis, Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 345 ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vii. p. 234. The LARGE GRASS- WARBLER.
Crown of tfae head, occiput and nape black, dark or tawny brown, the feathers
being with tawny or fulvous margins \ hindneck much paler, the edges being
buffy whitish ; lores and eyebrow white, narrowly streaked with black ; ear
coverts and cheeks whitish ; back also streaked, black, and tawny, the latter
forming broad margins to the feathers ; r.ump uniform tawny buff ; the lesser,
median and greater wing coverts tawny buff, streaked with blackish mesially ;
bastard wing and primary covert? dusky brown, edged with tawny ; quills the
same ; upper tail coverts streaked black in the centre and edged with tawny
rufous; tail blackish, the feathers washed with ashy olive on the margins,
which gradually change to tawny on the v extreme edge ; under surface of
body dull white, purer white on the abdomen ; sides of the body, flanks,
thighs and under tail coverts tawny buff, the sides of the breast with narrow
black shaft lines ; under wing coverts and axillaries pale tawny ; bill reddish
horny ; tarsus fleshy yellow ; iris yellow brown.
Length. 5-8 to 6*2.5 inches ; wing 2*25 ; tail 3; culmen 0*5 ; tarsus O'9..
Hab. Eastern Bengal, extending into Assam. Affects high grass
CISTICOLA. 289
Gen. CistlCOla Kan p.
Bill shorter and slightly more slender than that of Phyllcrgates and Prinia ;
rictal bristles two on each side and well developed ; wings short ; 1st quill
short, 2nd generally equal to 7th and shorter than the 6th; tail of 12 feathers,
shorter than in Prinia, broader than in both Prinia and Phyllergates and
somewhat rounded ; tarsus long j feet proportionally large, with the lateral
toes 'nearly equal and the claws not so much curved as in Prinia.
The genus Cisticola forms a small group pf small birds averaging in totaJ
length 3 to 4*5 inches, nearly all possessing a streaked plurnage, and frequent-
ing chiefly grass and reeds. In respect to the changes of plumage of this
group, after examining all the available material in different Museums and in
the collections of Naturalists, Mr, Sharpe gives his conclusions in Voj. VII.
of the Cat. B. Br. Mus. p. 235. He says : " (0. The male and female are
more or less different in the breeding plumage, the tenderly being in the
male to have a uniform coloured head, while the female's is striped. (2).
The female's winter plvunag.e resembles her summer dress, but is. rather more
mealy and the tail is longer. (3),. In the autumn moult the male passes into,
a winter plumage, when he resembles the female. (4). The first winter
plumage of the young bird resembles that of the old female, and that they
have longer tails. (5). The male is always larger than the female." "There
are," he adds, "probably some exceptions among the plain backed species."
The range is given as the whole of Africa and Madagascar, South Europe and
countries bordering the Mediterranean, eastwards to India, Ceylon, the Burmese
countries and China, as well as Japan, the Malayan Peninsula, and throughout
the whole of the Indo-Malayan sub-region.
351. Cisticola buchanani, (Blyth}, Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vii.
p. 246. Drymoeca buchanani, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiii. p. 376. Franklinia
buchanani, (BlytK) Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 1 86, No. 551; Blyth, Ibis., 1867,
p. 24; HiAne, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 359; id., Sir. F. 1873, p. 195";
Adam, t. c. p. 382; Butler, Str. F. 1878, p. 183; Hume, Sir. F. 1879,
p. 1 02 ; Doig. t. c. p. 371 ; Murray, Handbk. ZooL, fyc., Sind, p. 159; id. 4
Vert. ZooL, Sind, p. 155. The RUFOUS-FRONTED WREN -\VARBLER.
Forehead and crown pale rufous ; back, scapulars, wings, rump and upper
tail coverts greenish ashy ; tail brown, all the feathers, except the two central
ones, broadly tipped with white ; chin, throat, breast, belly, vent and under
tail coverts white ; bill brown ; lower mandible yellowish ; legs, di^sky ; iridcs
orange.
Length. $ to 5-25 inches ; wing 2 to 2'2,5 ; tail 2 to 3-25.
ff a b m Western India, Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh, Central and
South India, Deccan, Kutch, Kattiawar, Jeypore, Jodhpore, and North Guzcrat.
Breeds from May to August.
: 290
Nest a roundish ball of dry grass, with a circular entrance on one side near
the top. Eggs, 3 to 4, white, speckled all over with reddish brown and pale
lavender, rather densely at the larger end. It is lijke the Malacocerci, nearly
always seen in flocks of half a dozen or more flying from bush to bush, scarcely
.ever leaving a bush without having examined it from the tqp to the root
stalks.
352. Cisticola graciliS, (Franklin) Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vii.
p. 253; Oates, B. Br. Burm. \. p. 119. Prinia gracilis, FrankL P. Z. S.
^831, p. 1^9; Jerd't Madr* Journ. xi. p. 3; id., Birds Ind. ii. p. 172,
No. 536; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 341 ; Wald. in JBlyth, B. Burm.
p. 119; Hume, Str . F. iii. p. 136 ; vjii. p. loi ; Brooks, t. c. p. 476. Prinia
frodgsoni, Blyth, J. 4- S. B. xiii. p. 376; Jerd., B. Ind. ii. p. 173,
No. 538 ; Hume,, Nests and Eggs-, p. 342 ; Wald. in Blyth, B. Burm. p. 1 19
Hume, Str.F.\\\.^. 13^ ; Legge, Str. F. iii. p. 203; Oates, Str. F. vii.
p. 480. Prinia albogularis, Wald* Ann. Nat. Hist., Series 4, vol. v. p. 219.
Drymoeca gracilis, Dresser, B.Eur. iii. p. 13. Prinia rufula, Godw.- Austen,
P. Z. S. 1874, p. 47 ; id., J. A. S. B. xliii. pt. ii. 165 ; Hume, Str. F. iii.
p. 397 ; id. t. c. viii. p. IQI. FRANKLIN'S GRASS- WARBLER.
Above, including the wings and tail, ashy grey, the wings ecjged with pale
rufous ; tail with a subterminal patch of brown on each feather tipped with,
whitish, and obspletely across with dusky under certain lights ; ear coverts
whitish in front, greyish behind ; lores and feathers above the eye dusky ; cheeks,
chin, throat, abd.omen, vent and under tail coverts white or yellowish white ;
breast a$hy, forming a band across ; under wing coverts and axillaries white or
yellowish white ; sides of the l?ody and flanks slightly tinged with ashy ; bill
black ; legs and feet yellowish fleshy ; irides reddish yellow.
In winter plumage the upper parts, including the tail, are rufous brown ; the
wings brown, broadly edged with rufous ; the tail with subterminal dark patches
and wln'te tips ; l.pwer plumage white, tinged with fulvous ; supercilium whitish.
Length. 3*7 to 4*2 inche ; wing 175 j tail i'55 to 2 ' 1 $'> tarsus 0*7 ;
culmen 0*5 ; from gape 0*55.
Halt. Nepaul to Bhootan and throughout he more moist regions of India
and Ceylon, ranging eastwards into the Burmese countries as far south as
Pegu. It is also recorded from Malayana. It occurs also in the Concan,
Deccan, and Bengal. In Central and Northern India, and on the Vindhian
hills near Mhow and at Saugqr, it is said to be not uncommon, also in the
Nepaul Terai and lower hills. In Sotjlhern India it is recorded from the
Malabar Coast, the Wynaad, the slopes of the Neilgherries and on the Eastern
Ghauts, while in British Burmah it occurs throughout Pegu and Arrakan.
It has been met with in Tenasserim also, and has been got in Karin by
Captain Wardlaw-Ramsay.
CISTICOLA. _><,]
Franklin's Wren- Warbler affects brushwood and the outskirts <.i tree forests
where there is a plentiful undergrowth of grass. In such localities it is abim-
dant. It breeds throughout the rains, making a nest very like that of the
Tailor Bird hut smaller, sewing the leaves together with cotton, and with the
same material, wool and soft vegetable fibres lining the nest. The eggs,
3 to 4 in number, are pale blue with some brown or reddish spots.
353. CisticOla beavani, ( Wald.) Sharpe, Cat. Birds Br. Mas. vii.
p. 255. Prinia Beavani, Wald. P. Z. S. 1886, p. 551 ; Bcavan, Ibis. 1867,
p. 454 ; Hume, Sir. F. iii. p. 136 ;' Oates, Str. P. v. p. ^8 ; Hume and Dav.,
Str. F. vi. p. 349. Hume, Sir. F. viii, p. lOi ; Oatcs, B. Br. Burm. i. p.
120. Prinia rufcscens, Blyth,J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 4^6; Blyth and Wald.,
B. Burm. p. 119; Plume, Str. F. iii. p. 1 36 ; Anderson, Yunnan Exped. p. 640 ;
Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 101. BEAVAN'S GRASS-WARBLER.
Above brown with tuffs 1 of fulvous white' feathers on eafch side of the rump
and indications of dusky cross bars on the lower back and rump ; fesser and
median wing coverts like the back ; bastard wing and primary coverts dusky
brown, with narrow rufous edgings ; quills and tail the same, all, except the
centre feathers of the tail, with a subterminal spot of black and a white tip ;
crown, occiput and nape slaty grey; lores white, also a small but distinct
streak over the eye ; ear coverts slaty grey with pale shaft lines ; cheeks, throat
and foreneck white, tinged rather with fulvous ; breast fulvous, also' the sides
of the body and flanks ;' under tail coverts huffish white ; under wing coverts
and axillaries light tawny buff. (Sharpte.) Bill blaxrk ; legs and feet pale or
dark pinkish fleshy ; irides orange brown, light wood brown, or redcn'Sh' yellow
(\V. Davison.)
Length. 3-8 to 4 inches; wing r8' ; tail 1-65 to 1*5 ; tarsus 0-7 to 075 ;
bill from gape c'6. In winter the length is 4*6, the' tail 2*1. The head and
upper surface of the body is reddish brown ; the tail more rufous ; the under
surface of the body yellower ; and the eye brown, distinct in some skins.
Hab. From Nepaul through the' Eastern Himalayas and the Burmese
countries as far as Malacca. It has been recorded from Bhamo, Pegu,
Tenasserim, the Arrakan Hilts, Nepaul, the Bhootan Doars, and Sikkim.
Abundant in grassy situations on the outskirts of wooded forests. Breeds
in Burmah. Nest and eggs are similar to those of the preceding speeies.
354. Cisticola ciriereicapilla, (Moore) Sharpe, Cat. B. r. Mus.
vii. p. 256. Prinia cinereicapilla, Moore, P. Z. S. 1854, p. 77 (ex. Hodgs.
AfSS.) Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 172, No. 537; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Indian
Birds, p. 341 ; Brooks, Str. F. 1^75, p. 242; A. Anderson, P. Z. S. 1878,
p. 370 ; Hume, Str. F. 1878, p. 320 ; id. 1879, P- IO1 '> id - l8So > P 286. The
GREY-HEADED OR HODGSON'S WREN-WARBLER.
Crown of 'the head bluish grey ; occiput and nape, also the back and \ving
coverts, reddish brown ; a line across the forehead, extending back in a narrow
292
eyebrow, pale tawny bUff ; an ashy spot in front of the eye ; ear coverts tawny
buff, the upper edge ashy ; cheeks and under surface of body, also the thighs
and under tail coverts; tawny buff ; sides of the body and flanks rich fulvotis ;
under wing coverts and axillaries pale tawny buff ; bill black ; legs pale horny ;
irides buff.
Length. 37 inches; wing 1-65; tail 1*95; tarsus O'S; culmen 0*45.
Hdl.-- Himalayas from Nepaiil to Gungaotri arid Mu'ssoorie.
Habits similar to those o the preceding species; also nest and eggs.
355. CiStiCOla pOllOCephala, (A. Anderson} Sharpe, Cat. B. Br.
Mus, vii. p. 257. Pririia polio'cephala, A. Anders. P. Z. S. 1878, p. 370',
pi. 19 ; Hume, Str. F. 1878, ii. p'. 319; id. Sir. F. 1879, p. 101.; id. 1880,
p. 286. The GREY-HEADED WR&N-WARBLER.
Differs from Cisticola Beavani iri Having a slaty grey head and n'o sup'er-
ciliurri.
Length. 3*8 inches; wing 175 ; tail i'S ; tarsus 0*8.
Hab. Himalayas, Nepaul; and Kumaon.
356. CiStiCOla Cisticola, (Tern.) Sharpe, Cat. B. vii. p. 259;
Gales, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 115. Sylvia cisticola, Tern. Man. d'Orn. i.
p. 228; id. pi. col. 6, fig- 3>. Prinia cursitans, Frank/. P. Z. S. 1831,
p. 118. Cisticola schoenicola, Bonap. Conip. List. B. Eur. and N. A?n.
p. 12 ; Jerd. B. Tnd. ii. p. 174, No. 539; Hume, Nesls and Eggs, p. 343; id.i
Str. F. \. p. 439, iii. 137; Blyih, B. Burm. p'. 119; Oates, Str. F. v. p. 158.
Salicaria brunniceps, Tern, et Schleg. Faun. Jap. Aves. p. 134, pi. 20'.
Cisticola munipurensis, Godw.- Austen, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 47; id. J. A. S. B.
xiii. pt. ii. p. 16^, pi. ix., fig. 2; Hume, Str. F. iii. p. 397; viii. p. lOi.
Cisticoia cursitans, Dresser, B. Eur. iii. p. 3 ; Hume, Str. F. v. p. 90 ;
Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi. p. 349; Hume; Str. F. viii. p. 101. Cisticola
h'omaliira, Hume, Str. F. v. p j p. g^, 350;' viii. p. idi. The RUFOUS GRASS-
WARBLER:
Forehead rufe'scent ; crowri, hindneck arid back dark brown, all the
feathers margined and edged with rufous ; rttmp and upper ta'ii coverts rufous ;
primaries and secondaries dusky brdWn, edged on their outer webs with pale
rufous ; tertiaries dark brown, edged and tipped with pale rufous ; edging
near the tips and the tips whitish ; tail dusky brown above, pale brown below,
the feathers with a broad subterminal band of black tipped with white ; the
dark spots and white tips more distinct on the under surface ; chin and throat
whitish or rufescent white ; breast and belly rufescent ; vent and under tail
coverts paler ; bill dusky brown ; the under mandible paler ; irides brownish.
Length. 4'$ to 475 inches ; wings 2 to 2*25 ; tail 175 to 2; bill at front
0-25.
GEOCICHLA. 293
Hab. India generally to Nepaul ; British Burmah, S. W. Europe, Africa,
Egypt, Arabia, Deccan, Concan, Kutch, Kattiawar, Jodhpore, and N. Guzerat,
also Bengal and Central India.
In Sincl it affects the tamarisk jungles along the banks of the Indus, and
breeds in July and August. Nest a deep purse, beautifully made of vegetable
down, and placed in a tuft of soft grass. Eggs, usually five, white, speckled
xvith reddish.
357- CistiCOla exiliS, ( Vig. and Horsf.) Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus.
vii. p. 269. Malurus exilis, Vig. and Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xv. p. 223.
Cisticola isura, Gould, P. Z. S. 1847, No. 32. Cisticola erythrocephala
(Jerd.) Blyth, J. A. S. B. xx. p. 523; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 174, No. 540 ;
Hume, Sir. F. v. pp. 94, 351, 406; viii. p. lOi. Cisticola Tytleri, Jerd. B.
Ind. ii. p. 196, No. 541. Cisticola delicatula, Blyth, Ibis., 1870, p. 170.
Cisticola melanocephala, Godw.-Austen, J . A. S. B. xliii. pt. 2, p. 165, pi. x.
fig. i; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 101. The GOLDEN-HEADED GRASS-WARBLER.
Adult & . In breeding plumage. Forehead and crown golden fulvous ; nape
and hind-neck dusky fulvous ; lower plumage pale yellowish buff ; back and
scapulars dark brown, each feather broadly edged with grey ; wing coverts and
quills brown, edged with rufescent grey ; rump and the upper tail coverts
fulvous ; tail black, each feather narrowly tipped with ashy ; centre of the
abdomen and vent white.
In the female in breeding plumage the head is streaked with dark brown,
and the tips to the tail feathers are about double the width they are in the
male.
In winter plumage both sexes have much longer tails, the upper plumage
is streaked with black and margined with rufous, the tail feathers are blackish
along the shaft, and the tips are rufescent white. Iris light brown ; upper
mandible dark brown ; lower mandible and gape fleshy pink.
Length. 4 to 4*8 inches ; wing 1*75 ; tail 1-25 to 2; tarsus 0*7.
ffab, Indo-Burmese countries, Eastern Bengal, and Western India, extend-
ing into China and Australia. Habits same as the last, also the mode of nidifi-
cation, number, size, shape and colour of eggs.
Sub-family. TURBINE.
Gen. Geocichla. KM.
This genus, as now revised, includes a number of well-known and very
familiar genera, such as Zoolhera, Oreocincla, Turdulus, Cichlopasser,
Chamcetylus and Psophocichla, and forms a well-defined group of a number of
birds commonly known as Ground-Thrushes. The characters of this group
39
294 TURDIN/E.
as given by Seebohm in the Vth Vol. of the British Museum Catalogue are
briefly these: "basal portion of the outside web of all the secondaries and of
many of the primaries white, occasionally tinted with buff, but abruptly de-
fined from the brown of the rest of the quills. Axillaries parti-coloured, the
basal half white, the terminal half black, slaty grey or brown ; under wing
coverts the same, the basal portion, however, being black and the terminal half
white. Young generally spotted on the back and breast. Bill moderately
stout, somewhat wide at base, gently arched throughout, and moderately hooked
at the tip ; rictal bristles more or less developed ; wing more or less rounded ;
tail of 12 to 14 feathers (14 in three species only); toes long; plumage
generally soft and silky, usually mottled above and spotted beneath, and dull
blue and ferruginous in colour. Peculiar to the Indian region."
Twelve tail feathers.
358. GeOCichla dauma, (Lath.) Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vol. v.
p. 154; Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 6. Turdus dauma, Lath., Jnd. Orn. i.
p. 362. Oreocincla dauma, Jerd. B. Jnd. i. p. 533 ; Plume, Nests and Eggs y
Jnd. B. p. 236; Ball* Sir. F. ii. p. 408; Plume, Str. F. iii. p. 115 ; Wald.
in Blyth, B. Burm. p. 100; Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi. p. 256 ; Hume, Str.
F. viii. p. 94; Bingham, Str. F. ix. p. 178. The HIMALAYAN GROUND-
THRUSH.
The plumage of the body above rich olive, each feather tipped black with
an interior pale fulvous spot ; scapulars the same, the black tipping larger and
extending more on the inner than on the outer web ; wing coverts dark brown
or blackish brown, tipped with large fulvous spots ; greater coverts to primaries
blackish brown ; the central portion of the outer webs tawny ; quills brown,
their outer webs suffused with tawny fulvous, the tertials partly tipped with the
same ; base of under webs fulvous white ; central two pairs of tail feathers olive
brown, the next two pairs tipped with white, the outer pair brown on basal half,
whitish brown terminally, and margined with pale olive brown on the outer web ;
lores brown, shafted and tipped with white ; cheeks and ear coverts white, ter-
minated by black tips and with subterminal fulvous marks ; chin white ; throat
and breast white, terminally fulvous and tipped with black crescentic marks ;
belly and flanks white, with subterminal fulvous spots and black tips ; the centre
of the abdomen pure white, also the under tail coverts, a few of the feathers of
which are obsoletely tipped with brown ; under wing coverts white, with abroad
black band across the middle ; thighs white, barred with brown ; bill pale
brown, the upper mandible and centre of lower dark brown ; irides dark hazel
brown ; legs and claws fleshy white ; 3rd and 4th primaries nearly equal and
longest, the second generally half an inch longer than the sixth.
Length. 10-4 to lo'S - inches; wing 5-5 to 5'6 ; tail 375103*8; bill at
gape 1-2; culmen ro to PI.
GEOCICHLA. 295
Hab. The Himalayas from Kumaon to Assam, descending to the plain
Central and Southern India during winter, also in British Burmah.
The Himalayan or Small-billed Mountain-Thrush is said not to be uncommon
in Lower Bengal also. It has been obtained in the N. W. Himalayas, at
Almorah, Kumaon, Darjeeling, Kamptee, Nepaul, Cashmere, the Khasia Hills,
Wynaad, the jungles south of Cuttack, on the Chilka Lake and in Saugor. It
is not uncommon on the Pegu Hills, and also in the plains at Kyakpadein.
Captain Ramsay got it at Tounghoo and Mr. Davison in Tenasserim.
According to Jerdon it is very partial to bamboo jungles. It feeds on the
ground ; fruit and seeds, and also insects, being its food. It breeds in
Cashmere during June and July. The eggs are broad ovals, somewhat
compressed and pointed towards the small end. The ground colour is a pale
greenish white, minutely and densely freckled with and mottled with pale
brownish or reddish purple. Size from 1*2 to 1-26 in length, and in breadth
0*9 to 0*93.
359- GeOCichla nilgiriensis, (Blyth) Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus.
v. p. 157. Oreocincla Neilgherriensis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 141 ; Jerd.
B. Ind. i. p. 534, No. 372 ; Hume, Sir. F. 1876, p. 399. Turdus Neilgher-
riensis, (Blyth) Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 254. The NEILGHERRY GROUND THRUSH.
Intermediate between G. dauma and G. heinii. Upper parts russet brown ;
head with subterminal chestnut brown spots ; base of inside webs of secon-
daries and primaries white ; abdomen and flanks as in G. dauma ; 3rd, 4th
and 5th primaries nearly equal and longest ; 2nd primary between 5th and 6th.
Length. 1075 inches; wing 5 '5; tail 3-75 ; tarsus 1-2; bill at front i'i.
Hab. Neilgherries (South India). Occurs in the higher wooded tracts,
and has a rich, charming song. In Travancore Mr. Bourdillon says it
is rather scarce and solitary, and is found in thick jungle from the summit of
the hills down to 2,000 feet elevation.
360. GeOCichla molliSSima, (Blyth) Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v.
p. 159. Turdus mollissimus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xi. p. 188 ; Gray, Cat.
Mam., fyc. Nepaul Coll. Hodgs. p. 80. Oreocincla rostrata, Hodgs. Ann. Nat.
Hist. xv. p. 326. Oreocincla mollisima, Blyth, J. A. S- B. xvi. p. 141 ;
Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 533, No. 370 ; Godw.-Austen, J. A. S. B. xxix. p. 103 ;
Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi. 256. The SHORT-TAILED or PLAIN-BACKED
OREOCINCLOID GROUND-THRUSH.
Upper parts brownish olive ; inside web and tip of primary coverts black ;
lores buff; quills brown, margined exteriorly with ochraceous brown; four
central tail feathers olive brown ; three next on each side dark brown, the outer
ones dark brown at base, fading to pale brown, with an obscurely defined
white wedge-shaped terminal mark ; ear coverts and lower surface generally
white, with an ochraceous tinge on the breast and flanks ; each feather with a
296 TURD1N/E.
transverse terminal crescent-shaped black band nearly obsolete on the chin
and centre of belly ; under tail coverts white, with obscure brown edges ;
axillaries white, tipped with black; under wing coverts white, with black
bases ; basal half of inner web of secondaries and of many primaries buff.
Bill dark brown, paler at base of under mandible; 3rd and 4th primaries
nearly equal and longest ; 2nd between 5th and 6th and 7th.
Length. 9-5 ; wing 5-1 to 5'6 ; tail 4 to 4-1 ; culmen 092 to ri; tarsus
1-25 to 1-45.
Hab. The Himalayas from Nepaul to Darjeeling and Sikkim, descending
into the valleys during winter.
The Plain-backed Mountain-Thrush feeds like its other congeners on the
ground in small parties on the summit of some high hill, flying into brush-
wood when disturbed. Food insects and berries.
361. GeOCichla diXOni, Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 161 ;
Oates, B. Br. Burin, i. p. 7. DIXON'S THRUSH.
Similar to G. mollissima except that the tail is longer, 4-3 to 47 inches; the
general colour of the upper parts olive brown instead of russet brown, and the
greater and median wing coverts dark brown, edged with buffy brown and
tipped with large fan-shaped buff spots ; iris brown ; bill brown ; legs dull
brownish yellow.
Length. 10*5 inches; wing 5-5 ; tail 47; tarsus 1-45 ; bill from gape T2.
Hab. The Himalayas, where it is said to breed, to Darjeeling. Descends
to the plains during winter as far as Central India. Occurs also in Nepaul
and Tenasserim.
GroUp.-ZOOTHER^E.
362. GeOCichla montiCOla, (Vigors) Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v.
p. 161. Zoothera monticola, Vig. P. Z. S. 1831, p. 172 ; Gould, Cent. Him.
B. pi. xxii. ; Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 140 ; Jerd. B. Jnd. i. p. 509, No. 350 ;
Godw.-Austen J. A. SB. xli. pt. 2. p. 142 ; Blanford, J. A. S. B. xli. pt. 2,
p. 49. The SAW-BILLED GROUND-THRUSH.
Upper parts dark olive brown, each feather obscurely barred with slate grey ;
wings and wing coverts darkish brown, with obscure paler tips to the median
and greater coverts ; tail brown, the outermost feathers obscurely tipped with
white ; cheeks, sides of the neck and breast brown, with obscure subterminal
dark spots on each feather; chin and throat white with dark brown fan-
shaped terminal spots on some of the feathers ; flanks brown, the feathers
obscurely barred with dark brown ; centre of belly white ; under tail coverts
dark brown, tipped with white ; axillaries basally white, terminally dark brown,
and narrowly edged with white ; under wing coverts dark brown basally and
GEOCICHLA.
white terminally ; the basal half of secondaries (inner webs) and of many
primaries buflish white ; 4th primary slightly the longest, 2nd between the 6th
and yth ; bill abnormally long, longer than the tarsus; both mandibles obscurely
serrated ; rictus strongly bristled ; legs and feet darkish brown ; irides dark
brown.
Length. 10 to 12 inches; wing 5-1 to 6'o ; tail 3 to 3} ; oilmen 1*3 to
1-6 ; tarsus 1-25 to 1-4.
Hab. Throughout the Himalayan Range to Assam. Common from Mus-
soorie to Darjeeling. Recorded from Cashmere, Nepaul, Simla, Bootan,
Mussoorie, Assam, and Darjeeling. It is said by Seebohm to breed in the
Himalayas.
383. GeOCichla marginata, (Blyth) Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus.
v. p. 162. Zoothera marginata, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 141, n. ; Hume,
Nests and Eggs, p. 226; Blyth and Wald. B. JBurm., p. lOO; Hume and
Dav.. Sir. F. vi. p. 246; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 94 ; Bingham, Str. F. viii.
p. 195 ; Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 8. The LONG-BILLED GROUND-THRUSH.
Upper plumage rufescent olive brown, dark and dull on the head, bright
on the outer webs of the feathers of the wings, the coverts with buff tips ;
inner webs of quills and primary coverts dark brown ; lores and sides of the
head mixed white and black, the black preponderating on the ear coverts ;
chin, throat and a line down the neck pure white, bounded on each side by a
brown moustachial line ; breast and abdomen brown, each feather with a large
white spot in the centre ; sides of breast, body and flanks brown, with broad
white shaft lines, becoming broader towards the abdomen ; under tail coverts
buffy white, broadly margined with brown ; axillaries buffy white at base and
brown at tips; tail uniform rufescent olive- brown ; bill dark or pale bluish
brown; legs and feet the same; irides deep hair-brown. (Dav. ex. Gates).
Length. 10 inches ; wing 4*9 ; tail 3 ; tarsus ri ; bill from gape 1*5.
Hab. The Himalayas from Sikkim to Assam. It is also found in the north
and central portions of the Tenasserim Provinces, as well as Siam. Recorded
from Afghanistan. Gates says it appears to be sparingly distributed over the
whole of British Burmah. It has been got on the Arrakan Hills, also in
Karin, while in Tenasserim Davison met with it near Pahpoon and on the
Mooleyit Mountain. Captain Bingham has recorded it from the Thoungyeen
Valley.
Wherever it occurs it is probably a resident. Its food consists of insects
and berries. The eggs are said to be like those of Pitta, white, with a few
rusty brown spots.
364. GeOCichla cyanonotUS, (Jard. and Selfy) Seebohm, Cat. B,
Br. Mus. v. p. 172. Turdus cyanotus, Jard. and Selby, III. Orn. i. pi. xlvi ;
298 TURDIN/E.
Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 87. Geocichla cyanota, (Jard. and Selby) Blyth,
J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 145 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 517, No. 354 ; Hume, Nests and
Eggs, Ind. B. p. 229; Ball, Str. F. 1874, p. 40? ; Hume, Sir. F. 1876,
p. 298. The WHITE-WINGED GROUND-THRUSH.
Head, nape, hindneck and sides of the neck ferruginous ; general colour of
the rest of the upper parts dull cyaneous or pale slaty grey, each feather
rather darker in the centre. Cheeks, chin, throat and neck white ; breast,
abdomen and flanks bright ferruginous or orange chestnut ; vent and under
tail coverts white ; lores white. A dark brown band extends from the eye
half way to the shoulder ; behind this is a white band extending nearly to the
shoulder; behind this again is another shorter dark brown band, leaving a
small white spot at the junction of the ear coverts and the nape. Quills and
innermost secondaries brown with the unemarginated portions of the outside
webs slate grey ; median wing coverts broadly tipped with white ; greater
wing coverts and primary coverts dark brown on inside web and slate grey
on outside web ; axillaries white basally, dark slate grey terminally ; under
wing coverts dark slate grey basally, terminally white ; bill dark brown ; legs
and feet flesh colour ; irides dark brown.
Length. 8-5 to 8'6 inches ; wing 4.3; tail 2'8 to 3-1 ; culmen 0-8 to 0*95 ;
tarsus 1*15 to 1*2. The female differs in having the colours less pure.
Hab. Central, Southern and Western India.
The White-winged Ground-Thrush has not been found outside the above
limits. Jerdon says "it is peculiar to the jungles of Southern India, extend-
ing as far as Goomsoor on the east coast and to Bombay on the west side of
India. It is most abundant in the forests of Malabar and Wynaad, but it is
not rare in the jungle of the Eastern Ghauts. It has also been got in North
Canara. Recorded from Travancore, the Neilgherries, Matheran, Malabar
Coast, and Behar. It prefers bamboo jungles, feeds on the ground, and
generally perches low. Its food consists of insects, as ants, cockroaches and
beetles, and not unfrequently stony fruit. Mr. Ward procured the nest in
North Canara, made of roots and grass, placed at no great height from the
ground. The eggs, three in number, were pale bluish, speckled with brown.
365. GeOCichla Citrina, (Lath.) Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v.
p. 172. Turdus citrinus, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 350. Geocichla citrina (Lath)
Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 517, No. 355 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 229 ;
Blyth, B. Burm. p. 99; Oates, Str. F. v. p. 151 ; Hume and Dav., Str. F.
vi. p. 250; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 94; Legge, B. Ceylon p. 457; Scully, Str.
F. viii. p. 283; Hume, Str. F. ix. p. 101 ; Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 3.
Geocichla andamanensis, Wald. Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist,, 1874, p. 56.
Geocichla albogularis, Blyth, J. A. S.H.xvi.p. 146. Geocichla innotata,
Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv. p. 370. The ORANGE-HEADED GROUND-THRUSH.
GEOCICHLA. 299
Whole head, neck, breast, belly and flanks orange buff, darkest on the head
and albescent on the chin and throat ; vent, thighs and under tail coverts pure
white; back, rump, upper tail coverts, scapulars and smaller wing coverts
dark bluish grey ; some of the wing coverts near the edge of the wing tipped
white, the larger wing coverts, primaries and primary coverts dark brown,
exteriorly edged with ashy ; inner webs of primaries white at their bases ; under
wing coverts dark slate grey basally and white terminally ; the bases of
the secondaries and some of the primaries white on their inner webs ; two
centre tail feathers and most of the outside web of the remainder dark slate
grey, the rest dark brown ; outermost feathers generally paler at tip and
frequently tipped with white ; bill dark brown or horny black ; iris dark
hazel ; legs and feet fleshy.
Length. 8*5 to 8'8 inches; wing 4-6; tail 3; tarsus 1-3; bill from
gape I- 1
Young birds differ in having the feathers of the upper parts edged with
pale yellowish instead of ashy.
Hab Throughout the whole range of the Himalayas from Nepaul to
Assam up to about 5,000 feet elevation, descending to the plains during
winter, being then found in Northern, Central and Southern India, and
Burmah, straying also as far south as Ceylon. Jerdon says it is found in
most of the forests and well-wooded districts of Northern and Central India,
extending rarely as low as N. lat. 16. In the neighbourhood of Calcutta it is
not uncommon, also at Darjeeling and in the warmer valleys in Sikkim. In
British Burmah, according to Gates, it is a constant resident.
It keeps to woods and shady gardens, and, like the last, prefers bamboo
jungle. Like others of its kind, it feeds on the ground. It is not a shy bird*
and does not retreat far from villages. It is said to have a pretty song during
the breeding season, but otherwise is silent. The nest is usually built in the
forks of high trees, made of grasses, moss, stalks, and roots. Eggs, 3 to 4,
pale greenish, freckled with rufous, forming a patch at the larger end. Size
O*8 to n inch in length by 0*7 to 0*82 in breadth.
It will be seen that Geocichla andamanensis, albogularis, and innotata are
not admitted in this work, these being, in my opinion, only varieties of G. citrina.
All agree generally in the wing formula of citrina, and the only difference
upon which these species have been founded is the tone of colouration of the
upper plumage and scarcely appreciable difference in size. Considering
that the autumnal and first year plumage of the majority of the species of
Geocichla are either quite unknown or very little known, and that the species
have been founded on single or two skins, it is open to doubt whether these
Andaman and Nicobar skins are not of birds in partial autumnal moult.
Presumptions cannot be tolerated in making new species.
300
366. Geocichla wardi, (Jerd) Seebohm, Cat. B t Br. Mus. v.
p. 178. Turdus wardi, Jerd. J. A. S. B. xi. p. 882. Merula wardi,
(Jerd.) Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 146. Cichloselys wardi, (Jerd.} Bp.
Compt. Rend, xxxviii. p. 5 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 231. Turdulus wardi,
(/m/.) Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 520, No. 357. Turdus (Cichloselys) wardi,
Brooks, Str. F. 1875 p. 237. Oreocincla pectoralis, Legge, Str. F. 1876,
p. 244 ; Hume, Str. F. 1877, p. 202. WARD'S PIED GROUND-THRUSH.
Upper parts black ; whole head, neck, lores, chin, throat, breast and ear
coverts black ; wing coverts, innermost secondaries, upper tail coverts and
most of the tail feathers more or less conspicuously tipped with white ; quills
dark brown, their outer webs black and edged with white for some distance,
where they cease to be emarginated ; under surface white, the flanks with
broad subterminal irregularly crescentic black bands ; base of axillaries white,
terminally black ; bill and legs yellow ; irides brown ; supercilium white.
Length. 8 to 9*6 inches; wing 4-6; tail 3-6; bill at front 075; culmen
ri.
The female is olive brown above ; the supercilium and spots on the wing
coverts are fulvous white ; throat and breast brownish white.
Hab. The Himalayas, wintering in the plains of India ; southwards as far
as Ceylon. Occurs in Southern India on the Neilgherries, also in the
Carnatic and Nepaul, the Punjab, and N. W. Provinces (Mussoorie, Nyneetal.
At Mussoorie Captain Hutton found the nest early in April. It breeds in June
and July, making a pretty nest of green mosses and fibres in the fork of trees.
The eggs are usually 4 in number, pale verditer, spotted with sanguine brown
Size 1*06 inches in length by 0*76 in breadth. It is very regular, somewhat
elongated, oval, only slightly compressed at one end.
367. GeOCichla Sibirica,(^//.) Seebohm, Cat.B. Br.Mus.v.-p. 1 80 ;
Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 4. Turdus sibiricus, Pall., Reis. Russ. Reich, iii.
p. 694 ; Omel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 815 ; Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 333 ; Tern. Man.
d'Orn. iii. p. 98; Gould, B. Eur. ii. pi. 82; Seebohm, Ibis., 1879, p. 5^
Oreocincla inframarginata, Blyth, J, A. S. B. xxix. p. 106 ; Beavan, Ibis.,
1868, p. 132 ; Ball, Str. F. 1873, p. 70 ; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 94. Turdulus
davisoni, Hume, Str. F. v. pp. 63, 136. Turdulus sibiricus, Hume and Dav.,
Str. F. vi. pp. 255, 513. The SIBERIAN GROUND-THRUSH.
Male. The whole upper plumage, with the chin, throat, breast, flanks, sides
of the body and sides of the abdomen deep slaty grey, each feather margined
paler ; centre of the abdomen and vent white ; under tail coverts slaty, tipped
with white; axillaries white, tipped with slaty; lores and sides of the head
almost black ; a distinct white supercilium reaching to the nape ; quills dark
brown, all, except the first two, with a large white patch on the inner web ;
tail dark brown, the outer feathers tipped with white.
TURDUS. 301
r.^Has the whole upper plumage olive brown, tinged with slaty
and rufescent on the outer webs of the wings and their coverts ; tail with the
three outer feathers on each side tipped white j supetcilium, chin and throat
buff; a dark stripe on each side of the chin; sides of the head mixed brown
and buff ; lower plumage pale buffy white, each feather with a broad tipping
of brown ; axillaries white, tipped with brown ; under tail coverts and vent
white, splashed with brown. (Gates,) Bill black; irides brown ; legg yellow.
Length. 9 inches ; wing 4*8 ; tail 3*4; tarsus M ; bill from gape ft.
Hab. China, Burmah, Sumatra and Java during winter, and, according to
Seebohm, has once occurred on the Andaman Islands, It summers in Siberia,
breeding in the valleys of the Yenasay and the Lena between lat. 67 and 68,
and also near Yokohama in Japan. In Burmah it was got in Karin at an
elevation of 2,500 feet. Davison says it goes about in flocks, as many as sixty
being seen together. They generally frequent large trees, Like most of the
tribe, the Siberian Ground-Thrush feeds on the ground. It is said, however,
to be a very shy bird.
Gen. TurdUS. Linn.
The revision of this group of birds by Seebohm in the fifth volume of the
British Museum Catalogue includes in it the following genera, some long
since obsolete. Of the more familiar ones to Indian naturalists may be mention-
ed Ixocossyphux (Kaup), Planesttius (Bonap,), and Malacocichla (Gould).
Although connected very closely with Merula, it was advisible to keep the
latter distinct, as, besides geographical range,- the large number of species
which the two genera comprise is an additional argument for the division. The
genus Turdus is characterized thus : Bill moderately stout, straight at the
base, and gently curving at the tip, somewhat wide at the base, and furnished
with short rictal bristles. Wing flat and pointed, the 3rd and 4th primaries nearly
equal, the 2nd a little shorter ; the bastard primary rarely extends beyond
the primary coverts. Tail of 12 feathers nearly even; tarsus short ; feet mode-
rate. The males resemble the females in their plumage, and the throat, breast
and flanks are more or less spotted at all ages. The young are spotted on the
back and breast. Food insects and berries. The species found in India
belong to the palaeartic region and are not residents.
40
302 TURDIN^E.
Turdus iliacus.
368. TlirdUS iliacUS, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 292; Jerd. B. Ind. i.
p. 232. The RED-WING THRUSH.
Above olive brown, darker, and suffused with russet on the forehead and
crown ; supercilium whitish ; edges of the wing coverts and quills tipped
pale ; under parts pale buff, fading to white on the belly and ferruginous on
the flanks ; chin and throat unspotted ; cheeks, upper breast, lower throat and
upper flanks with dark brown terminal spots ; under tail coverts white, the
basal half of each feather margined with brown ; axillaries and under wing
coverts rich chesnut ; bill dusky ; legs yellow brown ; irides brown.
Length. %'S to 9 inches ; wing 475 ; tail 3-25 ; oilmen 07 to 0-85 ; tarsus
1-25.
Hob. Atlantic to the Pacific. Winters in the British Isles and Western and
Southern Europe, occasionally crossing the Mediterranean into Algeria, and
wintering in Persia, Turkestan, and N.-W. India ; but is rare in the latter.
Of the habits of this bird nothing need be said, as without its mention no
list of British birds would be complete.
369. TurdUS ViSCivOrUS, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 291 ; Scop. Ann. i. p.
132 ; Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 285 ; Tern. Man. d'Orn. p. 86; Sharpe and
Dresser, B. Eur. pt. vi. ; Shelly, B. Egypt, p. 65 ; Blanf. East Pers. ii. p.
157. Turdus hodgsoni, Homey er, Rhea. ii. p. 150 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 531 .
Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 236 j Seebohm, Cat. B. JBr. Mus. v.
p t 195. The MISSEL THRUSH.
Upper parts greyish brown or pale earthy brown, the feathers of the rump
edged with ochraceous ; lores and the feathers behind the eye greyish white ;
TURDUS. 303
ear coverts yellowish white, tipped with dark brown ; supercilium none ;
wings like the back greyish brown or pale earthy brown ochraceous on the out-
side edges of the secondaries ; median wing coverts with conspicuous greyish
white tips ; greater wing coveris and innermost secondaries with obscure
pale tips ; tail brown, the outer feathers conspicuously tipped with whitish ;
under surface of body pale buff, darker on the breast and flanks, each
feather with a black terminal spot; under tail coverts margined with
brown on the basal half; chin and centre of belly with obscure spots, or
wanting them ; axillaries and under wing coverts white ; inner margins of quills
nearly white. Bill dark brown, yellowish- at base of under mandible ; leg's
and feet yellowish brown.
The female is like the male,, but pa-ler in cotour above and below.
Length. IO 6 to n inches; wing 6*5 to 6*55 ; tail 3*9 to 475 ; culmen
O'S8 to ri ; tarsus 1-25.
Hab. Europe and Africa, extending to the Arctic circle ; also Turkestan,
the North- West Himalayas, and Southern Persia. Recorded from Kumaon,
Almorah, Nepaul, and Kotegurh. Breeds in Central Europe, and in the
vaHeys of the Beas and Sutlej at from 6,000 to 8,000 feet elevation during
April, May, and June. Nest, a large deep cup fixed in- the fork of a
tree. The core is said to be composed of clay and grass stems,, founded on
a lot of dry leaves* fern, &c., with an external coating of moss and lichen,
while internally there is a thick lining of soft grass. Eggs moderately broad
ovals, the ground colour varying from pale pink to a pale greenish grey, thickly
speckled and' spotted with brownish red' and" pale purplish pink. Size 1*17 ta
r2j6 inch in tength and 0*88 to-O'95 inch in breadth.
370. TurdUS pilaris, Linn., Syst. Nat. i. p. 291 ; Scop. Ann. i. p,
133 ; Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. JV2*S7 ; Sharpe and Dresser, B. Eur. p. 379 1*
Seebohm, Cat. B. J8r..Mus. v. p. 2&\J.erd. B. Lid. i. p. 530. The FIELD-
FARE.
Forehead and crown slate grey, each feather narrowly margined with brown
and with concealed dark centres ; nape pale slate grey ; back and scapu-
lars dark chestnut brown, with obseure pale centres to most of the
feathers ; rump- slaty grey ; lores and ear coverts blackish-; supercilium very^
faint bumsh ; wings and. wing coverts dark brown with- very narrow pale
margins; primaries, primary coverts and a few of the outside wing coverts
with slate grey on all or part of the outer webs ;. secondaries and the inner-
most wing coverts with chestnut brown on all or part of the outer webs, and;
generally paler and greyer towards the tips ;. tail dark brown, slightly paler at
the tips of the outside feathers ; chin, throat and breast huff, each feather
having a nearly black fan-shaped terminal spot nearly obsolete on the chin,,
narrow on the throat, but very conspicuous on the cheeks and breast ;, th*
304 TURDIN^E.
sides of the breast and flanks are nearly black, each feather' broadly fringed
with white ; belly white ; under tail coverts white, the basal half margined with
brown ; axillaries and under wing coverts white ; inner margin of quills pale
brown ; bill yellow in summer, brown in winter.
Length. n inches; wing 5*3 to 5-9; tail 3*85 to 4*3; culmen 0*84 to
0*92; tarsus i '2 to 1-3,
#<?, Same as the last,
Gen. Merula. Leach.
Bill slightly more lengthened generally than in Turdus, compressed at tip
and notched, Nostrils plumed at base ; rictal bristles short and strong ; feet
strong. Distributed in greater number in the neotropical than in the Austra-
lian, oriental, or palaearctic regions.
37L Merula albocincta, (Royle) Biyth, J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 148;
Gould, B. Asia ii. pi. 76 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 536, No. 362 ; Godw -Austen,
J. A, S. B. xiv. pt. 2, p. 196, Scully, Sir. F. viii. p. 285 ; Seebohm,
Cat. B, Br. Mus. v, p. 245. Turdus albocinctus, Royle, lllustr. Him. Bot.
p. Ixxvii. pi, viii. fig. 3. The WHITE-COLLARED OUZEL.
Male, Dingy black, slightly glossed above ; neck with a nearly white
collar ; under surface a dark sooty brown ; vent feathers white-shafted ; bill
and orbits deep yellow ; legs dingy ; irides dark brown.
Female. Has the white collar pale grey on the hind neck ; the upper parts
are dusky brown ; under parts brown, obscurely barred with grey.
Length. II inches; wing 5 to 5-8; tail 4 to 4-55 ; culmen PIS; tarsus
J'4-
Hal. The Himalayas, from Nepaul to Assam, breeding at high elevations,
and descending lower in the valleys during winter. It has been obtained in
Sikkim a.nd near Darjeeling, also in Bengal, Assam, Nepaul and Simla.
372, Merula boulboul, (/;*/*.) Biytk, J. A. S. B. X vi. p. i 47;
Gould, . Asia ii. pi. 77 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 525 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs,
Jnd. B. p. 234 ; Seebohm, Cat, B. Br. Mus. v. p. 248. Lanius boulboul,
Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 80, Turdus pcecilopterus, Vig. P. Z, S. 1831, p. 54.-*
The G^EY-WINQED OUZEL.
Upper parts black j the tips of the median wing coverts, the outer webs of
the greater wing coverts and a broad margin to the innermost secondaries
greyish white ; under surface paler black ; the axillaries, under wing coverts,
belly, flanks and under tail coverts narrowly margined with greyish white,
or the axillaries and under wing coverts, sometimes one or both, greyish
white j bill yellow ; legs, feet and claws yellow ; orbits yellow.
MERULA. 305
Length. \V2$ to 10-5 inches ; wing 5-5; tail 4; culmen 0-9 to n ;
tarsus i '25 to 1-4.
The female is olive brown, and the greyish white margins are brownish white.
Hub. Throughout the Himalayas from Cashmere to Assam and Sikkim ;
breeds in Kumaon and throughout the outer ranges from Darjeeling to Murree
from May to August, and descends to the lower valleys during winter. Jerdon
says it is found as high as 7,000 feet elevation. It is tolerably common, but
rather shy, and does not show itself in the open or in gardens so much as
M. simillima. The nest of this species as well as of M. simillima is usually
placed on the ground, but in some places ledges of rocks, hollow massive
roots, or the fork of a tree is selected ; in the latter case not very far off the
ground. Wattle and dab framework, with an external coating of moss and
fern and the same soft internal lining, is the composition of the nest. Eggs,
normally 4 in number, ground colour, pale dingy green, but thickly mottled,
streaked, and clouded with dull brownish red so closely in some as to entirely
obscure the ground colour. Size r I to 1-33 inch in length and 0*83 to 0-92
inch in breadth.
373. Merula nigropileus, (Lafresnaye) Delessert, Voy. de llnde,
pt. ii. p. 27 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 250. Turdus nigropileus,
(Lafr) Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 523. The BLACK-CAPPED OUZEL.
Head, nape, lores, cheeks and upper part of ear coverts black ; back, rump,
wings and tail dark blackish or fuscous ashy, tinged with brown on the inter-
scapulars ; chin and upper throat darkish brown, shading into dull vinous brown
on the breast and into dull slate grey on the axillaries ; under wing coverts, belly,
flanks and under tail coverts shading into nearly white on the centre of the
belly ; bill and eyelids orange yellow ; legs brownish yellow ; irides brown.
The female has the head, nape and back an almost uniform brown ; the white
on the centre of the belly is more developed, and the throat is obscurely
streaked with dark brown.
Length. 9*5 inches ; wing 4*5 to 5 ; tail 3*5 to 4 ; culmen 0-98 to I ;
tarsus i '2 to 1*3 .
Hab. Western, Central and Southern India. Found in Coorg, the Wynaad
on the Eastern Ghauts, the higher table-lands of Central India, at Bastar
and Jaulnah, also in Nellore in the Carnatic, Tellicherry, Matheran, Madras
and the Neilgherries. It feeds on insects and berries. It breeds on the
mountains of South India, and descends to the plains a little before winter.
Jerdon, says Mr. Ward, obtained the nest in Sirci in North Canara, made of
roots, grass, &c., with three eggs, pale blue, spotted with brown.
374. Merula simillima, (Jerd.) Biyth, Cat. B. A. S. Mus. p. 162 ;
Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. JWus. v. p. 251 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 524, No. 360;
Hume, Nests and Eggs, \>. 232. Turdus simillima, Jerd. Madr. Journ* s.
p. 253. The NEILGHERRY OUZEL.
306 TURDIN^E.
Entirely black, darker on the head and back of neck, lighter beneath, and
tinged with dusky ; bill orange ; legs dusky yellow ; irides dark brown. The
female is dusky olive brown above, lighter beneath.
Length. 10-5 inches ; wing 5 ; tail 4-2 ; tarsus 1*35 ; culmen i-i.
Hab. Southern India. Confined to the Neilgherries. The nests are similar
in structure to those of its congeners, wattle and dab, &c., being used in its
composition. Eggs, normally 4 in number, sometimes 5, dingy bluish red.
Size from PI to 1-3 inches in length and in breadth 0*82 to. 0*93 inches.
375. Merula bOUrdilloni, Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mm. v. p. 251 ;
pi. xv. Merula Kinnisi, (Blytk) apud. Hume^ Sir. F. vii. p. 35. BOURDILLON'S
TRAVANCORE OUZEL.
Head black, rest of upper parts dull black ; under parts very dark brown,
with traces of dark slate grey margins to the feathers of the flanks ; below and
behind the eye a bare space ; bill orange.
Length. 9*5 to 9-8 ; wing 47; tail 3*94; culmen Pi; tarsus 1*32.
Hab. Travancore, breeding at an elevation of 4,000 feet. According to
3Vlr. Bourdillon it is not uncommon in the dense scrub jungle at the extreme
summit of the hills.
376. Merula castanea, Gould, p. z. S. 1835, p. 185 ; Biyth,
J . A. S. B. xvi. p. 149 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p.. 526 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs,
Ind. JS. p. 235 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 259. The GREY-HEADED
OUZEL.
Entire head, neck and throat very pale grey ; greyish white on the chin and
throat ; back and scapulars deep rich chesnut, or chestnut bay, suffused with
dark brown on the upper back and olive brown on the longer upper tail
coverts ; wings, wing coverts and tail dark brown ; breast, flanks and belly, also
axillaries and under wing coverts, deep rich chestnut, the centre of the belly
more or less marked with dark brown and white ; under tail coverts dark brown
with white tips and shafts ; tail dark brown ; bill and legs yellow ; wings brown.
Length. 10*5 inches; wing 5^5; tail 4*5; culmen PI ; tarsus 1*4.
The female has the upper parts suffused with olive brown, the chestnut
colouring is duller, and there are on the sides of the white throat some obscure
streaks.
Hab. The Himalayas from Cashmere to Assam, breeding at high elevations.
Eggs of the type of M. boulboul.
377. Merula fuSCata, (Pall) Seebohm^ Cat. B. Br, Mus. v. p. 262.
Turdus fuscatus, Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso Asiat. i. p. 451 ; Gould, B. Asia i. pi.
Ixv. Turdus eunomus, Tern. pi. col. ii. No. 514. Turdus naumanni, Tem.
MERULA. 3Q7
apud. Gould B.Eur. ii. pi. Ixxix. Turdus dubius, Beckst. apud Jaub. et Earth.
Lfipom. Rich. Orn. p. 213. Planesticus fuscatus, (Pall.) Jerd. B. Ind. i. p.
530; BlytK. Ibis, 1866, p. 366. The DUSKY THRUSH.
Upper parts brown, the feathers centred darker and frequently intermixed
with chestnut ; lores and ear coverts dark brown ; supercilium buffish white
reaching to the nape ; wings dark brown, the secondaries and wing coverts
edged on their outer web with chestnut ; tail dark brown, shading into chestnut
on the margin of the inner web; chin, cheeks and throat buffish white, in
some with traces of a moustachial stripe ; breast and flanks dark brown, each
feather narrowly edged with buffish white, except on the sides of the breast,
which are uniform black ; belly and under tail coverts buffish white ; axillaries
and under wing coverts pale chestnut with obscure white margins ; bill dark
brown, paler at the base of the lower mandible.
The female is greyish brown in colour, and the feathers of the lower throat
and breast have dark brown fan-shaped terminal spots.
Length. 8-5 inches ; wing 4-8 to 5*3 ; tail 3*25 to 4 j oilmen 0-84 to 0-9 ;
tarsus 1*2 to 1*3.
Hal. Northern and Central Asia, extending into Japan and China. A rare
winter visitor to the Himalayas. Seebohm says it breeds in Siberia, in the
valley of the Yenasay, eastward among the willow bushes in the sheltered gorges
of the tundra above the limit of forest growth, and in a similar climate on the
mountain regions near Lake Baical. On migration it strays westward through
north China and winters in Japan, straying as far as Assam and 'even N.-\V.
India. It is recorded from Nepaul and Assam.
378. Merula protomomelsBna, Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. \. p.
265. Turdus dissimilis, Blyth, J . A. S. B. xvi. p. 144. Geocichla dis-
similis, (Blyth) Bly. Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 163 ; Hume, Nests and
Eggs, Ind. B. p. 231; Hume, Sir. F. ix. p. 103. Turdulus cardis, Tern,
apud Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 521. Turdus protomomelas, Cab. Journ. Orn. 1867,
p. 286. CABANIS'S OUZEL.
Entire head, nape, and throat black, also the breast and upper parts ; beneath
from the breast brilliant orange chestnut, shading into white on the centre of
the belly ; under tail coverts white, with slate grey sides ; bill yellow ; legs
yellowish ; irides brown.
1\& female is uniform olive brown above ; throat nearly white in the centre ;
the feathers of the sides of the throat and chest with dark brown fan-shaped
terminal spots ; rest of under surface as in the male.
Length. *$ inches; wing 4'5 tail 3 j tarsus rx ; oilmen O'S6 to 0-97.
308 TURDIN^E.
Hob. Eastern Himalayas, N.-W. Provinces, and Bengal. Has been known to
breed at Nynee Tal, where Captain Marshall found a nest during May at about
7,000 feet elevation in a small shrubby tree. The nest was (Hume) placed
in a fork about 7 feet from the ground, it was made of moss with a few roots
intertwined. The egg (number not given), Hume says, is an elongated oval a
good deal compressed towards the smaller end, a delicate pale sea green in
colour, profusely speckled and spotted with reddish brown, more dense towards
the larger end, where it is almost confluent, and forms a partial cup; size I -06
x 07 inch.
379. Merula atrigularis fern. Man. <r Orn. i. 169; Gould. B.
Eur. ii. p. 75; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 161 ; Seebyhm, Cat. Birds
B. M. vol. v. p. 268 ; Murray, Vert. ZooL, Stnd, p. 131. Turdus atrigularis,
{Tern.) Blf. East. Pers. ii. p. 158 ; Seebohm, Ibis, 1879, p. 6. Planesticus
atrigularis, (Tern.) Bp. Cat. Parzud ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 529, No. 365 ; Hume
andHenders., Lahore to Yarkand, p. 192; Murray, Hdbk., Zool. t fyc., Sind,
p. 140. Turdus mystacinus, Severtz. Turkest.Jevotn. pp. 64, 115, 119. The
BLACK-THROATED THRUSHU
Above pale cinereous brown ; the feathers of the head, wings and tail darker
brown ; a black streak from the base of bill to the eyes not very distinct ; ear
coverts dark brown, tipped paler j chin, throat, breast, and lores black ; abdo-
men, vent and under tail coverts white, the latter with a few brown dashes ;
axillaries darkish grey ; under wing coverts buffy.
The female wants the pectoral gorget ; the chin and throat is white ; the
sides and breast grey brown, with conspicuous dark centres; bill yellow, the
tip dusky; orbits yellow; legs horny brown ; irides dark brown.
Length. lO'S inches ; wing 575 ; tail 475 ; bill at front 0-9!.
Hab. Beloochistan, Persia, Afghanistan, Western Turkistan, the Hima-
layas, Nepaul, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces and Sind during winter. Breeds in
Siberia and Turkestan.
This Thrush, according to Jerdon, is found throughout the Himalayas,
inhabiting the higher ranges in the interior in summer, but descending to
the lower ranges in winter. It keeps to the more open woods at a level of
from 3,000 to 4,000 feet, and is occasionally seen on roads and pathways. It
feeds on insects and berries.
380. Merula mfiCOlliS, Pall. Reis. Russ. Reichs. iii. p, 694 ; GmeL
Syst. Nat. i. p. 815 ; Pall. Zoogr. Rosso. Asiat. i. p. 452 ; Seebohm y Cat. B. Br.
Mus. v. p. 270. Planesticus ruficollis, (Pall.) Bp. Parzud. p. 5 ; Jerd. B.
Ind. i. p. 528. The RED-THROATED OUZEL.
Upper surface and ear coverts grey, the lores darker ; supercilium chestnut,
scarcely reaching the nape ; wings and wing coverts brown, edged with grey ;
MKRU.A. 309
centre tail feathers brown, the remainder chestnut on inside web and basal
portion of outside web ; chin, throat, and breast chestnut ; under surface pale
greyish, white on the flanks, with obscure darker centres ; axillaries and under
wins coverts bullish chestnut ; bill dark brown ; lower mandible yellowish at
base ; legs, feet, and claws brown ; irides brown.
The female has very little chestnut on the throat and breast, which have the
general colour of the flanks, with black fan-shaped terminal spots to many of
the feathers.
Length. IO inches ; wing 5-5 j tail 4 ; tarsus 1-5 ; culmen 0-85 to 0-9.
I Jab. The Himalayas, where it breeds ; Nepaul, Bhootan to China, and
Southern Siberia. It winters in Turkestan, India, and China, and occasionally
straggles into Europe. It frequents forests, associating in large flocks.
381 Merula unicolor, Tick. ?. A. S. B. \\. p. 577 ; Gould.
P. Z. S. 1837, p. 136; Gray, Gen, B. i. p. 220. Geocichla unicolor, (Tick.)
BIyth, Cat. B, Mus. As. Soc. p. 163; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 519, No. 356;
Murray, Hdbk., Zool., fyc., Sind, p. 140; Murray, Vert. ZooL, Sind,
p. 131. TICKELL'S OUZEL.
Above uniform dusky, slaty, or ashy grey ; wings and tail dusky brown,
their external webs margined with ashy grey ; breast, throat, and flanks pale
slate grey ; chin pale grey, nearly white ; abdomen, vent and under tail coverts
white ; under wing coverts buff ; legs and feet pale brown ; bill dusky yellow ;
eyelids and gape yellow ; irides brown.
Length. 9 inches ; wings 4-5 to 475 ; tail 3-45 ; bill o'95.
Female. Upper parts olive brown ; ashy grey on the rump and upper tail
coverts ; throat and breast paler than in the male, nearly white ; the fcatheis
of the throat with some spots.
Hab. Central, Southern and Western India. Common in the Punjab,
N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Central India, Deccan, Rajputana and Nepaul.
Breeds in the Himalayas, and migrates to the plains in winter. In Sind it is
rare, and is found in the northern portion only.
382. Merula obscura, (Gmd.) Scdohm, Cii. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 273 ;
Oa/es t B. Br., Burm. i. p. I. Turdus obscurus, Gmd. Syst. Nat. i. p. 816;
Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 333 ; Wald. Tr. Zool. Socy. ix. p. 187 ; Blyth, B.
Burm. p. 99; Hume and Uav., Sir. F. vi. p. 251 ; Dresser, B. Eur. ii.
p. 71 pi.; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 1)4. Turdus pallens, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso.
Asia/, i. p. 457. Turdus rufulus, J)rap. diet. Class d Hist. Nat. x. p. 443
Ball, Sir. F. i. p. 69. Turdus modestus, Kyton, P. Z. S. 1839, p. 103.
The DARK OUZEL.
41
310 TURDIN^E.
Upper plumage olive brown, tinged with slaty on the head, the primaries
and the inner webs of the other quills dark brown ; a narrow white supercilium ;
lores black ; chin and base of lower mandible white, as also a short line
produced downwards from the lower mandible ; throat, cheeks, sides of the
neck, and ear coverts dusky slaty ; breast and sides of the body ochraceous ;
abdomen, vent, and under tail coverts white ; under wing coverts and axillaries
pale grey.
The/emale is like the male, but has the lores brown, the supercilium, chin,
and a line down the throat buffy white ; the ear coverts are dark brown, striped
with buffy ; a buffy white line runs from the bill under the ear coverts, and a
brown one between this and the throat ; top of head like the back. Young
birds have the upper parts striped with ochraceous, and the wirag coverts are
tipped with the same ; the breast feathers are tipped with brcwn ; bill dark
brown, the lower mandible yellow, also the gape and inside of mouth ; irides
olive brown; legs yellowish brown.
Length. 8'6 inches; wing 4-8; tail 3-5 ; tarsus i'2 ; bill from gape i'i.
Hob. Siberia, passing through China and Mongolia on migration, and
wintering in Assam, Malacca, Burmah, North India, and the Islands of the
Malay Archipelago. It occasionally strays as far west as Turkestan, Nepaul,
and Europe. It has been recorded from Arrakan. Gates got a specimen in
Pegu at Kyeikpadein in April. Davison found it common in Tenasserim,
both in the hills and plains. Mr. Seebohm found the nest in the valley of the
Yenasay in June.
383. Merula pallida, (Gmel.) Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 274 ;
Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 274. Turdus pallidus, Gmel., Syst. Nat. i. p. 815
Wald, in Bl. B. Burm. p. 99 ; Hume and Dav., Sir. F. vi. p. 253 ; Hu?ne r
Str. F. viii. p. 94. Turdus daulias, Tern. PI. Col. 5 15. The PALE OUZEL.
Upper plumage rich russet brown, tinged with grey on the head ; lores very
dark brown ; ear coverts brown ; supercilium none ; wings brown ; the primaries,
primary coverts, and bastard wing feathers with the outer webs slate grey ; the
outer webs of the secondaries, greater, median, and lesser wing coverts russet
brown ; tail dark brown, the outer webs margined with olive brown ; inner
webs of outside tail feathers white for half an inch at the tip, the white being
gradually decreased on the inner feathers to the third on each side ; throat,
cheeks, breast, and flanks slate grey, whiter on the abdomen and centre of the
breast, and more or less irregularly shaded with brown on the lower throat,
sides of the breast, and flanks ; under tail coverts white, the basal half edged'
with brown ; axillaries and under wing coverts pale slate grey, obscurely
tipped with white ; bill dark brown, yellow at base of lower mandible ; irides
brown ; legs and feet pale yellowish brown.
MONTICOLA. 311
Length. 8-9 inches; wing 4-8 to 5-1 ; tail 3-3 to 3-9; oilmen 0-9 to ro ;
tarsus 1*15 to i'2.
. The hill tracts of Eastern Bengal, Assam, and British Burmah.
In Burmah it was procured by Captain Wardl aw- Ramsay in Karin at an ele-
vation of 5,000 feet. In Tenasserim Davison got a specimen on the Moolcvil
Mountains.
\
Gen. MontiCOla. Boie.
This genus is placed by Seebohm in his Cat. B. Br. Mus. after Erithacus.
There are certainly links which Mr. Seebohm may have considered sufficient
to establish its position, but, taking both the external and internal structure of
the group, there can be little doubt that its systematic position is between
the Ouzels and the Chats, instead of after the latter. The genus Monlicola is
shortly characterized as having, like the Ouzels (males), an unspotted under sur-
face ; the bill, too, is long and the tail comparatively short ; and, as Mr. Seebohm
puts it, " never as many as four times the length of the oilmen." The bill is
long, slender, straight, and moderately hooked at the tip, and either entire or
faintly notched ; nostrils apert, plumed at the base ; rictal bristles small and
numerous ; wings long, the third quill generally the longest ; tail short and
even ; tarsus moderate, I to T2 inches in length. All the Indian species have
blue chins and throats and chestnut breasts and abdomen. The females have
a barred under surface.
384. MontiCOla saxatiliS, (Linn.) Boie, Ibis, 1822, p. 522 ; Seebohm,
Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 314. Turdus saxatilis, Linn., Syst. Nat. i. p. 294.
Petrocossyphus saxatilis, (Linn.) Boie, Ibis, 1826, p. 972. The ROCK THRUSH.
Entire head and neck cobalt blue ; the upper back and scapulars blue
black, lower back white ; the feathers margined with bluish grey ; upper tail
coverts and tail chestnut ; the two centre tail feathers brown on the terminal
half ; wing coverts and secondaries dark brown with obscure white tips ; under
surface of body chestnut.
The female is uniform brown above ; the under surface is chestnut, barred
with dark brown.
Length. 8-5 to 9 inches; wing 47 to 4-8 ; tail 2-4 to 2-5 ; culmen 0-94 to
i ; tarsus i to ri.
Hab. South Europe, Persia, and Siberia, where it breeds. Migrates to
Mongolia and North China, North Africa, and Abyssinia, extending its i
eastwards in winter to the borders of India and into North Burmah. Occurs,
though not commonly, in Cashmere and Afghanistan ? (Griffiths), and the
North-West Himalayas and North Burmah.
312 TURDIN^E.
385. MontiCOla CyamiS, Linn, Syst. Nat. i. p. 296 ; GmeL, Sys/.
Nat. i. p. 834 ; Lath. hid. Orn. i. p. 345. Monticola cyana, (Linn.) Boie,
Ibis, 1822, p. 552; Shelley, Birds of Egypt, p. 70; Elf* Eastern Persia, ii.
p. 155. Petrocossyphus cyaneus, (Linn.) Boie, Ibis, 1828 ; Jerd. B. Jnd.
i. p. 511, No. 351 ; ///. Ind. Orn. p. 20; Hume and Senders., Lahore to
Yarkand, p. 190 ; HeugL, Syst. Uebers. p. 29 ; Sharpe and Dresser, B. Eur. ;
Murray, Hdbk., ZooL, fyc., Si?id. Cyanocincla cyanus (Linn.), Sir. F. 1874,
p. 407 ; vol. vi. p. 247 ; id. iii. p. 1 12. The BLUE ROCK THRUSH.
Male Head, neck, and back indigo blue, with a faint metallic lustre on
the head ; lores dusky greyish ; wings, their coverts and tail dark brown ; the
outer webs of the feathers indigo blue ; under surface of body cobalt blue ;
the abdomen and the under tail coverts with faint streaks and spots of whitish.
Female. Of a dingy brown, scarcely tinged above with indigo or cobalt
Hue ; some of the feathers edged whitish ; under parts fulvous with dusky
transverse bars, including the under tail coverts ; bill black ; legs black ;
irides brown.
Length. 8*5 to 9 inches ; wing 4-5 to 5 ; tail 375 to 45 bill at front nearly
one inch.
Hab. Southern Europe, North Africa, Beloochistan, Persia, Afghanistan,
wintering throughout the peninsula of India. Recorded from all India,
Tenasserim, Cashmere, Nepaul, and North-West Himalayas. Extremely
common in the Concan and Deccan, Kutch, Kattiawar, Jodhpore, Sambhur,
and North Guzerat, also in South India. Frequents gardens, pagodas, &c.
Breeds in the Himalayas, laying 4 eggs, pale blue, spotted with brown ; has a
fine gloss; size 1-0x073 inches.
386, Monticola cinclorhynchus, Vig. P. Z. S. 1831, p. 172.
Petrophila cinclorhyncha, ( Vig.) Jerd. Madr. Journ. x. p. 252 ; Hume, Nests
and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 227. Orocetes cinclorhynchus, (Vig). Bp. Consp. i.
p. 297 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 515 ; Seebohm, Cat. Passerif. B. Museum, vol. v.
p. 320; Murray, Hdbk., ZooL, $-c. Sind., p. 140; Str. F. vol. iv. 398,
The BLUE-HEADED CHAT THRUSH.
Male. Head, nape, chin, upper throat, and cheeks indigo or cobalt blue,
also the lesser wing coverts ; lores, ear coverts, sides of neck, back, and
scapulars black tinged with dusky blue on the back ; primaries, their coverts,
and greater and median coverts edged with bluish on their external webs ; a
white bar on the outer web of the secondaries ; rump, upper tail coverts,
entire under surface, axillaries, and under wing coverts ferruginous or chest-
nut ; tail black, the external webs of the feathers margined with blue. In the
female the colours are less pronounced j s bilj blackish ; legs bro\yn j irides
dark brown.
MONTICOLA.
Length. 7 to 7-5 inches; wing 4; tail 275 to 3; bill at front I.
Hal. The Indian Peninsula, ranging to Nepaul and Cashmere. Occurs
sparingly in Sind, Punjab, and N.-W. Provinces, and more abundantly in the
Concan, Deccan, Travancore, North Guzcrat, and Rajputana in the course of
its migration. Breeds in the Himalayas. Eggs 4, pale blue, spotted with
brown ; size 0-96 x 0-79.
387. Monticola erythrogaster, ( Vig.} Dav. et Oust. Ois. Chine,
p. 159; Scebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 325. Turdus erythrogaster, ( Vig.)
P. Z. S. 1831, p. 171. Orocetes erythrogaster, (K/.) Jerd. JB. Ind. i. p. 5*4,
No. 352 : Hume and Davison, Str. F. vi. p. 250. Petrophila erythrogaster,
(Vig.) Hume, Nzsts and Eg%s, Ind. B. p. 227; Str. F. viii. p. 94; Scully t
Sir. F. viii, p. 282. The CHESTNUT-BELLIED ROCK THRUSH,
Whole upper plumage cobalt blue, more or less dusky, and occasionally
blackish on the back ; wings black, all but the first two primaries blue on the
outer web ; lores, cheeks, and ear coverts black ; chin and throat dusky blue ;
remainder of lower plumage, including the axillaries and under wing coverts,
bright chestnut ; tail blue turning to dusky on the inner webs.
The upper plumage of the female is brown ; the rump, lower back, and
upper tail coverts barred with black ; wings brown, each feather edged with
dusky white ; chin and a line down the throat buff ; a spot on the side
of the neck .fulvous ; sides of the head blackish, with pale central streaks ;
under plumage buffy, barred with black ; tail uniform brown. The young
are like the female. In the first stage the plumage above is barred with
black, which gradually disappears. The variations of colour in the young,
however, are very great.
Bill black j irides dark brown ; feet vinous brown, In the female the bill
is dusky.
Length. 9-4 to 9*5 inches ; wing 4*7 to 4-9 ; tail 4 to 4*2 ; tarsus i'l ; bill
from gape 1*2.
Hab. The Himalayas from Nepaul to Assam and British Burmah. It is
recorded from the N.-W. Himalayas, Kumaon, Nepaul, Darjeeling, and
Bhootan, also the Upper Punjab and N.-W. Provinces. Dr. Jerdon procured
it in the Khasia Hills and Colonel Godwin-Austen in North Cachar. In
Burmah Captain Wardlaw-Ramsay obtained it on the hills east of Tounghoo.
Hume says he has only once seen the nest of the Chestnut-bellied Thrush
on a journey from Kangra into Kooloo. It was placed at the root of a tree
in the forest, and was a large shallow saucer, composed almost entirely of
moss and lined with moss roots. The species lay from May to August. Eggs,
4 in number, somewhat buff-coloured and about ri by 0^75 inches in size.
The average size is I by 0-75 inch.
3] 4 TURDIN/E.
Gen. Erithacus. Cuv.
In this genus, as revised, there are only sixteen known species, six only
being found in India. The bill is small or of mean length, generally black
above and paler on the under mandible ; rictal bristles small or nearly
obsolete ; wings moderate ; tail short, more or less rounded, and of 12 feathers ;
tarsus long, slender, and not scutellated, except occasionally in young birds.
Three species of the six which occur in British India are known to breed in
the Himalayas In habits they closely resemble the Redstarts. They feed
mostly on the ground, insects generally being their chief food.
388. ErithaCUS bmnneUS, (Hodgs.) Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v.
p. 302. Larvivora brunnea, Hodgs., J . A. S. B. vi. p. 102, 1837 (female);
Legge, B. Ceylon,^. 446. Larvivora cyana, (Pall.) apud. Hodgs., J. A. S. B.
vi. p. 102, 1837 (male); apud. Jerd., B. Ind. ii. p. 145, No. 507; apud.
Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 324. Larvivora superciliaris, (Jerd.) Blyth,
Ibis, 1867, p. 16; Brooks, Str. F. 1875, p. 240; Fair bank, Sir. F. 1876,
p. 259. The INDIAN BLUE ROBIN or WOOD-CHAT.
Upper surface dull dark blue ; lores, forehead at base of bill, cheeks, and
ear coverts black ; shading into dull, dark blue on the sides of the neck ;
supercilium white ; wing and their coverts brown, their outer webs more or
less suffused with dull dark blue ; tail brown ; the two centre feathers and
the outer webs of the others more or less suffused with dull dark blue ;
under surface of body orange chestnut, shading into white on the centre
of the abdomen and under tail coverts ; axillaries and under wing coverts grey,
more or less suffused with pale blue ; bill dark brown, paler at base of under
mandible ; rictal bristles nearly obsolete.
The female has the upper surface olive brown, slightly suffused with chest-
nut on the upper tail coverts ; the under surface is chestnut brown, paler on
the chin and throat and white on the centre of the abdomen and under tail
coverts. Birds of the year resemble the female.
Length. 6 to 6'2 inches ; wing 2-8 to 3; tail 1-7 to 1*95; culmen 0-5 to
O'6; tarsus r to PI.
Hob. The Himalayas from Cashmere to Sikkim, the Neilgherries, Travan-
core, and Ceylon. Jerdon records it from near Calcutta. At Darjeeling it is
said to be common ; also about Madras. It frequents open forests in the
hills, perching low and descending to the ground to pick up insects. Breeds
on the Himalayas and the Neilgherries. Mr. Davison in Nests and Eggs
says the nest was in a hole in the trunk of a small tree about 5 feet from
the ground and was composed chiefly of moss, but mixed with dry leaves and
twigs. The egg taken by Mr. Davison was an elongated, slightly pyriform
oval, the ground colour a pale slightly greyish green, thickly mottled and
streaked with pale brownish red ; size O^S x Q'6j.
ERITHACUS. 315
389. Erithacus cyaneus, (Pail.) Sccbohm, Cat. n. Br. Kins. v.
p. 303; Oatcs, B. Br. Burm., i. p. 13. Motacilla cyanc, Pall, Reis RUSH.
Reichs, iii. p. 697. Larvivora cyanc, Wald. in BL B. Burm. p. 101. Hume
and Dtiv., S/r. F. vi. p. 335 ; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. loo. The SIBERIAN
ROBIN.
Base of the bill, lores, and a line under the cheeks black ; cheeks, ear
coverts, and the whole upper plumage blue ; wings and tail brown, washed
with blue on the outer webs ; whole under plumage white, the flanks washed
with brown ; axillaries and under wing coverts grey, more or less suffused with
blue.
Thz female has the whole lower surface white, washed with fulvous on the
flanks and breast, the feathers of the latter also tipped slightly with brown ;
lores, cheeks r and ear coverts mingled fulvous and brown ; the whole upper
plumage, including the wings and tail, brown. The young are like the female,
and have the upper tail coverts washed with blue ; bill from pale to dark
horny brown ; lower mandible fleshy white j legs and feet fleshy white ; irides
deep brown.
Length. 5-5 to 5-6; wing 2*6 to 2'8 ; tail rS ; tarsus ri ; bill from gape
0-7.
Ilab. The Siberian Blue Robin breeds in Eastern Siberia 'and winters in
North India, China, S.-K Mongolia, and British Burmah r ranging through the
Malayan Peninsula. Davison says it occxirs in Tenasserim in the better-
wooded parts. Dates procured a specimen in Pegu. It keeps entirely to the
ground, searching among dead leaves for its food, which is chiefly insects.
390. ErithaCUS Calliope, (Pall,) Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v.
p. 305 ; Oafes, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 14. Motacilla calliope, Pall. Reis. Russ.
Rclchs, iii. p. 697. Turdus kamtschatkensis, GmeL, Syst. Nat. i. p. 817.
Calliope kamschatkensis, Jtrd., B. Ind. ii. p. 150, No, 512; Blyth, B.
Jlttrm. p. 101 ; Dresser, B. Eur. ii. p. 34!; Hume and Dav.> Str. F. vi.
P- 337; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 100; Oatcs, Str. .F. x. p, 213. The SIBERIAN
RUBY-THROATED ROBIN.
Whole upper plumage olive brown, slightly darker on the head and ear
coverts ; lores black ; supercilium white, meeting in a narrow line over the
forehead ; cheeks white, separated by a narrow dark brown moustachial line
from the chin and throat, which are brilliant glossy scarlet ; breast ashy grey,
shading into nearly white on the centre of the belly and into brown on the
flanks and thighs ; under tail coverts, axillaries, and under wing coverts very
pale buff ; bill black ; legs, feet, and claws brown ; irides brown.
Theft>male has the superciliary streak huffy white; lores and in front of
the eye dusky brown ; no scarlet throat patch, which is replaced by pale
brown.
316 TURDIN^E.
Length. 6 inches ; wing 2'9; tail 2*4; tarsus 1*15 ; bill from gape 0*8.
Hab. Throughout Siberia, where it breeds, extending southwards as far
as the extreme north of China. Winters in the Philippine Islands, British
Burmah, and in Northern and Central India and Bengal, also the Western
coast, occasionally straying into Europe. It is recorded from Arrakan by Blyth.
Abundant in Pegu, rather rare in Tenasserim, also at Thayetmyo and
Karin. Jerdon says it is found chiefly in Northern and Central India, also
that he saw it south of Bombay. In Bengal he says it is most common, and
in the eastern side of India. In its manners it is shy, silent, and solitary ;
haunts thickets and underwood, and feeds on the ground on various insects.
It has a pretty song.
391. ErithaCUS peCtOrStlis, Gould, Icones. Avium. pt. ii. pi. I ;
Blyth, J. A. S. J3, xii. p. 934 (1843); id. xvi. p. 135 ; Adams, P. Z. S.
1858, p. 492 ; Godwin- Austen, Jf. A. S. B. xxix. pt. ii. p. 270 ; Jerd. B . Ind.
ii. p. 150, No. 513 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 325 ; Brooks, Str. F.
1875, p. 241 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. JBr. Mus. v. p. 307. Calliope ballioni,
Severtz. Turkest. Jevotn. pp. 65, 122; id. Str. F. 1875, p. 429. The INDIAN
RUBY-THROATED
Upper parts, including the ear coverts and sides of the neck, 'a uniform dark
slate grey, shading into brown on the crown ; lores black ; eye-stripe white,
meeting in a narrow line over the forehead ; wings brown, the outer webs of
the wing coverts slate grey ; tail with sometimes two and sometimes four centre
feathers plain brown, the remaining feathers dark brown with more or less
white on the base and tips of most feathers ; chin and upper throat glossy
scarlet ; cheeks, lower throat, and upper breast dull black ; belly and under
tail coverts white, shading into slate grey on the flanks, axillaries, and under
wing coverts ; bill black ; rictal bristles almost obsolete ; legs and feet
brown.
Length. 6 inches ; wing 2*7 to 2*9 ; tail 2 f o to 2 f 25 ; culmen 0*65 ; tarsus
1-25.
The female differs from the male in having the general colour of the upper
parts a uniform earthy brown ; the black on the lores, cheeks, lower throat,
and upper breast replaced by greyish brown ; the slate grey of the flanks,
axillaries, and under wing coverts replaced by brown. Tail feathers brown
terminally with a spot of white.
Hab. Throughout the Himalayas from Cashmere to Sikkim, where and in
Turkestan it breeds in the pine districts, and descends into the valleys
during the cold season. Frequents thick brushwood or long grass jungle.
In the Punjaub and N.-W. Provinces it is less common. In Assam, and pro-
bably Upper Bengal, it frequents similar situations. Of its nidification nothing
authentic is known. Mr. Hume had a nest and some eggs brought to him in
ERITHACUS. 317
Native Sikkim during June, found in a deep crevice in a rock at an elevation
of about 12,000 fret. The nest was a saucer-shaped pad of very fine moss and
fern roots, closely-felted together. The eggs, two in number, were regular
ovals, slightly compressed towards the small end. Colour uniform pale
salmon buff. Size 0-9 x 0-67 inch.
392. Erithacns tsckebaiewi.C/v^.) Seeiohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus.
v. p. 308. Calliope tschebaiewi, Prejv., Rowley's Orn. Misc. ii. p. 180; pi.
liv. fig 1. 1877 ; Gould, B. Asia pt. xxxi. pi. 10, 1879. The THIBETAN RUBY-
THROATED ROBIN.
Upper parts dark slaty-grey, suffused with olive brown on the head and
rump ; lores black, ear coverts dark brown ; supercilium white, quills brown
.edged with olive brown; lesser wing coverts dark slate grey ; median wing
coverts edged with dark slate grey; greater wing coverts and innermost
secondaries olive brown ; tail nearly black, the two centre feathers entirely so ;
the next on each side tipped with white, the remaining four on each side with
the basal half white, except the outside web of the outside feather on each side
and a large spot at the tip ; cheeks white edged with black ; chin and throat
glossy scarlet ; breast black ; axillaries and under wing coverts and flanks
slate grey ; belly and under tail coverts white, the latter with slate grey bases;
bill black ; legs and feet dark brown.
Length. - 5 '9 inches ; wing 2-9 to 3-25 ; tail 2-4 to 2-5 ; culmen O'6 ; tarsus
i'2 to 1-3.
The female has the upper parts dark olive, a white supercilium, and black
lores ; the under parts dirty white ; the tail dark olive, without the white bases
which characterize the male and with the terminal white spots much smaller.
(Seebohm.)
ffab. Sikkim. There is only a single skin of this species in the British
Museum.
393. ErithacuS caerulecultlS, (Pall) Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus.
v. p. 308 ; Motacilla ccerulecula, Pall Zoogr. Rosso Asiat. i. p. 480 ; Cyanecula
suecica, Linn. Sys. Nat. i. p. 336 (Partim) Brehm. Vogf. Deutschl. p. 350
Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 182; Heugl Orn. N. 0. Afr. i. p. 33^; Shelly, B.
Egypt; Blf. East. Persia, ii p. 169; Hume and Dav., Sir. F. vi. p. 337;
Legge, Birds of Ceylon, p. 433 ; Murray, S. F. vii. p. 1 12 ; id. Edbk., ZooL,
tyc., Sind, p. 152 ; Shelly, Ibis., 1881, Sir. F. ix. p. 33O ; viii. 304. Cyane-
cula cseruleculus, (Pall) Bp. Consp. i. p. 296; Gray, Handlist B. i. p. 223;
Jerd. Birds Ind. ii. p. 152; No. 514. The INDIAN BLUE-THROAT.
Head, neck, back, wings, and wing coverts pale brown ; the feathers of the
head slightly centred darker and the wing coverts and quills edged paler ;
lores dark brown; supercilium buffy white; chin, cheek, throat, and breast
cobalt blue, with a large ferruginous or chestnut spot in the centre of the throat
and breast ; below the blue of the breast a black band, followed by a chestnut
42
318 TURDIN^E.
one ; rest of under surface buffy white ; tail rufous or pale ferruginous, the two
centre feathers and the terminal third of the others dark brown, lighter on the
outermost ; ear-coverts silky rufescent brown ; bill dusky ; gape yellow ; legs
dusky brown ; irides dark brown.
Length. 5-5 to 6-5 inches ; wing 3 ; tail 2 to 2-25. The female is like the
male, but without the pectoral gorget ; the throat, chin, and neck buffy white,
with a line of dusky brown from the base of the side of the lower mandible
continued to, and across the breast ; rest of under surface buffy white.
Hal. Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Winters in the plains of India.
Common in Sind, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Bengal, and the whole of India,
to Nepaul and Cashmere; also in Beloochistan, S.-E. Persia, Afghanis-
tan, and E. Turkistan. It has been recorded from Arrakan, and is found
nearly throughout British Burmah. Its habits are quite those of its congeners,
frequenting thick brushwood and long grass jungle in the vicinity of water.
Gen. Sialia. Swainson.
A small group of birds, the natural position of which is difficult to
define. Some authors place the genus among the Saxicolinae, which is as
nearly as possible its true place, being very closely related to the Redstarts.
The single species known in India was characterized by Hodgson under
the generic title of Grandala (J . A. S. B. xii. p. 447), which was admitted
by Blyth and subsequently by Jerdon. Seebohm, however, in his Cat. B.
Br. Mus. v. p. 327, places Grandala as a synonym of Sialia, which I
follow.
The genus is characterized by Jerdon and Seebohm as having a moderate,
slender, straight, and black bill, slightly depressed at the base. Nostrils oval ;
rictal bristles nearly obsolete ; legs black ; tarsus not scutellated ; tail moderate,
of 12 feathers, slightly forked ; wings long and pointed ; 2nd primary as
long or nearly so as the third; tertials half the length of the primaries ; colour
blue.
Sialia Ccellcolor.
RUTICILLA. 319
394. Sialia C8eliCOlor, (Ifodgson), Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mas. v.
p. 328. Grandala caelicolor, Hodgs. J. A. S. B. xii. p. 447. Blyth,
J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 132 ; Gould. B. Asia. pt. xi. (1862); Jerd. B. Ind. ii'.
p. 119. Grandala schistacea, Hodgs. J. A. S. B. xii. p. 447. The HIMA-
LAYAN LONG-WINGED BLUE-CHAT.
Upper and under surface deep indigo blue, shading into brilliant indigo
blue with metallic gloss on the rump and upper tail coverts ; lores black ;
wing coverts, quills, and tail black, margined obscurely with greenish blue ;
axillaries and under wing coverts dull black, margined with indigo blue.
The female is. an almost uniform earthy brown above and below ; the
feathers of the rump, and upper tail coverts broadly tipped with dull brownish
blue ; secondaries and the primaries next ihem with a subterminal white bar.
(Seebohm.)
Length. 9 to 9-3 inches; wing 5*6 to 5:7; (females 5-2); tail 3-45 to
to 375 ; bill 07 to 0-8 ; tarsus 1-15.
Hab. The Himalayas, breeding at high elevations ; eastwards throughout
the mountains separating China from Thibet. Jerdon says it inhabits the
northern region of Nepaul or Cachar and near the snowy region. According
to Hodgson it is solitary in its habits. Insects and gravel were found in the
stomach of a specimen examined. JL*. *7tr J
W* /
Gen. Ruticilla-C. L. Brehm.
Bill shorter than in Sialia, straight, slender, and black ; rictal bristles fairly
developed ; legs black or nearly always so ; tarsus not so long* as in
Sialia, not scutellatec! ; tail of 12 feathers even or slightly rounded ; wings
moderately long and pointed ; ist primary about one-third the length of the
4th ; the 5th and 6th generally equal and longest. Rump and tail (except
the two centre, feathers chestnut in most species the upper plumage
generally grey. They have a pleasing song and perch freely on trees, but
build in holes of walls, rocks, or tree trunks.
395. Ruticilla phcenicurus, Linn, Syst. Nat.i. 335- s )' lvia phoem-
curus (Linn.} Lath. Gen. Syn. SuppL, i. p. 287 ; id. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 1 1. Phceni-
cura muraria, Sws. and Rich, Faun. Bor. Am. ii. p. 489. Phcenicura ruticillfc,
(Ey.lori) Gould. B. Eur. ii. pi. 95. Ruticilla phcenicura, (Linn.} Jerd. B.
Ind. ii. p. 136, No. 495; Dresser, B. Eur. pt. xxvi. (1874) ; Blanford, E.
Pers. ii. p. 163 ; Seebohm, Ibis, 1880, p. 191. The EUROPEAN REDSTART.
A narrow frontal band ; lores, cheeks, ear coverts, chin, throat, and upper
breast black ; a band behind the black frontal band white ; upper surface of
body brownish ash or slate-grey ; rump and upper tail coverts rich chestnut ;
wings and their coverts dark brown, margined with chestnut exteriorly ;. lower
320
breast and flanks chestnut ; the feathers broadly margined with white, paling
into pure white on the centre of the abdomen and into pale chestnut on the
axillaries and under wing and tail coverts ; tail chestnut, except the inner
webs of the two central tail feathers, which are dark brown ; bill, legs, and
feet black ; irides brown.
Length. 5*5 to 5-6 inches; wing 2<8 to 3-3 ; tail 2*1 to 2*5; culmen 0-5 ;
tarsus 0*9 to 0*75.
The female resembles the male, except that the under parts are buff and
that there are no dark bases to the feathers of the upper surface. In breeding
plu?nage the forehead of the male becomes pure white, the head becomes
slate grey, and there is a scarcely perceptible pale margin to the wings and
their coverts. The breast and flanks have no white margins which, with the
feathers of the axillaries, wing coverts, and under tail coverts, become a rich
chestnut.
Hab* Seebohm says it breeds throughout the Palasarctic region as far north
as the Arctic circle and as far east as the watershed of the Yenasay and the
Lena. It winters in South Persia and Central Africa as far west as Senegal.
It is recorded from the N,-W. Provinces of India, the Punjaub, and Afghanis-
tan. It breeds in holes of trees and walls. Eggs verditer blue.
396. Ruticilla meSOleUCa (Hempr. et Ehr.), Cab. Journ. Orn.
1854, p. 446 ; Seebohm, P. Z. S. 1879, p 979 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus.
v. p. 33.8; Murray, Vert. Zool., Sind, p. x.; Sylvia mesoleuca, Hempr. et
Ehr. Symb. Phys., fol. ee., 1832. Sylvia phoenicura (Linn.} apud Menetries,
Cat. Rais. Cauc., p. 35. Ruticilla phoenicura, (Linn.) apud Heugl. Syst.
Uebers,^. 25 ; apud Blanford> Geol. and Zool. t Abyss., p. 358. EHRENRERG'S
REDSTART,
Differs from Ph&nicurus by the male having the outer webs of the seconda-
ries more or less broadly margined with white, otherwise it is not unlike the
male of Ph&nicurus ; 2nd primary between $th and jth. The female, Seebohm
says, is slightly darker on the upper and under parts.
Length. $'$ inches; wing 2-84 to 3-2; tail 3'i6 to 2-45: culmen 0-5 ;
tarsus 0*75 to 0*9.
Hah. The Caucasus, Asia Minor, and Algiers, wintering in Sind (rare),
Persia, Western Arabia, Abyssinia, and Senegal.
397. Ruticilla rufiventris, Jerdon, B. Ind. ii. p. 137, No. 497;
Gray, Handlist B. i. p. 221; Blanf. East. Persia, ii. p. 163; Murray,
Hdbk* Zoo.l., &c., Sind, p. 152; id. Vert. ZooL, Sind, p. 146; Seebohm, Cat.
B. Br. Mus. vol. v. p. 342. Ruticilla phoenicuroides, Moore, P. Z. S* 1854,
p. 25, pi. Ivii ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 136 ; Gray, Handlist B. i. p. 221. Ruti-
cilla erythroprocta, Gould,, apud. Hume and Henders. Lahore to
P. 208 ; apud. Severtz. Turkest. Jevotn. The INDIAN REDSTART.
RUTICILLA.
Adult Male. Crown of head ashy grey ; throat, neck, lores, ear coverts,
breast, back, and wing coverts dark brown or black, the feathers edged
greyish ; wings dusky brown ; the primaries and secondaries margined
rufescent on their outer webs ; breast, flanks, under wing coverts, belly, rump,
upper and lower tail coverts, and tail (except the inner and part of the outer
webs of the two central feathers, which are dark brown) uniform chestnut.
The female is brownish above. The edge of the wings, belly, and under tail
coverts pale rufous ; bill and legs dark brown ; irides brown.
Length. 6 inches ; wing 3-3 ; tail 2*5 ; bill at front 0*55.
Hab. India generally. Breeds in North China, Mongolia, and Eastern
Turkestan. Occurs in Sind, Beloochistan, S.-E. Persia, and Afghanistan
during winter ; also in Nepaul, Kashgar, Behar, N.-W. Himalayas, Kutch,
Kattiawar, Jodhpore, North Guzerat, the Concan, and Deccan to South
India.
Frequents groves of trees, orchards, gardens, and the vicinity of old
buildings, walls, and houses. Feeds on insects. It has a most peculiar
quivering motion of its tail on its perch after feeding.
398. Ruticilla hodgsoni, Moore, P. z. S. 1854, p. 26, pi. iviii. ;
Jerd. B. Ind. ii p. 138, No. 498; Godwin- Austen, J. A. S. Z., xlvii. pt. 2,
p. 18 (1878). Phoenicura ruticilloides, Hodgs. MS. Drawings. Ruticilla
erythrogastra, (Gould) apud. Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc., p. 168. HODG-
SON'S REDSTART.
Upper surface of body dull slate-grey, shading into white on the forehead
and into bright chestnut on the rump and upper tail coverts ; a narrow frontal
band at the base of the upper mandible ; the lores, feathers behind the eye,
ear coverts, cheeks, chin, throat, and. upper breast black ; lower breast to vent,
axillaries, under wing and tail coverts, rump and tail feathers (except the two
central tail feathers, the inner and outer margins of which are dusky brown),
bright chestnut ; hind part of crown, neck, back, wings and their coverts
dusky or dark brown ; the outer half of the basal half of the secondaries
white, forming a wing patch ; bill, legs, and feet black ; irides brown.
Length. 6 -5 inches ; wing 3-05 to 3.3 ; tail 2*6 to 2-85 ; tarsus 0-9 to I ;
culmen O'6.
The female is greyish brown and below the chin is paler, also the axillaries
and under wing coverts, shading to albescent or white on the centre of the
abdomen ; under tail coverts pale chestnut ; upper tail coverts rich chestnut.
ffab.The Himalayas from Nepaul to Assam, where it winters in the
valleys. It is recorded from Assam, Bhootan, Darjeeling, Afghanistan, and
Nepaul.
322 TURDIN^E.
399. Ruticilla aurorea, (GmeL) Jerd. B. ind. \\. p. 139, No. 500;
Wald. in Bl. B. Burm., p. 201 ; Hume Str. F. iii. p. 135 ; Gates, B. Br.
JBurm. i. p. 16. Motacilla aurorea, Gmel., Syst. Nat. i., p. 976. The
DAURIAN REDSTART.
A narrow line on the forehead, lores, cheeks, chin, ear coverts, and throat
black ; remainder of lower surface with the auxiliaries and under wing coverts
deep chestnut. Head, nape, and upper back slaty grey ; most of the feathers
slightly tipped with brown ; back, scapulars and wing coverts black, sometimes
margined with grey ; rump and upper tail coverts chestnut j tail chestnut,
except the central pair and the terminal half of the outer web of the outer
pair of feathers, which are black ; wings very dark brown ; nearly black on
the secondaries, which have a large white patch at the base of each feather.
The female differs from the male in having the whole under parts light brown,
tinged with rufous on the vent and under tail coverts ; head, sides of head and
neck, back, and scapulars olive brown ; rump and upper tail coverts chestnut ;
wings and wing coverts brown ; each feather margined paler, and the spot on
the secondaries smaller than in the male ; tail chestnut, the black parts in the
male being replaced by brown ; bill and legs black ; irides brownish.
Length. 5*75 inches ; tail 2 f 5 ; wing 2'9 ; tarsus O'9; oilmen 0*6.
Hab. S.-E. Himalayas, Bhootan, Assam, and Eastern Bengal and Burmah
during winter. It summers in S.-E.. Siberia, E. Mongolia, North China, and
the mountains of Japan. It'has also been recorded as occurring during winter
in the Malay Peninsula.
400. Ruticilla erythrogastra, (Gould.*) Biyth, Cat. B. Mus. As.
Soc. p. 168 ; Gould. B. Asia, i. pi. 49 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 139, No. 499;
Hume and Henders., Lahore to Yarkand, p. 210 ;. Dresser, B. Eur. pt. Ixvi. ;
Blanford, J* A. S. B. xli., pt. 2, p. 51. Motacilla erythrogastra, Gould, Nov.
Com. Petrop. xix. p. 469. The WHITE-WINGED or GULDENSTADT'S REDSTART.
The male in full autumn plumage. Forehead, crown and nape pale grey,
the feathers mesially streaked below with white ; a narrow line at base of upper
mandible ; lores, ear coverts, sides of the neck, cheeks, chin, throat, breast,
upper and under wing coverts, back and scapulars black ; quills dark brown,
a white spot on the wing ; rump, upper tail coverts, tail, axillaries, belly,
flanks and under tail coverts chestnut, slightly darker on the two central
tail feathers. Bill, legs, feet and claws black ; 3rd, 4th, and 5th primaries
sub-equal and longest ; 2nd equal to the 7th.
Length. Wing 4-05 to 4-3 inches; tail 3-01 to 3-3 ; culmen 0*59 to 0*6;
tarsus i ' i .
The female is drab in colour, slightly darker on the lores and ear coverts and
much lighter on the margins of the greater wing coverts. The chestnut
RUTICILLA. 323
colouring is duller than that of the male. Axillaries are drab and not chestnut
in colour, the under tail coverts only are suffused with chestnut, the belly and
flanks being pale drab.
Hab. The Himalayas, where and in the pine regions of the Caucasus,
Turkestan, and the mountain ranges between Thibet and China, Seebohm
says, it breeds in the birch and pine regions. It is said to have occurred in
the N.-W. Provinces of India, and is known from Nepaul, Cashmere," and
Bhootan, also Yarkand. In habits it is not unlike its congeners. Jerdon
mentions it from Kumaon, and that a pair was seen by Dr. Stewart near
Landour at the side of a stream.
401. Ruticilla erythronota, (Eversm.} Bp. Consp. i. p. 297;
Blanf. East Pers. ii. p. 167; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus.v. p. 34. Sylvia
erythronota, Eversm., Add. Pall. Zoogr. Rosso.- Asiat.fasc. ii. p. no. Ruticilla
rufogularis, Moore, P. Z. S. 1854, p. 27, pi. lix; Hume, Ibis, 1870, p. 530.
EVERSMANN'S REDSTART.
Adult male in full autumn plumage. Head and nape grey ; a narrow line
at the base of the upper mandible ; lores, ear coverts and sides of the neck
black, each feather more or less conspicuously tipped with brown; back, rump
and upper tail coverts bright chestnut, the feathers of the former fringed with
brown j scapulars black, also fringed with brown ; quills brown ; innermost
secondaries darker and with their outer webs margined with white ; primary
coverts white, broadly tipped with dark brown ; greater wing coverts dark
brown, narrowly tipped with white ; median wing coverts white ; tail bright
chestnut, except the two central feathers and the terminal half of the outer web
of the outermost feather on each side, which are black, occasionally mixed with
chestnut ; chin and throat, breast and flanks, bright chestnut, sometimes
obscurely tipped with buffish, which is the colour of the belly ; under tail coverts
shaded with chestnut ; axillaries white ; bill, legs, feet and claws black ; 4th
and 5th primaries sub-equal and longest.
Length. Wing 3-5 inches ; tail 275 to 2-85 ; culmen 0-46 to 0-6 ; tarsus
0-9 to i'O.
The female is similar to the male, except that the back and under parts
(not including the under tail coverts) are greyish brown.
Hab. Persia, Afghanistan, N.-W. Provinces, Kashgar, and the N.-W.
Himalayas generally. Seebohm says it breeds in the pine and birch regions
of Turkestan, S.-W. Mongolia, and S.-E. Siberia.
402. Ruticilla frontaliS, (Vigors) Gray, Cat. Mam. 8fc. t Nepaul,
Coll. Bodgs.; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 305. Phoenicura frontalis,
Vig. P. Z. S. 1831,?. 172; Gould, Cent. Him. B. pi. xxvi. fig. i; Blyth
324 TURDIN/E.
y. A. S. B. xi. p. 190 (1842). Ruticilla frontalis (Vigors), Jerd. B. Ind.
ii. p. 141, No. 503 ; Godw.- Austen, J. A. S. B. xxxix. pt. 2, p, 270; Hume
*nd Henders., Lah. to Yaik. p. 211. The BLUE-FRONTED REDSTART.
A dull male in full autumn plumage. Forehead and supercilium cobalt
blue ; rest of the head, neck and mantle blue black, most of them as if
dusted over with chesnut ; primaries and secondaries brown, their outer webs
margined paler ; innermost secondaries dark brown, margined on their outer
webs with chestnut ; lesser wing coverts dark blue, with narrow pale edges ;
median and greater coverts black, edged with chestnut ; lower back, rump
and upper tail coverts rich chestnut; tail rich chestnut, except the two
centre feathers which are black, margined on the outer web with chestnut, the
terminal half of the outer web of the outermost feather and the tips of the
other feathers, which are also black, for about half an inch. Sides of the
neck, ear coverts, cheeks, chin, throat and foreneck blue black, dusted over
with brownish ; rest of under surface rich chestnut, paler in the centre of the
belly; axillaries chestnut ; thighs sooty brown; bill, legs and claws black.
Length. 6-5 inches ; wing 3-4 to 3-6; tail 2-7 to 2-9; culmen 0-5 to 0*6;
tarsus i.
The female is rich sooty brown, the forehead with a shade of chestnut,
which deepens on the rump and upper tail coverts. Two centre tail feathers
dark brown, with chestnut margins on the basal half of the outside edges ;
rest of tail feathers rich chestnut, three-fourths of the outside edges of the
outermost feather and the tip of the rest brown for about half an inch ; under
surface pale sooty brown ; chin and centre of belly shading into pale chestnut ;
axillaries and under wing coverts pale chestnut ; under tail coverts rich
chestnut.
Hal. The Punjaub, N.-W. Provinces, and Nepaul to Assam. Recorded
from Darjeeling, Cashmere, Thibet, Kumaon, Bootan, and near Dhurrumsala,
also Sikkim. Jerdon says it is more common in the N.-W. Himalayas, and
Seebohm that it breeds in the pine forests of the mountain chains from the
Western, Southern, and Eastern boundaries of Thibet, Cashmere, Nepaul^
Sikkim, Assam, and Moupin, and that it descends into the valleys during
winter.
403. Ruticilla schisticeps, (Hodgs.) Moore, p. z. S. 1854, p. 29
pi. Ixi. ; Jerd., B. Ind. ii. p. 140; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 351.
Phcenicura schisticeps, Hodgs. MS. Drawings, B. M. B. Nepaul. Ruticilla
nigrogularis, Moore, P.Z. S. 1854, p. 29, pi. Ixi ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 140;
Hume, Sir. F. iv. p. 497. The SLATY-HEADED REDSTART.
Adult male in full autumn plumage. A narrow black line at the base
of the bill ; forehead and crown cobalt blue, the bases of the feathers on the
occiput, nape, and hindneck black ; mantle and lower back black ; rump
RUTICILLA. 325
and upper tail coverts deep rich chestnut, their bases black ; scapulars black,
the teiminal half rich chestnut ; lesser wing coverts black, also the greater and
primary coverts ; median coverts white ; innermost secondaries nearly black,
their outer edges margined with white ; tail black, chestnut at base, the two
centre feathers entirely black ; sides of the neck, cheeks, chin, throat, ear
coverts and foreneck black ; a large white spot on the lower throat j under
surface deep rich chestnut ; axillaries and Under wing coverts black, tipped
with white ; thighs black ; bill, feet, and claws black.
Length .6 inches; wing 3-1 to 3'2 ; tail 2'8 ; [tarsus 0*25.
The Adult female is rich sooty brown above the forehead, tinged with cobalt,
and the scapulars with pale chestnut ; rump and upper tail coverts chestnut ;
under surface duller sooty brown; base of outer tail feathers chestnut, greater
wing coverts white.
Hab. Nepaul. Seebohm says it breeds in the wooded valleys of Kansu,
and winters in Nepaul and Sikkim.
404. Ruticilla csernleocephala, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1830, p. 35;
Gould. Cent. Him. B. pl.xxv.; Blyth, Cat. J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 134; Bp. Consp.
i. p. 296; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 141 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 353.
The BLUE- HEADED REDSTART.
Adult Male in full autumn plumage. A narrow line at base of the upper
mandible, lores, feathers round the eye, chin and ear coverts black ; head and
nape greyish brown ; throat, breast, under wing coverts and scapulars black,
margined with brown ; wings and wing coverts black ; median coverts and
outer margins of the innermost secondaries white ; axillaries, belly and under
tail coverts white ; bill, legs and feet black.
Length. b to 6-25 inches; wing 3 to 3*2 ; tail 2*3 to 27; oilmen 0*55;
tarsus 0-8 to 0*9.
The female is greyish brown above and below, darker on the wings and tail,
and paler on the belly, under tail coverts and axillaries ; upper tail coverts
dull chestnut ; greater and median coverts suffused with chestnut and with
white tips.
Hab. Afghanistan, N.-W. Provinces and Nepaul, also Bhootan and the
Himalayas generally.
'
;*
Distribution Table of the Birds of British India
and its Dependencies.
No. in
Avifauna.
SPECIES.
~
DC
Belooclliatan.
.-
I
i
e
-
1
J
&
N.-AV.Pro^ncos.
~
~
p
z
I
1
g
I
4
r
:
1
fl
d
Central Prov.
_-
'.'
-
M
Guzemt.
1 '"'
&
7-
"
--
-/.
I
\
DC
i
13
cT
"A
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
20
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
1
3
3tp?
4
Uis
5
2
G
50
53
52
51
54
21
22
23
23Aw.
23ter.
24
25
45
Ufa's.
47
49
7
26
27
27ois.
29
30
28
33
31
37
32
36
35
34
38
39
39W*.
39?*.
48
Vultur monachus, Liu. ..
Gyps fulvcscens, Uiunc. ..
Gyps himalaycnsis, 7/K//*<?
Gyps indicus, Scop.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
>
X
X
X
:
';'
X
>
x
...
X
X
-
X
X
X
X
...
...
>
.
x
>
Gyps pallcscens, Hume. ..
Pseudogyps bengalensis
Gm
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
v
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
,-
X
x
X
x
>
x
>
>
>
x
x
X
x
-
X
X
>
>
.-.
-
x
X
X
X
-
>
>
.-
,
.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
Otogyps calvus, Scop
Neophron ginginianus
Lath
Circus cyaneus, Lin
Circus melanolGucus,.F0r#l
Circus pygargus, Lin.
X
X
X
X
;:;
X
X
x
X
X
x
X
X
x
\
-
-
X
x
>
x
x
x
x
>
>
X
>
:
X
x
x
X
-.
Circus macrurus, S.G. Gm.
Circus aeruginosus, Lin. ...
Astur palumbarius, Lin. ..
X
X
Astur trivirgatus, Tern. ...
Astur badius, Gm
X
X
X
X
<
\
x
x
ix
>
x
X
:
X
x
x
V
x
x
x
X
X
Astur poliopsis, flume. ...
Astur solocnsis, Horsf. ..
:
X
x
;
X
X
Accipiter nisus, Lin
X
X
;-
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
x
X
X,
-
x
X
<
X
: .
X
;-.,
>
x
x
X
X
<
.-
X
x
X
'
;
Accipiter virgatus, Temm. .
Buteo ferox, S. G. Gm.
Buteo desertorum, Daud ...
Buteo plumipes, Hodgs. ..
Archibuteo strophiatus
Ilodgs
'
Gypaetus barbatus, Lin. ...
Aquila chryssetus, Lin. ...
Aquila hcliaca, Savig.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
>
v -:
X
x
X
x
X
X
> ;
X
X
x
X
X
X
>
x
X
<
Aquila mogiluik, S.G. Gm.
Aquila vindhiana, Frank/...
Aquila hastata, Less
X
X
X
X
X
<
x
<
<
-:
<
-
X
x
x
x
X
<
x
X
x
><
>
-,
x
<
X
<
X
x
X
<
x
x
s -
Aquila clanga, Pall. .
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
<
X
X
X
,-
<
x
X
X
x
>
X
>
X
X
-
X
>
v "
X
X
N isaetus fasciatus, Vieitt . . .
Nisactus pennatus, Gm. ...
Lophotriorchis kieneri,
Geoff.
Neopus malayensis, Tern....
X
...
x
X
Spizaetus ninalensis, Hot/a..
X
x
x
X
x
Spizaetus cirrhatus, Gm....
X
x
-
Spizaetus alboniger, Bly...
Spizaetus limnaetus, Horsf.
Circaetus gallicus, Gm. ...
Spilornis cheela, Lath
> ;
X
X
X
<
X
X
x
X
X
>
<
X
X
X
...
A
...
X
^:
X
<
\
x
x
X
s -
<
<
x
ix
X
X
X
X
X
Spilornis melanotis, Jerd...
Spilornis pallidus
Butastur teesa, Frank/. ...
N
>;
X
X
<
V
x
<
.-,
X
x
X
X
X
DISTRIBUTION TABLE OF THE BIRDS OF
No. in.
A vif auna.
ij
If
SPECIES.
TJ
_S
02
Beloochistan.
Persia.
Afghanistan. I
i
ET
B
fe
N.-W. Provinces.
1
o
1
g
PP
d
1
I
Central India.
Central Prov.
Kutch.
Guzerat. |
Concan.
Deccan.
S
^3
02
British Burmah.
i
45
48 ter.
Butastur liventer, Tern. ...
X
x
46
48 bis.
Butastur indicus, Gm
y
47
4>2bis.
Haliaetus albicillus, Lin. ...
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
y
X
X
X
x
48
49
50
51
52
43
42
55
56
56 bi s
Haliaetus leucogaster, Gm..
Haliaetus leucoryphus,PZL
Haliastur Indus, Bodd ...
Milvus govinda, Sy~kes
Milvus melanotis, Tern. ...
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
x
x
X
X
y
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
y
X
X
y
X
X
X
X
y
x
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
53
$6ter.
Milvus affinis, Gould
X
X
X
X
X
y
X
54
Milvus korschum, Gm
X
X
X
55
59
Elanus cseruleus, Desf.
X
X
X
X
X
V
y
y
y
X
y
y
y
x
x
56
Machseramphus alcinus,
Westr
x
57
57 ter.
Pernis ptilorhynchus, Tern.
X
X
X
X
X
x
x
y
y
X
X
X
58
58
Baza lophotes, Cuv
x
x
X
X
X
59
$3 bis.
Baza sumatrensis, Lafr ...
X
f>0
Baza ceylonensis, Legge. ..
61
20
Microhierax cserulescens,
Lin
V
x
X
X
62
2 Ote?'.
fringillarius,
Drap
y
63
16 bis.
Poliohierax insignis, Wald.
X
64
8
Falco communis, Gm
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
y
y
y
V
y
y
V
x
y
x
65
66
9
12 bis.
Falco peregrinator, Sund...
Falco barbarus, Lin
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
x
x
67
12
Falco babjlonicus, Gurn. ..
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
y
x
68
6Q
11
13
Falco jugger, J. E. Gr. ...
Falco subbuteo, Lin. ......
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
x
y
X
X
y
X
y
X
y
X
...
X
X
70
14
Falco severus, Horsf.
X
X
X
X
...
X
x
X
71
16
Falco chiquera, Daud
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
y
y
y
X
y
X
X
72
15
Falco regulus. Pall
X
X
X
X
X
X
73
10
Hierofalco sacer, Gm
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
y
X
74
75
17
18
Cerchneis tinnuncula, Lin...
Cerchneis naumanni, Fleisch
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
x
X
X
x
x
X
X
X
X
x
76
IS bis.
Cerchneis pekinensis.SM^'w^.
X
X
X
X
X
y
X
X
77
19 bis.
Cerchneis amurensis,jR#efo?e.
X
X
X
x
y
X
X
78
79
40
41
Pandion haliaetus, Lin. ...
Polioaetus ichthyaetus,
Horsf.
X
X
X
...
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
V
X
y
X
y
x
y
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
80
liter.
Polioaetus humilis, S. Mull.
& Schl
v
X
X
81
72
Ketupa ceylonensis, Gm. . . .
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
x
X
X
X
R?,
73
Ketupa javanensis, Less. ...
x
83
84
69
70
Bubo bengalensis, Frankl.
Bubo coromandus Lath.
X
X
X
...
X
X
X
X
X
X
y
X
V
X
x
X
y
X
y
X
y
X
y
X
x
X
y
X
y
X
y
X
X
R5
71
Bubo nipalensis, Hodgs. ...
#
y
y
86
Bubo orientalis, Horsf. ...
y
87
74
Scops pennatus, Hodgs. ...
X
X
...
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
* Also the Malabar Coast.
BRITISH INDIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.
No. in
Avifauna.
oo
I 1
SPECIES.
i
"3
4
I
Afghanistan.
Punjab.
N.-W. Provinces.
S ^
d i II 1 i 1
a a $ a c -g g
S n H o o M o <
an.
Doccan.
S. India.
British Burmah.
Nepaul.
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
747?.
74 bis.
74 bis.
75
75qnt.
75 qt.
74oct.
74qnt.
76
76 qt.
76qnt.
81
81 qt.
Slbis.
8<T'
77
78
79
67
68
66
656/s.
65
64
63
60
61
62
664
657
661
665
659 bis
663
659
666
668 bis
671
X
Scops brucii, Hume
Scops spilocephalus, Bly* ...
X
X
"
X
X
x x
XXX
.. . x
.. X .. X
Scops plumipes, Hinne
X
.. x
X
X ... X X X
x
XX X
X .. .XX
Scops malabaricus, Jerd. ...
Scops sagittatus, Sharpe ...
X
xxx
X X ... X X
xxx
X ...
..XX
. ... x x
Cariue brama, Tem
X
\
xxx
X X X X X X X
X X X X X
x
Heteioglaux b\ewitti,Hu)ne.
. . ..X X
x x .! ...x
... . x ...
X X
X X X
Ninox scutulata, Raffl
...
..XX
..XXX .. .. ..
.. x
X X X X X
X ...
Glaucidium brodiei, Burt...
Glaucidium radiatum, Tick.
Glaucidium malabaricum,
x
Jx
x ...
...
... ... x
...X X
X ... X XX
Glaucidium cuculoides, Vig.
X
X'
\
x
X
... x x
x x x
xxx
.. x x
X X
x ... x ...
Asio accipitrinus, Pall. ...
X X X X X .. X
X X X X ...
Syrnium nivicolum, Hodgs.
X X
X X
Syrnium ocellatum, Less...
...
x x
X X X ... X
xxx
... x x
X X X X ...
X X X X X
xxx...
....XX
Strix flammea, Lin
x
x
xxx
..XX
X X X X X X X
X X ... X X
x x
Phodilus badius, Horsf. ..
Trypauocorax frugilegus,
x
x
X
; -
X
xxx
XX..
x
xxx
X X
'.'.'. x x "... x
Corvus corax, Lin
Corvus umbrinus, Hedenb..
Corvus lawrencei, Hume ..
Colo3us monedula, Lin
x
X
'*.'. X X X "'. X X
XX..
... x x
x
Corone splendens, Vieill...
>
X X X X X X X
X X X X X
Corone macrorhynchus
\
..XX
X X X X X
.. x
X X X X X
.,"""* . .. _,.
Nucimiga heimspila, / nj..
\
X .. ..
x x
Pica rustica, Scop
Urocissa occipitalis, Z>/y...
DISTRIBUTION TABLE OF THE BIRDS OF
No. in i
Avifauna.
02
"a .
V
SPECIES.
ni
Beloochistan.
Persia.
Afghanistan.
p
^
N.-W. Provinces
o
1
pp
ci
a
od
E.
Central India.
Central Prov.
Kutch.
Gnzerat.
Concan.
Deccan.
.2
CO
.a
5
m
"&
p,
a
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
672
674
677
678
676
678 bis.
678qt.
678 ter.
673
(j78qnt.
669 bis.
669
670
679
680
470
73 bis.
71ter.
472
474
279
286
282
278
280
281
283
285
469
265
263
264
Urocissa flavirostris, Bty-
Uendrocitta rufa, Scop. ...
,, frontalis. Me Clell.
X
. .
...
;.
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
x
X
X
X
x
x
X
X
X
X
,, leucogastra, Gould.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
,, himalayensis, Ely. .
bavlevi, Tut. ....
X
X
X
...
-
-
-
Crypsirhina varians, Lath...
Crypsirhina cucullata, Jerd.
Cissa chinensis, Bodd
x
x
'
x
Platysmurus leucopterus,
Tern
x
Garrulus atricapillus
x
X
X
x
Garrulus leucotis, Hume ...
Garrulus bispecnlaris, Vig.
Garrulus lanceolatus, Tig.
Graculus eremita, Lin
v
x
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
x
-
PyrrhocoraK alpinus, Koch.
Oriolus galbula, Lin
Oriolus kundoo, Sylces. ..,
Oriolus diffusus, Sharpe ...
X
X
X
X
x
X
x
x
X
x
x
x
X
X
x
x
X
x
X
X
x
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
x
X
X
X
x
xt
Oriolus tenuirostris, Sly....
Oriolus andamanensis, Tyt.
xanthonotus, Ilorsf.
Oriolus melanocephalus, Lin
Oriolus trailli, Vicj
x
x
X
x
x
X
x
X
...
x
X
Dicrurus annectans, Hodys
Chibia hottentottus, Lin. . .
v
y
v
x
x
X
X
x
Chaptia seuea, Vieill
x
X
Chaptia malayensis, Hay..
Buchanga atra, Herm
Buchanga longicaudata
flay
X
x
X
X
>;
X
X
x
X
v
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
Buchanga cineracea, Sharp
Buchanga leucogenys
Wald
X
X
Buchanga caerulescens, Lin
Dissemuroides andamanen
sis, Hume
x
X
X
X
x
X
x
Dissemurus paradiseus, Lin
Irena puella, Lath
...
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
x
Tephrodornis pondiceria
nus, Gm
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
v
x
X
x
X
X
x
X
Tephrodornis pelvica
Tephrodornis sylvicola
Tephrodornis grisola
v
Ibc! Malabar Coast..
RIUTISH INDIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.
Xo. in.
Avifauna.
Jerdon's
Nos.
SPECIES.
1
c/j
z
-
~
1 Persia.
Afghanistan.
.'--
'=:'
N.-W. Provinces
JB
5
~
*
: ana.
Central India.
AO.l,
a
L
Gnzerat. |
1
I
Deccan.
_
/:
1
~~/
1
-
"5
J
M
174
175
176
177
17S
17'.'
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
191
195
19G
197
19 S
199
200
201
202
203
20-1
205
200
2G7
2G7 A.
269 rjt.
668^er.
608
fi07
270 ter.
270
269
268 qt
271
271 ter.
271 W.
273 qt
272
276
273
275
274
277
277 bis
277 ter
268
269 ter
290
299
Hemipus picatus, Sykcs ...
Hemipus obscurus, Ilorsf...
..
...
<
X
-.
x
.
X
.
..
X
:
...
.Hemipus capitalis, McClell.
HypocoHus ampclinus, Bp.
Platylophusardesiacus,C6.
Cochoa viridis, Ilodys
X
X
x
' :
X
X
X
X
X
Cochoa purpurea, Ilodys...
s -.
Artamides dobsoni, Ball....
V !
Graucalus macii Less.
X
X
x
X
x
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
Campophaga lugubris,$2<W
Campophaga intermedia,
-
N
-
Campophaga melanoptera,
Campophaga neglccta,
-
Pericrocotus spcciosus, Tint.
X
X
X
x
t
v +
...
X
X
xj
Pericrocotus elegans, Me
A'
Pericrocotus andamanensis,
7W
A
Pericrocotus flammifer,
X
Pericrocotus flammeus,
x --
y
Pericrocotus igneus, Bly ..
Pericrocotus cinereus, Laf.
Pericrocotus peregrin us,
N
,,
^v
X
X
x
X
xt
X
x
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
:
X
X
X
\
X
\
X
x
Pericrocotus brevirostris,
Via ,
X
X
Pericrocotus neglectus,
Pericrocotns roscus, Vieill
Pericrocotus Solaris, Bly. ..
Pericrocotus crythropygius,
...
X
x
X
X
x
X
X
xt
X
X
...
-.
X
X
X
X
...
X
X
Pericrocotus albifrons, Jcrd
Pericrocotus immodestus,
X
X
X
X
x
x
X
X
X
...
Lalage * melanothorax
Hemichelidon sibirica, <'
Ilemichclidon fcrruginca
X
X
X
-
xt
f Andaman*. Assam. t Sikkim
DISTRIBUTION TABLE OF THE BIRDS OF
6 ^
Jerdon's
Nos.
SPECIES.
cc
Beloochistan.
Persia.
Afghanistan.
N.-W. Provinces-
c
Bengal.
re
fl
rt
^
"5"
p
( 1
Central Prov.
Kutch.
Guzerat.
Concan.
Deccan.
S3
M
02
British Burmah.
rf
ft
A
W7
297
Alseonax latirostris, Raffl...
X
V
X
X
v*
X
X
X
x
>08
Muscicapa grisola, Lin.
X
X
X
V
x
y
X
V
X
y
X
J09
sordida, God.-
Aust
310
>11
3236w.
323
Muscicapa parva, Bechst...
Muscicapa albicilla, Pall..
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
x
x
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
x
X
X
X
X
X
^191
323ter.
Muscicapa hyperythra, Cab.
v
x
513
Pratincola macrorhvncha,
Slot ".
X
X
X
X
V
X
X
X
X
X
VI 4
485
Pratincola insignis, Hodys..
x
X
515
Nf>
483
484
Pratincola maura, Pall. ...
Pratincola leucura, Bly. ...
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
V
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
517
518
481
322
Pratincola caprata, Lin. ...
Poliomyias hodgsoni, Verr.
X
X
X
X
X
X
v
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
v t
519
310
Muscicapula superciliaris,
X
v
x
X
x
X
X
590
311
Muscicapula astigma Hodgs
v
X
X
X
V
',9,1
326
Muscicapula maculata,Tt 'ck.
V
X
x
X
V??r
312
Muscicapula sapphira, Tick.
x
V
X
xt
>?,3
508
Tarsiger rufilatus, Hodgs ..
v
xt
W4
509
Tarsiger hyperythrus B/?/.
v
xt
5?,5
313
Tarsiger hodgsoni, Moors...
V
xt
596
510
Tarsiger indicus Hodgs
v
vt
W7
511
Tarsiger chrysseus, Hodys..
v
xt
528
290
Hypothyniis azurea, Bodd .
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
xt
*?9
290 bis.
Hypothyrois occipitalis Via
vf
530
Xanthopygia fuliginosa, Viff
x
Yt
x
531
487
X
x
x
x
-32
486
Oreicola ferrea, Hodys. ...
X
X
X
X
xt
533
294
Chelidorhynx hypoxantha,
Bly. .
X
X
X
xt
534
291
Rhipidura albicollis, Visill.
X
V
x
x
X
X
X
X
xt
35
293 bis.
Rhipidura javanica, Sparrm.
x
536
293
Rhipidura pectoralis, Cuv...
x
X
X
537
292
Rhipidura albifrontata,
Sharp e
x
X
X
x
X
x
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
538
539
288
289
Terpsiphone paradisi, Lin..
X
X
...
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
y
540
Philentoma velatum, Tern
541
pyrrhopterum,
Tern
x
542
295
Culicicapa ceylonensis, Sivs.
x
x
xt
X
X
X
x
X
>,43
569
Cryptolopha burkii, BiiTt..
x
Y
V
xt
544
570
x
X
X
*T
545
576
affinis, Hodys
x
X
X
xf
546
573
} xanthoschista,
Hod us
X
X
x
x
x
xt
547
571
X
xt
Malabar Coast.
Andamans.
$ Sikkim
Assam.
BRITISH INDIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.
No. in.
Avifauna.
Jl
SPECIES.
"~
=.
1
Persia.
Afghanistan.
pd
N.-W.ProvincesI
TS
g
i
1
1
~
Central India. |
i al Prov.
Kutcli.
Gnzerat.
1 'ITBOUOQ
in.
J
od
British Burtnah.
1
248
574
Cryptolopha superciliaris,
Tide
v
\--
249
575
,, poliogenys,J?/y.
X
yt
250
578
castaneoceps,
Hodgs. ...
X
V t
251
577
albigularis,
Hodgs. . . .
V*
252
579
hodgsom,
Moore...
253
flavigularis,
Godwin-Austen.
xt
254
302
Stoporala albicaudata, Jerd.
\
255
301
,, melanops, Vig. ..
V
V
x
x
x
v t
256
309
Siphia pallidipes, Sharpe...
x
x
V*
557
303
unicolor, Biy
258
304
,, rubeculoides, Viy . . .
X
x
X
X
x
x
V*
259
306
tickellise. Blu
x
X
x
x
X
X
x
X*
x
x
x
2 (JO
305
308
magnirostris, Biy ...
X
x -
1
Jfil
300
,, nigrorufa, Jerd. ...
>6fl
319
strophiata, Hodgs...
X
Y^
x
X t
ffi3
307
\
X
-.
x
v
x
264
307 bis
,, mandellii, Hume. ...
Y|
>65
307ter
,, olivacea, Hume. ...
v -
26G
320
Digenea leucomelanura,
X
X
Yt
>f>7
t
>f)H
317
,, moniliger Hodgs- ..
X
8
x
X
>,r>9
317 bis.
x
^70
314
Niltava snndara, Hodg*. ...
X
X
X
8
X
v|
271
vivida, Swinh
x
\79,
316
,, grandis, Biy
X
X
x +
X
X
X
x
xt
273
leucoprocta, Tweed.
x
? ,74
315
,, macgrigorise, Burt.
X
X
xt
X
* *
^75
Sylvia cinerea
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
* *
576
581
, jerdoni, Ply
X
x
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
x
X
X
. ..
>:77
582
, affinis, Biy
X
X
X
x
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
-
^7H
582/<?r.
althaea, Hume
\
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
?79
lYiinuscula Ilunie ...
x
x
x
X
x
x
x
x
...
^80
5836?s
x
x
x
X
X
x
2H1
familiaris ftlene
x
x
X
x
X
X
X
?8^>
556A?s.
Phylloscopus borealis,J5/as.
X
>83
559
nitidus Biy. -
x
x
X
X
X
x
\
V
> 84-
560
viridanus Blu. .
x
x
X
X
x
x
V
285
558^s.
plumbeitarsus,
Swinh.
x
i^d
* r 6 t
tcncllipcs Swiiih
*
x
287
556
,, magnirostris,/^///
..
...
...
X
X
X
X
...
x
X
..
X
X
X
X
X
Af-s:tin.
t Sikkim.
DISTRIBUTION TABLE OF THE BIRDS OF
No. in.
Avifauna.
Jcrdon's.
JSTos.
SPKCIES.
13
Z
'S
c*
rt
"o
C3
Persia.
Afghanistan.
rO
ce
N.-W.Provinces-
r
^
6
s
pq
1
I
Central India.
Central Prov.
Katch.
Guzerat.
Concan.
Deccan.
.s
cc
British Burmah.
cT
K
88R
558
Phylloseopus lugubris, Bly-
X
xs
X
X
XT
2S9
563
,, occipitalis, Jerd.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
?QO
564
, coronatus Tcni
x
291
564
> ,, reguloides -^V
X
X
X
X
xT
fl99
567
, viridipciniis, -^^y-
x
X
X
993
554
t r i s t i s Bly .
x
X
V
X
x
x
x
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
?94
5G1
, a ffi n i s Tick ..
x
x
X
X
xT
fl95
560 bis
tytlcrij J^TOolciS.
x
V T
?96
5656/5
h u m i i Brooks.
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
297
565
supcrciliosus,
6?tfz.
x
X
x
v t
X
*
X
t
298
566ter.
,, maculipeimis,
Ely tli
x:
+
xt
299
56G
,, proregulus,
PM . ...
x
X
x
X
300
568
,, p u 1 c h e r ,
Hodffs
X
x
x
xT
301
566fo*.
,, s u b v i r i d i s,
I$TOoltS
x
x
X
x
X
302
,, sindiamis,/?r00/s.
X
303
553-
Hvpolais pallida Hemp
x
X
X
x
304
553
rain a Syltcs
x
X
X
x
x
V
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
305
553 6 w
,, cali^ata Licht
x-
X
X
x
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
306
5176?s.
,, obsoleta, Severtz
x
307
Acrocephalus bistrigiceps,
Swinh
x
308
51 5'/t*
,, orientalis l^em
X
3u9
310
311
312
515
516
517
520
,, stentoreus,
Hemp. ...
dumetorum,
5/T/
agricola, JercZ.
> Locustella certhiola Pall
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
V
X
X
x
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
x
x
x
X
x
X
X
X
X
313
521
,, t r a m i n e a ,
Severtz
X
314
,, lanceolata, Tern, .
t
X
315
518
Lusciniola sedon Pall
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
3 Id
5196w
, thoracica, Bly. ..
X
X
X
317
522
luteiventris,
Hodgs
X
X
318
562
indica Jerd
X
X
X
X
X
X
319
555
fuscatus J5Zv
X
X
X
X
X
3-- ) ,0
556^67*
scliwarzi liudde
x
321
fuliginiventris,
Hodos
322
5546w.
neglectus, Hume,
X
X
X
X
X
Malabar Coast.
Audauiaus.
Sikkim.
Assam.
HJ71TISH INDIA S\|) MS DKPK.NI-
No. in
Avifauna.
V.
II
*-3
SPECIES.
r
^
..
::
S
Persia. |
a
I
- :
i :
1
1
-
'' c
:
\
1
Rajpu
,:
1
:
c
AOJU; juajuao
-
t.
;'
.
Concan. |
J
I
i;
s
-
|
323
Lttsciniola melanopogon,
r,.,,, ....:
'
324
Cettia cetti, Mann
-
325
526
Cettia fortiprs, 771 ////.%
326
327
552
Cettia flavo-olivacea,//or/<7.
Cettia pallid ipes, Ldnif. ...
...
...
5
-
...
...
x t
t
328
527
Cettia brunneifrons, HoJys.
4-
3-2 'J
529
Cettia major, Hodys
x J
830
442
Schcenicola platyura, Jerd.
:tf]
443
Laticilla burnesi, Blyth. ...
-
-
-
332
Laticilla cinerascens, Wald.
333
440
Mejralurus palustris, Horsf.
.
'-.
v
-
.
334
411
("litetornis locustelloides,
Blyth
-
335
547
Suva crinigera. Hodus
:
>
>
336
549
Suya atrigularis, Hodg*. ...
w t
337
Suva khasiana, GoJw.-Aust.
338
Suya albigularis, Hume. .
Suya superciliaris, Anderson
340
543, 544
Prinia inornata, Sylces
X
x
'-
.-
v -'
x
>
V
X
341
342
545
532
Priuki sylvatica, Jerd
Burnesia fl a v i v e n t r i s,
Deless
X
>
...
x
v -
;
-
*!
x
>
-
-
X
343
534, 535
Burnesia socialis, SyJces. ...
>
X
y ^
X
>
344
345
550
Burnesia lepida, Blyth. ...
Scotocerca inquieta, frund..
X
>
X
x
>
x -'
>
x
<
x
x
:
X
X
-
sir.
530
X
, >
-
x
' -
-
>
x
347
Sutoria atrigularis, Tern. ..
:
348
:;i ( .
531
Phyllergates coronatus,
X
>
*T
350
542
Grarninicola bengalensis,
Jerd
351
551
Cisticola buchanani, //////A.
X
X
>
>
X
: :
X
...
352
586
Cisticola gracilis Franklin
>
'
X
x
.Ti3
Cisticola beavani, ^Vulcl.
XI
354
Cisticola cinereicap ilia,
JK
X
355
537
Cisticola polio ce p h a la,
>
X
3W
357
539
540
Cisticola cisticola, Tern. ..
Cisticola exilis, Viy. ana
Horsf
X
X
>
...
<
...
v
>
X
358
371
Gcociolilfi dfl.unifl Jjdtlt'
>
x|
359
372
360
370
Gcocichlci mollissimfi Bly
>
xt
361
xT
362
350
Geocichla monticola, Via..
i
X
* Malabar.
Sikkiui
.
i Uiila
DISTRIBUTION TABLE OF THE BIRDS OF
.No in
Avifauna.
00
|o
SPECIES.
|
I
CQ
Persia.
Afghanistan.
7:
1
o
3
CC
a
Kajpntana.
Central India.
?
o
x
a
M
Gnzerat.
Coricau.
Deccan.
5
"C
j British Burmah.
I
<B
563
564
*65
366
367
368
3C9
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
354
355
357
369
368
367
362
361
359
360
363
365
364
356
351
353
352
507
512
513
514
478
495
497
498
500
499
503
Geocichla marginata, Bly-..
X
8
X
X
xj
x
Geocichla cyanonotus, Lath.
...
X
X
x
X
X
.A
V
x
V
Geocichla sibirica, Pall
X
v
Turdus viscivorus Lin
X
X
v
x
x
x
Merula boulboul Lath.
x
8
V!
x
Merula simillima, JeTd. ...
...
X
...
M^erula JBourdilloni Seebh
x
x
Merula fuscata J3echst.
V
^
...
Merula protomomeloena,
Cab
x
Merula atrigularis, Tern. ...
Merula ruficollis Pall
X
X
X
X
X
x
x
X
X
s
...
...
...
...
...
-;
:
X
x
X
Merula unicolor, Ticlt
X
X
X
V
X
&
>
X
-
-
...
...
X
X
V S
...
...
X
X
X
Monticola saxatilis, Lin. ...
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
v
X
X
X
X
X
x
x
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
x|
x.t
X
X
f
4-
X
X
Monticola cinclorhynchus,
Via.
Monticola erythrogaster,
Fin
' i y-
x
v
X
...
x
...
X
X
X
Erithacus pectoralis, Gould.
Erithacus tschehaiewi,
Pvejv
.
...
...
X
X
X
Erithacus cseruleculus,
Jerd
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
v
X
X
X
Ruticilla mesoleuca, Hemp.
Ruticilla rufiventris, Vieill.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
-
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
...
X
XI
X
X
xt
Ruticillai aurorea* Gmel
X
Ruticilla erythrogastra,
Guld
v
Ruticilla erythronota,
X
X
v
Ruticilla frontalis Viu
X
X
s
% Sikkim. Assam.
|| Khasia
Hills.
BRITISH IN'nlA AND ITS DEPKN HKNCI KS.
11
Avifauna.
31
I i
6*
1-5
SPK
'f.
Beloochistau.
I
Afghanistan.
1
K. -W.Provinces
c
j
I
rt
~
-'
I
o
I
I
j
Gnzerat.
o
r
1
British Burmah.
I
,
r.ni
Ruticilla schisticeps, H<></(/x
h|
'5
504
4D4
Ruticilla cfcruleocephala,
Myrmecocichla fusca, li/t/l/i
-/
X
;;
"'
X
...
-.
...
..
...
.
^ 4.
X
ft
Saxicola albonigra, f//f;,/c.
>
'-
7
18
480
Saxicola picata, Illy.
Saxicola capistrata, JJemp.
-
x
X
-
X
"
>
I
'
X
...
'
'.l
Saxicola monachn, Riipjt...
Saxicola morio, Hemp, et
Ehr
'
-
x -
X
-
...
...
...
...
...
...
1
488
Saxicola opistholeuca,
>
;
v
<
s
-
x
.
-
2
3
4
492
491
Saxicola deserti, Rilpp. ..
Saxicola chrysopygia, DeF
Saxicola isabellina, Rilpp...
X
X
X
x
x
X
X
X
x
X
X
>
>
X
X
x
x <
x
>
X
x
X
X
.
''
'
:
...
...
5
jEgithina viridissima, Tent.
6
468
jEgithina tiphia, Lin
\.
x
.
x
~.
.
-
.
.
7
/Egithiua nigrolutea,
Marsh
x
x -
>
.-
x
-.
\
x
8
Aethorhynchus Lafresnayii,
Hartl
s -
9
456
Chloropsis Hard\vicl\ii,Je;v/.
>
V f
(J
465
Chloropsis aurif'rons, Tern..
>
x -
X
1
464
Chloropsis malabaricus, Gin.
'
.
2
Chloropsis zosterops, Fig...
^
3
463
Chloropsis Jerdoni, Bly....
.
i
Chloropsis chlorocephala,
Wald
>
5
Chloropis cyanopogon,7VM.
6
444
Hvpsipetes psaroides, Fi</.
x ^.
\:
V c
x -
V l
7
Hvpsipetes concolor, I!///.
II
x -.
8
-14^
Hvpsipetes ganeesa, Si/Tcea.
X
s -
9
448
Hemixus flavala, Ilodys. ...
\
Hemixus hildebrandti,
Hume. .
X
1
Hemixus Davisoni, TJnwc.
Hemixus malaccensis,
Bh/th
-
3
jj
x.
I
447
lole MacClellandi, Horsf
\
<
:
lole Tickelli JK/y
6
Pinarocichla euptilosa,
Jard & Selb.
X
7
Micropus inclanocephali's,
Gmcl
8
Micropus fuscillavrsri'iis.
i
f An-!
Sikkini.
Khaaia Hills.
12
DISTRIBUTION TABLE OF THE BIRDS OF
No. in
Avifauna. j
!
00
!i
t-s
1
SPECIES. 13
tj o '5
'.S "o g
;OQ PQ PH
00
1
i '>
1 -S ^ '
& f ^ : 1
< PH 52; JC
A >
ill
* 1 1 1 X 1
-S 13 8
D ; ee O 3 ^
Q PH O O M O
Conoan.
Deccan.
S. India.
British Burmah.
Nepaul.
439
Micropus cinereiventris,
Blyth.
X
440
457
Vlicropus pheeocephalus,
Jerd
* . X
441
^riniger phseocephalus,
Hartl
X
442
451
Criniger flaveolus, Gould
Sll ., .
xt
443
Criniger griseiceps, Same
X
444
Criniger gutturalis, Bp
X
445
Tricholestes criniger, Bty..
X
446
449
X x
447
Trachycomus ochrocepha-
lus, Gtnel
X ...
448
450
* .. X
449
462
Pycnonotiis hsemorrhous,
Gm X .
XXX
X X X X X >
( X X X
450
Pycnonotus burmanicus,
Sharpe,
x ...
451
Pycnonotus nigripileus, Bp
x ...
452
Pycnonotus atricapillus,
Vieil
x ...
453
461
Pycnonotus ipyg3eus,Hodgs
X X X X
v S II ^
xt
454
455
459
Pycnonotus leucotis, Gould. XXX
X X X X
*! x x x x >
(XXX...
X
456
Pycnonotus flavescens, Ely
.. II
X
457
452
Pycnonotus luteolus, Leas.
x x ...
* ... X
458
Pycnonotus Finlaysoni,
Strickl
x ...
459
x ...
460
453
Pycnonotus xantholsemus,
Jerd
x ..
461
x ...
462
Pycnonotus plumosus, Blyth .. ..
x ...
463
Pvcnonotus simplex. Less. . ,
x ...
464
Pycnonotus salvadorii,
Sharpe
X ...
465
460
Otocompsa jocosa, Lin
XXX
X xt x *
466
Otocompsa emeria, Lin
< x * X X
467
458
Otocompsa leucogenys,
E. Or.
x
xt
468
456
Otocompsa flaviventris,
Tick ,.
..XX
11$ x .
* X xt
469
455
Rubigula gularis, Gould
x
470
Rubigula cyaniventris, Ely
\s
471
Spizixus canifrons, Bit/.
II
472
332
Urocichla longicaudata,
Moore
* Malabar.
J Sikkim.
Assam.
Khasia Hills.
BRITISH INDIA AM) ITS DKl'llM
>o. in
Avifauna.
Jerdon's
Nos.
SPKI
1
'j.
1
PQ
Fersia.
Afghanistan.
-
I
N.-W. Provinces.
a
~
1
I
-.
i
\
~
I
I
L
Guzerat. |
Cone
:uah. |
173
17 i.
475
476
477
478
479
480
4S1
482
483
484
485
486
487
4S8
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
333
329
330
331
348
347
343
342
440
339
477
338
337
336
506
479
480
475
613
341
476
\iiorthura nipalensis,
ll'il'tf/S
X
xt
Annrthura f o r m o s a,
JI'M
g
Sphcnocichla h u m i i,
...
a
t
X
xt
x 1
xt
Pnoepyga albiventris,
Ilodys
:
Pnoepvea pusilla, Hoilus . . .
Pnoepyga caudata, lily. ...
Cinclus cashmeriensis,
Gould
X
Cinclus asiaticus, Swains .
Myiophoneus Temmincki,
...
X
X
X
x
x
X
...
Mviophoneas Eugenii,
Hume
Myiophoneus Horsfieldi,
Viu. .,
X
X
X
Callene frontalis, Bli/th....
f
Callene albiventris,
lUanf
X
x
Notodela leucura, Hodys
Brachypteryx c r u r a 1 i s,
...
jj
X
X
xt
xt
f
f
x:
f
xt
X
xt
t
X
x:
1!
Brachypteryx hyperythra,
*
Brachypteryx nipalensis,
II
Brachypteryx s tell at a,
Gould
II
Chimarrhornis leucoce-
<
X
:
-.
...
"'
"
x
x
X
X
x
Thamnobia fulicata, Ij.
Thamnobia cambaiensis,
Lath
X
X
X
X
x
||
K
X
X
<
v -
Copsychus saularis, L
Lioptila annectcns
Hodgsonius phoenicuroides
x
Cittocincla tricolor, Vieill.
Cittocincla albiventris
*
f
t
Henicurus lescheiiaulti
(
X
* Malabar f Andamans.
J Sikkim. Assam. || Khasia Hills.
14
DISTRIBUTION TABLE OF THE BIRDS OF
No. in i
Avifauna.
Jerdon's
Nos.
SPECIES.
T3
=
CC
p
cS
s
2,
o
Persia.
Afghanistan.
^
a
c""
fi
N.-W. Provinces.
d i
T3 G
S <B
o m
Kaj pntana.
Central India.
Central Prov.
xj
X
Guzerat.
Concan.
Deccan.
a
3
a
ri
British Burmah.
e8
cu
^
501
5J2
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
A.
585
586
584
587, 588
419
418
415
416
421
420
417
422
423
424
425
N..E. Be
Ilcnicurus iminaculatus,
Tlodqs.
II
X
X
X
X
v
X
xj
X
t
Henicurus schistaceus,
Hodgs
Henicurus guttatus, Gould.
Henicurus maculatus, Vig.
Hydrocichla ruficapilla,
...
l|
...
...
y
S
Hvdrocichla frontal is,
"myth
v
Microcichla scouleri, Vig. .
Trochalopterum affine,
Myth
X
S
X
X J
X
X
xt
Trochalopferum variega-
tum, Via
X
x
X
...
...
...
"
-
Trochalopterum erythro-
cephalum, Hodgs
Trochalopterum chrysop-
terum, Gould.
X
Trochalopterum ruficapil-
lum, Biyth
|
Trochalopterum erythro-
Isema, Hume
f]
Trochalopteium melano-
stigma, Wyth. ..
X
Trochalopterum rufigulare,
Gould
X
X
||
xj
Trochalopterum cinera-
ceurn, Godw.-Aust
f
Trochalopterum squama-
turn, Gould
xt
xt
Trochalopterum subunico-
lor, Klyth
Trochalopterum austeni,
Jerd
A
Trochalopterum phoeni-
xt
Trochalopterum cachinans,
Jerdon
X
Trochalopterum Jerdoni,
Blyth
X
Trochalopterum Fairbanks,
Blanf.
X
Trochalopterum meridio-
nale, Blanf.
X
Trochalopterum lineatum
Via. ..
X
rigal Hills, f Andaman^. J Sikkim
S
Assam.
|| Khasiu Hills
^[ Muuipur Hills
BRITISH INDIA AND ITS Di:iKNDl\.
ci
S 5
OQ
SIM > IK.V
A
i
..
i
1
Central Prov.
Kutch.
Concan.
Deccan.
-
I
"/.
ill.
.'27
328
>29
>30
>31
>32
>33
34
>35
36
37
38
39
.40
41
42
43
44
45
4C>
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
B
426
431
414
384
437
439
438
436
430
429
402
404
401
400
Bhootai
Trochalopterum imbrica-
tiun, l.li/th
R
1 rochalopterum virgatom,
Godw -A nst
... < I)
Acanthoptila ni pal en sis,
IlodqS
-
x :
lanthocincla ocellata,
Vig
Gampsorhynchus rufulus,
Blyth
Gampsorhynchus torqua-
tus, Hume. ....
Argya subrufa, Jerd
...
>
X X
Ix
Argya hyperythra, Sharpe.
Areva earlii, Bliith ..
x
.. v
Argya caudata, Drop
X
:>
X
*
>
X
>,
;
<
:
x
Argya cclipes, Hume
Argya gularis, P.lyth
'.
Argya Malcolm!, Rykes. ...
X
...
...
X
>
s
:
; ;
.
>
;
x:
x :
Malacias capistrata. Via...
v
Malacias melanoleuca,
Blyth
Malacias gracilis, McC/et/..
[i
Malacias pulchella, Godw.-
Aust
j)
xi
Pomatorhinus schisticeps,
Hodgs.
Pomatorhinus pinwilli,
Sharpe
v
Pomatorhinus Horsfieldi,
Sykes.
>
Pomatorhinus ochraceiceps,
Wald
v
Pomatorhinus Austeni,
Pomatorhinus ferruginosus,
Hodgs
ii
x :
Pomatorhinus Phayrii,
Blyth
Pomatorhinus albigularis,
Blyth
'
Pomatorhinus stenorhyn-
g
Pomatorhinus ruficollisJ
JTndn^t
i. D. Naga Hills. J Sikkim. Assam || Khasia Jlills. f Mm.iptu li
DISTRIBUTION TABLE OF THE BIRDS OF
No. in
Avifauna.
Jerdon's
Nos.
SPECIES.
-d
Beloochistan.
. .
rersia.
Afghanistan.
J2
03
1
JN.-W. Provinces.'
CJ
C 50
O 2
ff
D M
ffi 'fl
P HH P
ti:
c? S
^ C
>
9
H
I 1
j &
S> W c
!
L
. . C8
i S I'-S
3 a
go 1 1
3 ffi .
^ P 02
British Burmah.
Nepaul.
554
Pomatorhinus hypoleucus,
Blyth
II
X ...
555
Pomatorhinus Tickelli,
Blyth
X ...
556
405
Pomatorhinus erythroge-
nys, Fig
y
X
v
X X B
557
Pomatorhinus Maclellandi,
Jerd
g
558
406
Xiphoramphus supercili-
t
559
407
Garrulax leucolophus,
V
x
560
Garrulax belangeri, Less....
x
561
Garrulax diardi, Less
x
562
411
Garrulax a 1 b i g u 1 a r i s,
Gould
v
563
412
Garrulax pectoralis, Gould.
I
X xt
564
413
Garrulax moniliger, Hodgs.
1
. X X
565
Garrulax galbanus, Godw.-
Aust
<
r .
566
Garrulax gularis, McClell..
1
567
409
Garrulax delesserti, Jerd.
\
<(
568
Stactocichla m e r u 1 i n a,
Blyth
569
382
Grammatoptila striata, Viy.
y
X
570
410
Dryonastes ruficollis, Jard
$ Selb
.. x XJ
571
Drvonastes chinensis, Scop
i
X
572
Dryonastes nuchalip,G.o<rft0.
Aust
D
573
Drvonastes strepitans, Tick
.. x
574.
Dryonastes sannio, Swinh ..
II
1
575
408
Dryonastes cserulatus,
Hodgs
xt
576
Dryonastes subcserulatus,
577
427
Actinodura Egertoni,6rowW.
II
578
Actinodura Ramsayi, Wald.
X ...
579
AetinoduraWaldeni.GWw.-
1
X ...
580
428
Actinodura nipalensis
8
581
Actinodura Daflaensis
K ....
582
Actinodura Oglei, Godw.
Aust
&
x
583
4^0 404
Crateropus canorus Linn.
x
><
X
X
X
X
584
433
CrateroDiis eriseus, Gmel ..
. X X
D. Naga Hills. E. Garo Hills. B. Bhootan. K. Pafla Hills,
J Sikkim. Assam. || Khasia Hills. ^ Muuipur Hilla.
BRITISH INDIA AND ITS DEPENDEN
No. in
Avifauna.
1!
Ha
Z
|
IS
1
Persia.
nSiv
r .
- ;
n.-w.rrovinoea.
d
- ;
1
g
I
M! India.
I
j
1
1
4
r
-
)UOf
1
9. India.
JO
58fi
587
588
589
590
591
592
r>93
594
59G
597
f.98
599
GOO
601
G02
G03
G04
G05
GOG
G07
608
609
fllO
Gil
G12
613
G14
615
616
435
381
379
378
875
374
376
377
380
373
39G
385
386
398
397
399
391
387
Crnferopus Somervillii,
Nv/r.v
Conostoma irniodimn,
11 Oil {IS
x t
xt
xt
- -f
xt
. xt
< xt
X
( X
- ...
, t
xt
Suthora Ilumii, Xlmr^c.....
Suthora poliotis, Blyth. ...
D
P
K
Suthora nipalensis, Ilodys.
Suthora rnfieeps, Bli/lh
I',
Suthora gularis, Gr>nj
' :
Suthora unicolor, Ilotff/s...
Chleuasicns ruficeps, Blyth.
Chleuasicns i'ulvifrons,
IJodys ,
Paradox ornis flavirostris,
Paradoxornis guttaticollis,
y.
B
X
I!
B
L
X
L
1
P
<
:
<
X
X
X
>
>
;
X
X
Timelia pileata, llorsf.
Timelia longirostris,
X
X
Pyctorhis sinensis, Ginel....
X
X
X
Pyctorhis altirostris, Jerd.
Dumetia albigularis, Blyth.
Dumetia hyperythra,
Frankl.
...
x
Pellorneum nipalense,
A
Pellorneum intermedium,
r,
Pellorneum ruficeps,
X
.
X
Pellorneum subochraceum,
Pellorneum palustre, Gould.
Stachyris nigriceps, Hodgs.
...
...
...
...
...
Ml
i
...
...
I
B ...
< X
K
K X
K ...
X ...
X
Stachyris guttata, Blyth...
Turdinus Abbotti Blyth
...
...
Turdinus magnirostris,
Erythrocichla bicolor, Less
Drymocataphus oigricapi-
Drymocatiiphus ignotus
Drymocataphns Assamen
>s
Drymocataphus Tickelli
D. Naga Hills.
* Malabar,
c
P.
f Andamana
K. Dalla Hills.
\ Sikkim.
linr.
I'
Khasia Hills.
18
DISTRIBUTION TABLE OF THE BIRDS OF
No. in
Avifauna.
Jerdon's
Nos.
SPECIES.
^
CO
Beloochistan.
Persia.
Afghanistan.
.*
1
N -W. Provinces.
1
1
PQ
Rajputaiia.
Central India.
Central Prov.
o
Guzerat.
Concan.
Deccan.
|
a
i i
QQ
British Burmah.
I
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
395
335
393
392
394
327
328
618
619
620
623
624
625
622
B
Drymocataphus rubigino-
X
Gypsophila crispifroris,
Blyth.
X
Trichostoma rostratum,
Blyth
X
Malacopterum magnum,
X
Mixornis gularis, Raffles...
y
Mixornis rubricapilla, Tick.
x
X
X
Mixornis erythroptera,
Blyth
Corythocichla brevicauda-
ta, Blyth
'
x
Corythocichla striata,
Wald
Turdinulus murinus, Blylh.
Rimator malacoptilus,
Blylh
f
x
xt
*t
Stachyridopsis ruficeps,
Blyth
Stachyridopsis rufifrons,
x
Stachyridopsis pyrrhops,
Hodgs
X
X
xt
Stachyridopsis chrysea,
Hodgs
ii
X
x
Stachyridopsis assimilis,
Wald
Oligura castaneocoronata,
Burt. ...
II
xt
Xi
xt
xt
Oligura cyaniventris,Hbd^.
Minla igneotincta, Hodgs..
Minla castaneiceps, Hodgs.
||
||
[|
||
Minla cinerea, Blyth
xt
Minla rufigularis, Mandelli
Tt
Minla mandelli, Godwin-
v
Minla dubia, Hume
X
txulus flavicollis, Ilndgs. .
X
B
II
II
xt
xt
Ixulus occipitalis, Blyth
Ixulus ha mills, Hume ...
X
Staphidea castaneiceps,
Moore
l|
Staphidea rufigenis, Hume..
I
Staphidea striata, Blyth....
Alcippe vinipectus, Hodys.
iv
X
. X
vf
Bhootan. L. Cachar. J Sikkim.
|| Khasia
Hills.
1[ lluuipur Hills.
BRITISH INDIA AND ITS DKl'EN DENCI ES.
10
4 )
o-J
& >
~<
ii
o
H
Sl'ECIES.
~
B
7.
Beloochistau.
Persia.
Afghanistan.
43
1
'-'
~
-
N.-W. Provinces.)
^
-^
1
1
x
Kajputana.
Central India.
I
-
1
-
--
^
Kiuch.
Gazerat.
Concan.
i
j
|
/:
British Burmah.l
'S.
C49
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
557
058
659
360
561
562
563
364
5 65
166
3G7
368
300
370
371
372
573
374
575
376
577
578
579
580
581
382
;83
584
585
586
587
388
389
390
621
626
627
628
629
630
616
617
615
614
612
650
644
647
048
649
638
640
640
637
632
642
651
655
656
654
653
652
634
B.
Alcippc nipalensis, Ilodgs.
Alcippe phococephala, Jerd
Alcippc Phavrii, Blytk. ...
!:
L
X
15
-
ix;
X
.
Alcippe ntriccps, Jerd. ..
Alcippe Bourdilloni, Hume
Alcippe chryseus, Hodgs...
x
>
> ;
>:
x :
x:
x;
x:
x:
-
!!
1
i
Yuhina occipital is, Ilodgs.
Yuluna nigrimentum,
Ilodgs
X
n
Myzornis pyrrhura, Ilodgs.
Herpornis xantholeuca,
ii
>
Siva castancicauda, Hume..
]\
x .
Siva cyanuroptera, Ilodgs..
s
x;
>
Mesia argcntauris, Ilodgs..
u
V
'
X
x;
x.'
x;
x;
X
x;
X
x:
xj
X
xj
J
X
Outia nipalcnsis Sodos
Parus sultancus, Hodqx
Parus cinercus, Bonn, el
Vieil.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
1 B
}}
i
X
X
V A
X
Parus monticolus, Vigors.
Parus xanthogenys, V'.yors*.
Parus haplonotus, Jerd, ...
Parus spilouotus, Blyth....
Parus melanolophus,
...
...
...
\
\
X -
v -
X
X
X
Parus rufonuchalis, Blyth.
Parus rubidivcnter Bfiitfi
j
I^jirim dirVirous ffndfi^
y
V
X '
xj
v;
y
+
+
Accentor immaculatus,
<
Accentor atrigularis,
llv til nit
X
X
X
Accentor rubeculoides,
Accentor strophiatus,
Accentor Jerdoni, Brooks.
Accentor altaicus, Jiraiidt.
Accentor nipalensis, Uodys.
Acredula erythrocepbala,
X
X
\
<
'
K
-
*
Da
fh
1
m
11,
klu
,.,a
II
!!,.
...
Bhootan. D. Nygu Hills. %
L ('achar
Sikkim.
20
DISTRIBUTION TABLE OF THE BIRDS OF
No. in
Avifauna.
CO
is
1*
SPKCIES.
^
3
W
Beloochistan.
Persia.
Afghanistan.
1
pf
cu
s
a
">
c
&
ti
1
c
15 .
be
I
Kaiputana.
.s
z.
I
P
s
-
'o
M
Guzerat.
Concan.
Deccan. ___
.s
2
1 !
CO
British Burmah.
*&
a
&
&
688
635
Acredula Jouschistos,
Hod (is. .
K
vt
689
636
Acredula niveogularis,
Moore
x
690
633
JSgithalus flammiceps,
Burton
X
X
X
691
580
Regulus cristatus, Koch....
?
vt
692
609
Ptererythrius erythrop-
terus, Vigors
X
x
R
B
x i
693
Ptererythrius seralatus,
Ticleell
X
694
610
Ptererythrius rufiventer,
B/yth
695
Ptererythrius intermedius,
Hume. ...
x
* I
696
611
Ptererythrius melanotis,
Hodgs
X
697
Ptererythrius xantho-
y +
698
Lanius fallax, Finsch
?
X
X
699
Lanius assimilis, Brehm. ...
X
X
X
X
700
701
256
258
Lanius lahtora, Sykes
Lanius tephronotus, Vigors.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
8
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
y t
702
257
Lanius erythronotus,
Via or s
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
703
259
Lanius nigriceps, Frankl...
X
II
8
X
x
704
261
Lanius cristatus, Lin
X
X
X
X
x
X
n
s
X
X
x
705
Lanius lucionensis Lin ...
t
x
706
262
Lanius isabellinus, Ehrenb.
X
X
X
x
X
x
y
X
x
V
707
Lanius phcenicuroides,
Severtz
X
X
X
x
X
x
x
x
x
708
709
260
Lanius vittatus, Falenc. ...
Lanius collyrioides, Less.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
710
243
Certhia himalayana, Vigors.
x
X
8
X
711
245
Certhia discolor, Blyth. ...
1^
vt
712
244
Certhia nipalensis, Hodgs
1^
S
vt
713
246
Salpornis spilonotus,
FrankL ......
x
714
247
Tichodroma muraria, Lin...
X
X
X
X
715
Sitta nagaensis, Godw-
Austen. . . ...
v
716
Sitta magna, Wardlaw-
Y
717
Sitta himalayensis, Jard.
et Selby
X
X
y|
718
Sitta neglecta, Wald. ...
x
719
250
Sitta castaueoventris,
FranJcl....
X
X
*
x
B. Bhootan. J Sikkitn.
Assam. j| Khasia Hills. f Andarnans. * Malabar.
BRITISH INDIA AM) ITS DEPENDENCIES.
No. in
A vifauna.
CQ
||
1-3
SPECIES.
1
Beloochistau.
i
Afghanistan.
-
1
N.-W. Provinces.
i
~
1
\
"z
~
'I
2 2
0,0
Kutch.
I
3
IIWOOOQ
1
ri
T
^
1
720
721
7 2
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
l
251
249
252
253
231
226
225
228
230
227
234
235
233
232
224
223
631
236*
J. Bbout
Sitta cinnamomeiventris,
Blyth
-
<
X
x
Sitta leucopsis, Gould. ...
x-
Sitta formosa, Blyth
X
-
Sitta irontalis, Stvains
x
X
X
X
X
x
-
.
...
Chalcostetha insignis, Jard.
^Ethopyga saturata, Hodgs.
JSthopyga Vigorsi, Sykes-
/Ethopyga seheriae, Tickell.
/Ethopyga ignicauda,
Hodgs
\\
xt
X
X
x
X
\\
X
^Ethopyga nipalensis,
Hodgs
X
^Ethopyga sanguinipectus,
Wald
^Ethopyga gouldiae, Vigors.
X'
XT
^Ethopyga dabryi, J. Verr.
.
Cinnyris asiatica, Lath. ...
Cinnyris brevirostris, Blanf.
Cinnyris lotenia, Linn
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
<
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
:
X
X
>
X
...
Cinnyris minima, Sy/ces ..
Cinnyris zeylonica, Lin.
Cinnyris flammimaxillaris,
Blyth.
f
-
Arachnothera longirostris,
Vieil
X
t
1
x
x
X
>
x;
Arachnothera magna,
Arachnothera modesta,
Arachnothera chrysogenys,
-.
Anthothreptes hypogram-
\
Anthothreptes simplex,
\f Mull
Anthothreptes phoenicotis,
J
Anthothreptes malaccensis,
X
<
X
Zosterops palpebrosa,7V?ww.
Zosterops aureiventer,
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
\
X
ume ' ". '." ' n . ,
-
X
Dicseum trigonosti^ma
iii. * Malabar. f Aucluinana. % bikkim
Assam. || KLasiu Hills.
22
DISTRIBUTION TABLE OF THE BIRDS OF
No. in
Avifauna.
as
II
3
SPECIES.
i
03
o
16
.s
is
1
.2
'5?
1
Afghanistan.
i
T
2
PH
N.-W.Provinces.
^
H3
3
Bengal.
C3
c
?3
c
.^
c?
#
,ci
'B
c
1
c
Central Prov.
jq
5
Guzerat.
Concan.
Deccan.
.s
^3
c
( I
O3
British Burmah.
4
1
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
7C1
762
763
764
7G5
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
241
237
239
23S
242
240
92
93
94
87
88-89
90
91
82
83
84
85
86
591
590
589
592
Dicseum ignipectus, Hodys.
Dicaeum chrysorrhseum,
X
X
X
X
X
X
Dicseurn concolor, Jerd ..
Dicseum inornatum, Eodgs.
Dicseum erythrorhynchum,
Lath
11
X
X
v
X
X
X
X
"
...
X
X
X
Prionochilus ignicapillus,
Prionochilus maculatus,
Tern
X
Prionochilus melanoxan-
thus, Hodgs
&
X
X
Prionochilus squalidus,
Burton
X
X
V
Prionochilus modestus,
Ohelidon urbica, Linn
X
X
X
Chelidon cashmiriensis,
Gould
X
Chelidon lagopus, Pallas...
X
Chelidon nipalensis, Hodgs.
Cotile riparia, Linn
X
X
X
X
X
...
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
*x
*x
X
X
Cotile sinensis, J. E. Gray.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
...
X
BX
...
X
X
X
X
...
X
Cotile obsoleta, Cab.
Hirundo rustica, Li'n
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
I
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Hirundo gutturalis, Scop....
Hirundo erythrogastra,
Bodd.
Hirundo tytleri, Jerd
X
Hirundo javanica, Sparrm..
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Hirundo smithi, Leach. ...
Hirundo nipalensis, Hodgs,
Hirundo japonica, Tein. ...
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
?
X
X
X
Hirundo erythropygia,
Sykes
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Petrochelidon fluvicola,
Bluth
Motacilla alba Linn.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Motacilla ocularis, Swinh...
X
Motacilla personata, Gould.
Motacilla leucopsis Gould. .
X
X
X
X
X
X
V
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Motacilla hodgsoni, Blyth..
C'i
Motacilla madraspatensis,
Gm
X
X
X
X
X
X*
X
X
X
X
X
5
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Motacilla melanope. Pall. ..
B. BhoOtan. * Malabar. f Andamans. J Sikkirn. Assam.
Khasia Hills.
BRITISH INDIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIE S.
^H ^
||
SPECIES.
1
1
1
1
Afghanistan.
1
X -\V. Provinces.
I
s
B
1
2
Central Prov.
1
M
1
an.
1
-
!i nnn:ili.'
?89
790
594
Motacilla citreola, Pall. ...
Motacilla citreoloides,
Hodgs
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
tx
< w
x
x
X
>
>
X
...
^,-
...
X
x
791
Motacilla beema, Sykes. ..
x
X
X
>
X
?92
^93
593
Motacilla borealis, Sundev..
Motacilla Feldeggi, Mich...
X
X
X
. . .
x
x
X
x
x
X
X
X
X;
X
X
x
X
X
''
;
X
X
X,
X
-
?94
595
Limonidromus indicus,
Gould
^95
r9f>
597
596
Anthus trivialis, Linn.......
Anthus maculatus, Hodgs..
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X.
x
s
X
x
X
.-
X
X
,-
,-
x
X
.
x
x
97
598
Anthus nilgheriensis,
Sh'irpe
1
>
'98
604
Anthus sordidus, Rupp. ...
x
'
( ,)9
003
Anthus Jerdoni, Finch. ...
X
X
X
X
x
x
X
X
x
300
599
Anthus Richard], Vieill. ..
X
>
x
x
S()l
601
Anthus striolatus, Blyth...
X
X
t
X
: X
>
X
$02
<03
602
6uO
Anthus campcstris, Linn ...
Anthus rufulus, Vieill. ...
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
x
y >'
X
x
x
X
-.
;
X
X
?04
Anthus cervinus, Pall.
X
X
X
X
X
>
305
605
Anthus rosaceus Ilodifs. ..
X
X
x
y
X
<
306
Anthus spipoletta, 1Ann. ...
X
X
X
X
X
X
4....
307
60G
Oreocorys sylvanus, Ho<l(is.
X
X
508
Coccothraustes humii,
Sharpe
X
X
509
727
Mycerobas melanoxanthus,
Ilodys
x
+
X
J10
725
Pycnoramphus icterioides,
Viyors
x
X
ill
726
Pycnoramphus affinis,
Blyth
X
x
x
1
X
512
728
Pycnoramphus carneipes,
Hod os
V
x
t
X
as
752
Fringilla montifringilla,
x
x
x
J14
746
Procarduelis nipalensis,
Eodys .
x
x
X
as
Procarduelis rubescens,
Blanf
t
X
31 fi
740
Carduelis canicGps Viaovs
x
X
x
517
750
Chrysomitris spinoides,
\
x
t
J18
Chrysomitris thibetana,
--
J19
748
Callacanthis Burtoni,
?
x
190
x
J21
Acanthis fringillirostris,
Bo.
X
X
B. Bhootan.
* Malabar
Amlnraans.
i Sikkiin.
Assam.
, Hills.
DISTRIBUTION TABLE OF THE BIRDS OF
No in
Avifauna.
Jerdon's
Nos.
SPECIES.
nd
m
g
| | 1 08 'c
liti^iil
<y d ^ceo
eqp^^pLH^iOCPWo
1 *
CS
> a
2 #
* * - - ce W .
f iJ*SS ; i'g'i
| 5 a 8- ,3 f i
S 3 . C <D
oMOopcoW^
322
323
324
325
828
B27
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
8.35
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
745
753
711
710
706
709
707
708
751
733
738
735
737
741
742
739
740
744
743
747
734
B.
Montifringilla Adamsi,
JfyloOFG . ... . ...
E
.XX
Montifringilla ruficollis,
Blanf
x t
Montifringilla blanfordi,
t
Montifringilla Bordida,Slo2.
Montifringilla nemoricola,
Hodgs,
... X X -X
x
Montifringilla Brandti, Up.
X 1
Rhodopechys sangainea,
Qould
v
X X
<%< ?
x
Erythrospiza githaginea,
X
X
X
X
X
X
x x x x x x ..
Petronia flavicollis, Frank I.
Passer montanus, Koch. ...
Passer domesticus, Linn. .
Passer pyrrhonotus, Blyth.
Passer hispaniolensis, Tern.
Passer cinnamomeus,
Gould
xxxxxx... x>
XXX ^
; X X X X X * x ... ;H
... X ... X X
xxxxxxxx>
(XXXXXX......
X X X X X X
X
. X X X X t su
X
X
Passer flaveolus, Blyth. ...
X
Serinus pectoralis, Murray.
\/
X X X X X
Pyrrhoplectus epauletta,
Hodys
Carpodacus ervthrinus,
Pall . *
x
xxxxxx
< . XX xt
Caroodacus sipahi, Hodgs.
Carpodacus rubicilla,
Gould
x
x
Carpodacus grandis, Blyth
Carpodacus rhodochrous.
X X
... .. t
x
X
Carpodacus rhodopeplus
....XX
Carpodacus Edwardsi, Verr
Carpodacus thura, Bp. {
Schleg
B
XJ
Carpodacus dubius, Pryr.*
Carpodacus ambiguus
X
x
Carpodacus pulcherrimus
X
Pyrrhospiza punicea
Loxia curvirostra, Lin.
Bhootan. E. Indus Valley.
J Sikkim. Assam. * Malabar.
BRITISH INDIA AND ITS DEPENDENCE;.
25
e g
""
o|
fc'P
<3
il
o
1-5
SPECIES.
"&
g
.
l^-loochistan.
.2
B
^
Afghanistan.
Punjab.
X.-W.Prov
jA
1
B
-Q
-
B
a
Q,
Central India. [
Central Proy. 1
^
Gazerat.
j
6
1
British Burmah.
I
854
855
856
857
858
859
800
801
862
863
864
805
806
807
808
809
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
ft 04
729
731
730
732
730
720
719
721
722
723
717
716
714
718
712
724
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
702
701
703
704
705
754
755
756
757
WQ
Pvrrlmla ervthrocephala,
Fif/ors
..
X
x:
x ;
Pyrrhula nipalensis, Hodys.
Pyrrliula erithacns, Blyth.
Pyrrhula aurantiaca, Gould.
Proj)yrrhula subhimulayen-
...
...
...
X
X
x:
Emberiza schceniclus, Lin ..
Emberiza pusilla, Pall.
\ ,
A
XiX
IIS
>
x
xj
X
Kmberiza fucata, P<iH
X
X
X
X
X
X
Emberiza melanocepha'.a,
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
>
X
x
X
X
:<
X
X
X
X
>
X
X
>
X
Emberiza luteola, Sparrtn. .
Emberiza aureola, Pall. ..
>
>
V,
>
x;
x;
X
B
Emberiza spodocephala,
Pall
^p
Emberiza buchanani, Blyth. X
Emberiza Stracheyi, Moore. X
Emberiza Stewarti, ldyth..\X
Emberiza leucocephala,
Gm
X
X
>-
>
>
X
X
X
>
>
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
...
X
...
y
X
X
X
X
X
X
Frhigillaria sfcriolata, Lie fit.
Melophus melaaictenis, Gm.
Ploceus phillipinus, Lin. ..
X
X
X
>
X
X
X
>
x
X
X
X
s -
X
X
':
X
>.
X
x
<
X
X
X
x
>
"'
x
<
>
X
X
<
X
X
Ploceus minyar, Horsf. ..
Ploceus bengalensis, Lin....
Ploceus iavanensis Less
X
X
..
...
..
:
f .
X
f
X
>fj
>
y
X
X
'
...
X
Amadiua malacca, Lin. ..
Amadina atricapill*, Fleill.
Amadina punctulata, Lin. .
\midina jjcctorali* 5 Jerd .
X
x
i<
;
-
..
...
X
X
X
X
X
f
X
X
X
...
.
X
...
>
X
X
x
X
...
Amadina leucogastra,
Ehifh
x
Amadina acuticauda,
I
\
X
X
t
>
V
*
x
Amadina malabarica, Linn.
Erythrura prasina, Sparrm.
;
>
-
...
<
X
X
X
x
X
v
X
X"
X
>
X
Estrilda amandava, Linn....
X
X
;
<
;-.
X
>
'
*
y
X
x.
<
>
-
Mirafra assamica, McChll.
...
-
...
>
-,
<
Mirafra erythroptera, Jerd.
X
X
...
<
<
<
X
X
X
X
<
x
X
I
*
X
<
<
K
X
:-N
X
X
4 rrmr\monPB 1 llttltn ni fl. CrVfL.
X
X
X
X
Malabar.
Sikkira.
Assam.
Khasia Hills.
B. Bhooian.
26
DISTRIBUTION TABLE OF THE BIRDS OF
No. in
Avifauna.
Jerdon's
Nos.
Sl'ECIES
13
l|
Beloochistan.
cd
I
P-t
Afghanistan.
Xs'
cc
'c 1
N.-W.Provinces.
_c
^
c
'o3
5
s
ffi
Rajputana.
Central India.
Central Prov.
r o
{3
M
Guzerat.
I
o
Deccan.
cc
'C
p
0!
British Burmah.
1
&
895
758
Ammomanes phcenicura,
Frankl
X
X
X
X
X
x
896
760
Pyrrhulauda grisea, Scop
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
V
x
X
X
897
Pyrrhulauda melanauclien,
Cab
X
X
X
X
X
898
761
Calandrella brachydactyla,
Leisl
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
899
Melauocorypha bimacu-
lata, M enetr
X
X
X
X
900
762
Alaudula raytal, Blyth ...
X
X
X
901
Alaudula Adamsi, Hume...
X
X
X
X
90?,
763
Otocorys penicillata,(70wZ/.
X
X
X
903
765
Spizalauda deva Sy/ces. ...
X
X
X
X
v
X
X
904
905
767
769
Alauda gulgula, Frankl...
Galerida cristala, Lin.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
906
770
Certhilauda desertorum,
Stanley
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
907
681
Sturnus vulgaris Lin
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
908
Sturnus minor, Hume.
X
909
682
Sturnus unicolor, Marmora.
X
X
X
X
X
910
Sturnopastor superciliaris.
Blyth
v
PI!
683
Sturnopastor contra, Lin.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
912
913
684
685
Acridutheres tristis, Lin
Acridotheres ginginianus,
Lath
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
...
914
915
686
Acridotheres fuscus, Tern,
Acridotheres siamensis,
Stvinh
X
X
X
...
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
916
687
Sturnia pagodarum, Ginel
V
X
X
X
f v
X
X
X
X
917
Sturnia sturnina, Pall. ,
x
918
Sturnia sinensis, Gmel.
x
919
Sturnia Burmannica, Jerd
X
920
Sturnia leucocephala, Gigl
x
9?1
688
Sturnia malabarica, Gmel
X
X
X
X
f
X
X
X
X
X
922
689
Sturnia Blythi, Jerd.
*
X
9?3
Sfcurnia nemoricola, Jerd.
X
924
Calornis chalybea, Horsf
X
X
925
690
Pastor roseus, Lin.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
^ V
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
926
693
Gracula intermedia,
A. Hay. ...., .
X
X
X
X
9?, 7
692
Gracula religiosa, Lin ...
*
x
928
691
Saraglossa spiloptera,
Vigors.
X
X
x
929
Ampeliceps coronatus,
Blyth. ..
X
930
Gracupica nigricollis, Paylc.
X
Malabar.
Assam.
BRITISH INDIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.
27
si
ll
01
SPECIES.
-r
Beloocbistan.
1
Afghan ist;in.
A
i
-
5
N.-W.Provinces.|
1
1
1
Rajputana.
'~2
C
Central Prov. |
Km
Guzerat.
Concan.
c
r.
British Barmab.|
1
931
9:V2
933
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
942
943
944
945
946
947
948
P49
950
951
952
953
954
955
956
957
958
95!)
960
961
962
344
345
346
138
139
93
99
100
101
102
96
95
* Ma
Anthoeincla Phayrii,
Blyth
"
Pitta uipaleusis, JI<i<lgs. ...
II
X
x
X
Pitta Oatesi, Ifur.ie
Pitta cserulea, Raffles. ...
X
Pitta cvanea, Blytk
n
x
Pitta cvanoptera, Tern. ...
X
Pitta megarhyncha, Schl.
Pitta brachyura, Lin
X
...
X
X
x
X
-,
X
X
...
X
X
X
x
X
>
J
Pitia cucuUatft, Hard. ...
|j
:>
X
t'x
Eucichla Gurneyi, Hume.
Calvptomena viridis,
Rfff/les ...
>
Psarisom us D a 1 b o u s i ee
Jameson
X
X
...
B
x
X
*J
Serilophus lunatus, Gould.
Serilophus rubropygius.
Sodf/s
-
Eutyleemus j a v a n i c u s,
Horsf
X
Eurvlaemus ochromelas,
X
Corydou sumatranus,
>
Cimborbynchus macior-
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
...
...
Cypselus apus, Lin
Cypselus affinis, Gray. ...
Cypselus a c u t i c a u d u s,
\
x
x
X
X
X
...
...
x
Cypselus pncificus, (Lath.)
( / v psel us subfurcatus,
x
!;
x
Cypselus leuconyx, Blyth.
Cypselus batassiensis,
*
1
X
X
x?
...
X
...
x
...
Cypselus i n f u m a t u s,
Hirundinapus gigantcus,
x
Hirundinapus i n d i c u s,
X
X
x
...
Hirundinapus leucopygi-
nirundinapus sylvatica,
Tick
labar. 1 fiikkim.
A
:mi
...
Kl
i H
in
...
B,
1',!
in.
X
...
...
DISTRIBUTION TABLE OF THE BIRDS OF
No. in
Avifauna.
M
11
*-3
SPECIES.
T3
c
OQ
Beloochistan.
a.
Afghanistan.
^
53
T
3
PH
N.-VV. Provinces
,
5
O
2
be
3
o
C3
d
a
a
I
W
Central India.
Central Prov.
'o
^5
W
Gaze rat.
Conoan.
Deccan
c3
1
KH :
m
Bvitish Burmah.
3
c3
a,
D
^
963
964
965
966
967
968
969
970
971
972
973
974
975
976
977
978
979
980
981
982
983
984
985
986
587
)88
)89
290
97
103
105
106
112
113
114
109
111
107
115
116
199
200
201
202
* Ma
Hirimdinapus caudacuta,
Lath
B
x
xj
Collocalia unicolor, Jerd
S
*
X
Collocalia innominata,
Hume
Collocalia spodiopygia,
Pea/e
x
Collocalia Linchi, Eorsf. fy
Moore
x
Dendrochelidon coronatns,
Tick
X
X
X
...
...
...
f
X
X
X
*
4-
Dendrochelidon longipennis,
Rafin
Dendrochelidon comatus,
Tern.
v
Batrachostomus moniliger,
Blylh.
V
*
x
Batrachostomus affinis,
Blyth
X
X
x
t
4-
Caprimulgus a s i a t i c u s,
Lath ,
X
?
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
...
Caprimulgus mahrattensis,
Si/kes.
X
X
X
x
...
v
X
X
X
X
X
X
Caprimulgus mouticolus,
Frankl
Caprimulgus albonotata,
Tick
V
X
X
t
Caprimulgus atripennis,
Jerd.
*
x
Caprimulgus U n w i n i,
Hume
X
X
X
X
X
Caprimulijus indicus, Lath.
Caprimulgus Kelaarti,
Blyth
V
x
V
Caprimulgus jotaka, Tern.
Lyncornis cerviniceps,
Gould
X
X
X
Harpactes fasciatus, Gmel.
Harpactes evythrocephalus,
Gould
X
*
R
X
X
x|
Harpactes oreskios, Tern.
Harpactes D u v a u c e 1 1 i,
Tenim
x
Cuculus canorus, Lin. ..
Cuculus striatus, Drap. ...
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
\*
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
XJ
X
Cuculus p ol i o c e p h a 1 u s,
Lath
X
*
X
x
Cuculus sonneratti, Lath.
labar. J Sikkim. ,
issara,
1| Khasia Hill. B. Bhootan.
BRITISH INDIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.
No- in
Avifauna.
$1
1-3
SPECIES.
-z
'n
i
22
Persia.
Afghanistan.
~.
~
a-
I
/
1
1
tiajputana.
Central India.
Oentral Prov.
I
2
~
~
Concan.
.11. 1
*
B
II
~
1
991
092
994
95'
906
997
908
999
1000
1001
1002
1003
1004
1005
1006
1007
1008
1009
1010
1011
1012
1013
1014
101E
101C
1017
101?
10 U
203
207
209
206
208
210
211
212
2113
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
Oucnlus micro pterus,
Gould
'
'
X
Ilicrococcyx sparverioides,
> .-
Iliorococcyx varius, Fahl.
Hieroroccyx nanus, Hume.
1 Jierococcyx n i s i c o 1 o r,
^
x
X
Cacomantis threnodes,
Cab. et Hein
-
Cacomantis nigra, Jerd. ...
Surniculus lugubris, Horsf.
Chrysococcyx maculatus
-
<
X
1
t
Chrysococcyx xanthorhyn-
Chrysococc) 7 x Limborgi,
Coccvstes Jacobin us. Bodd.
Coccystes coromandus,
X
...
>:
'
\
X
X
X
X
x
X
x
<
X
*
X
x
*
X
.
X
Eudynamys honorata, Linn.
Eudynamys malayana, Cab.
...
...
...
...
...
...
Rhinortha chlorophsea,
Until**
Rhopodytes tristis, Less..
lihopodytes diardi Less
...
...
-
-
x;
<
...
...
.
>
>
1
lihopodytes sumatranus
Rhopodytes viridirostris
Jprd "
X
X
...
Rhamphococcyx erythrog-
Zanclostomus Javanicus,
Centrococcyx maximus
X
x
X
X
Centrococcyx rufipennis,
X
X
...
Centrococcyx intermedius ,
>
Centrococcyx bengalensis,
N
-
i
xt
Taccocua Leschenanlti,
x
<
1 <
X
-
<
...
\
Taccocua iuiuscata, Blyth
* .Malabar. J
Sikkim.
AMMk
30
DISTRIBUTION TABLE OF THE BIRDS OF
No. in
Avifauna.
"
173 O
I*
SPECIES.
Siud.
Beloochistan.
.s
'S
S
p-l
Afghanistan.
^
OS
'ET
a
OH
s
o
1
42
nr;
P
i
II
Raj pu tana.
Central India.
>
p
a
C
z
-3
I Kntch.
Guzernt.
Concan.
Deccan.
.5
^5
HH
r/3
J
C3
s
1
43
c5
X
I
&
1020
1021
1022
1023
1024
1025
1026
1027
1028
1029
1030
1031
1032
1033
1034
1035
1036
1037
1038
1039
1040
1041
1042
1043
1044
1045
1046
1047
1048
1049
1050
1051
1052
192
193
194
19J
197
198
188
190
186
187
177
184
180
182
181
178
179
176
* Mai
Mega'senna marshallorum,
X
Meffalsema virens, Bodd ...
X
X
...
Megalsema inystncophanus,
Tern.
Megalsema Hodgson i,
1'onap
X
S
X
Jx
Megaisema c a n i c e p s,
brankl
X
X
X
X
X
V
Megalsema inornata, Wali.
Megalsema viridis, Gmel...
X
*r
*
X
X
X
v
"i
Cyanops asiatica, Lath. ...
Cyanops Davisoni, Hume...
X
X
Cvanops incognita, Hume.
Cyanops Itamsayi, Wald...
v
v
Xanthnlsema hsernacephala,
P L S Mull
V
?
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
M-
X
X
X
X
Xantholpema malabarica,
Blyth
Xantholeema c y a n o t i s,
Blyth
X
X
CaloramphusHavi, Gray...
X
Yunx torquilla, Linn
Indicator xanthonotus,
Blvlh.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
tx
tx
X
Vivia innominata, Burton.
Sasia ochracea, Hodys,
II
II x
X
X
X
X
G;mropicoides KafHesi,
Gecinnlus Grantia, McClefl
Gecinulus viridis, Blyth,...
X
X
Tiga Javanensis, Ljungh.
1 Brachypternus aurantias,
X
*
X
*
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
tfrachpvternuschrysonotus,
Micropternus phseoceps,
Blyth. ...
X
X
X
X
tx
Micropternus brachyuniSj
Vieil ."
Micropternus gularis, Jerd.
Veuilia pyrrhotis, Hodgs
Venilia porphyromelas,
X
*
...
X
X
tx
Callolophus mentalis, Tern.
Callolophus malaccensis,
Lath
X
X
Callolophus puniceus, Hortf.
ubav. J Sikkiui.
X
Assam.
|| Khasia Hills,
BRITISH INDIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.
81
No. in
Avifauna.
oo
|l
SPECIKS.
tr
d
d
-
H
IE
:=
'I
Afghanist.'iii.
A
'=""
N.-W.Prov
z.
1
B*jpa<
-
'
1
p
-_
Q
-~
l
Kutrh.
-2
6
-
1
c
~
1053
105-1
1055
1056
3057
1058
1059
1060
1061
1062
1063
1064
1065
1066
1(67
1068
1069
107<
1071
1072
1073
1074
1075
1076
1077
1078
1079
1080
1081
1082
1083
1084
1085
173
174
175
170
171
172
169
168
166
167
165
154
155
156
158
15?
159
160
161
162
163
164
i
Chrysophlegma flavinucha,
Gould
x
X
Chrysophlegma chlorolo-
plius, Vieill
Chrysophlegma chlorigas-
ter, Jerd
x
Gecinus squamatus, Viyors
Gecinus strinlatus, Blyth.
Gecinus occipitalis, Viyors.
Gccinus viridanus, Blyth..
...
...
...
X
x
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
x
X
X
x
li
x
X
...
>
x
Gecinus erythro|<ygius,
Elliot
.
Thriponax hodgsoni, Jerd.
Thriponax Javensis, HorsJ.
Thriponax Feddeni, Blanf.
I
X
!
Mulleripicus pulverulent us,
Tern
X
x
X
X
X
ii
X
x
x
X
xt
Chrvsocolaptes strictus,
Horsf.
X
X
x
X
X
x
...
..
x
>
\
Chrysocolaptes festivus,
Bodd
Ilemicercns cordatus, Jerd.
Hemicercus s o r d i d u s,
X
*
x
X
x
>
...
Picus himalayanus, Jard.
x
X
:;
Picus majoroides, Ilodgs.
Picus cathpharius, Hodys..
1^
Picus scindiauus, Gould....
Picus niacii, Vidll
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
x
X
X
X
x
X
X
Pirns hrunneifrons Vigors.
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
Picus mahrattensis, Lath.
Picus canicapillns, Blyth.
Picus purnilus Haryitt
X
X
...
X
X
s
x
...
X
X
X
X
...
X
x
X
Ilypopicus hyperythrus,
X
x
lyngipicus rubricatus,
Blyth
X
lyngipicus p y g m ee u s
Vioors
X
X
X
X
lyngipicus Hardwickii,
Jfrd
x
,
X
Meiglyptes grammithorax,
Mesh
,
Meiglyptes j n g u 1 a r i s,
Blyth ... .
X
> Malabar. % Sikkim. Assam.
U Khasia Hills. B. Bhuotan.
32
DISTRIBUTION TABLE OF THE BIRDS OF
C3
C a
.rt rj
0^
{25 '>
<5
Sl'ECIES.
-d
c
-5
13
m
1
Afghanistan.
Gtj
PH
N.-VV. Provinces
I
1?
5
cq
Eajpntana.
Central India.
1
a
8
""o
Guzerat.
Concau.
1 Deccan.
a
vi
British Burmah.
1
lORfi
Meiglyptes tukki, Less. ...
X
1087
Psittinus incertus, Shaw
X
1088
1089
153
152
Loriculas verualis, Sparrm
Palseornis fasciatus, P.L.S.
Mull
...
...
...
...
X
x
X
x
X
X
X
V
fi
B
...
...
X
...
*x
X
X
X
K*
1090
151
Palaeornis columboides,
Floors...,
*
x
1091
147
Palaeornis indoburmannicus
x
x
X
X
x
*
X
X
x
t
1092
150
Palseornis schisticeps,
Hod os ...
V
v
V
X
s
v
1093
1094
148
Palseornis torquatus, Bodd.
Palaeoniis cyanocephalus,
X
...
...
X
x
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
1095
149
x
X
X
y
x
Sy
X
X
X
X
X
X
v
X
254
Upupa epops Linn.
x
v
x
X
x
x
x
v
V
X
X
x
X
X
* V
X
X
1097
Upupa longirostriSj Jerd.
x
x
1098
255
Upupa ceylonensis, Reich.
x
x
v
1099
117
Merops viridis, Linn
V
V
x
X
x
X
X
x
v
X
X
X
X
x
x
X
X
X
1100
1101
118
119
Merops phillipinus, Linn....
Merops Leschenaulti, Vieill.
X
X
X
X
x
X
x
X
x
X
X
X
x
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
1102
120
Merops persicus, Pall . ..
x
x
x
X
x
7
1103
1104
121
122
Merops apiaster, Linn.
Nyctiornis Athertoni, Jard
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
...
X
...
...
X
...
X
...
X
X
...
1105
Nyctiornis amicta Tent.
X
1106
125
Coracias ^arrula, Linn.
x
X
x
X
x
X
1107
1108
123
Coracias indica, Linn
Coracias affinis McClell .
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
1109
126
Eurystomus o r i e n t a 1 i s,
Linn . .
X
X
X
x
1110
134
Alcedo bengalensis, Gin ...
x
x
X
v
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
nn
Alcedo grandis, Blyth......
t
Alcedo ispida, Linn
X
x
X
X
1113
x
1114
Alcedo euryzona, Tom
X
1115
137
X
X
X
X
yS
X
1116
136
X
X
x
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
x
X
1117
13 i
Halcyon coromanda, Lath
X
X
X
v|
1118
111)
129
130
Halcyon smyrnensis, Linn,
Halcyon pileata Bodd.
X
...
...
...
x
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
*
X
X
X
xt
n?,o
132
Halcyon chloris, Bodd. ...
x
x
1 1 ?,i
Halcyon concreta. Tern. .
X
1322
Carcineutes pulchellus,
Horsf.
X
1123
133
Ceyx tridactyla Pall.
X
X
X
X
* Malabar.
J Sdkki
Assam.
B. Bhootan.
BRITISH INDIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.
83
No. in
Avifauna.
Jerdon'a
Nos.
SPECIES.
s
Beloochistan.
'I
&
Afghanistan.
N. W. Provinces.
a
C
1
1
c
1
f
r
Guzerat. J
j
|
1
DB
British Bnnnah.
i
1124
1125
1126
1127
1128
1129
1130
1131
1132
1133
113-1
1135
1136
1137
1138
1139
1140
1141
1142
1143
1144
1145
1140
1147
1148
1149
1150
1151
1152
127
128
140
141
142
143
145
144
7/1
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
E
Pelargopsis g u r i a 1,
X
x
X
*
*
Pelargopsis amauroptera,
X
X
Pelargopsia burmanica,
x
Dichoceros bicornis Linn.
X
x
X
c
X
t
Anthracoceros coronatus,
Bodd
x
Anthracoceros albirostris,
x
x
x
x
Anthracoceros a ffi n i s,
Hutton
X
Rhinoplax vigil,
J R. For st.
X
Rhinoplax g r i s e u s,
*
x
x
Rhvtidoceros subruficollis,
ninth
X
Rhytidoeeroa undulatus,
X
Aceros nipalensis, Hodys.
Anorrhinus c o m a t u s,
...
...
...
X
X
?
X
X
X
tx
Anorrhinus galeritus, Tern.
Anorrhinus Tickelli, Blyth.
x
...
...
X
X
X
Crocopus phoenicopterus,
x
X
X
X
*
x
X
X
X
X
Crocopus chlorigaster,
Myth. .. .
x
.
X
...
x
x
...
...
Crocopus viridifrons,
Osmotreron bicincta, Jerd.
Osmotreron vernans, Linn.
Osmotreron malabarica,
Jerd
X
X
C
X
x
X
.
...
...
..
X
"
...
...
X
X
X
...
Osmotreron Phayrii, Blyth
Osmotreron fulvicollis
ll'ftnl
s -'
W agl
Osmotreron pompadoura
/j /
x
Sphenocercus sphenurus
X
X
3
-
X
X
Sphenocercus apicaudus
Hodys
..
..
..
X
C.
Ce 3
lot
u
tx
x
X
X
* Malabar. t Bikkim A B D
34
DISTRIBUTION TABLE Of THE BIRDS
No. in |
Avifauna.
JH
'Ssl
o>
1-9
SPECIES.
i
Beloochistan.
Persia.
Afghanistan.
Puniab.
N.W. Provinces.
1
[c
1
p
'I
i
II
11
i P
03 1 Q
,O.iO
Kutch.
Cuzerat.
Concan.
Deccan.
.2
c
CO
British Burmah
1
0)
1153
1154
1155
1156
1157
1158
1159
1160
1161
1162
1163
1104
1165
1166
1167
1168
1169
1170
1171
1172
1173
1174
1175
1176
1177
1178
1179
1180
1181
1182
1183
1184
1185
1186
1187
1188
781
785
784
786
787
788
789
790
'782
783
791
792
793
794
795
796
7976/5.
798
SOlfcr.
8016z$.
799
802
801
8006**.
800
803
* Ma
Carpophaga insignis,
II
Y
Carpophaga griseicapilla,
Wold
Y
Carpophaga bicolor, Scop..
Palumbus pulchricollis,
Hodys
A
X
Palumbus casiotis, Bonap.
Palumbus Elphinstonei,
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Y
X
...
Palumbsena Eversmanni,
Bp
Y
Y
Columba intermedia,
Strickl
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
cx
X
Y
x'i
Columba livia, Bonap. ...
Columba rupestris, Pall.
X
X
X
X
X
Columba leuconota, Vigors.
Alsocomus puniceus,
Tickell
...
...
X
X
X
c
Y
Alsocomus Hodgson i,
Y
X
x*
X*
X
Macropygia leptogram-
mica, Tetnm.
XB
II
X
X
Macropygia a s s i m i I i s,
Hume
Turtur pulchratus, Hodgs.
Turtur meena. Sykes. .
...
X
X
X
x
x|
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X*
X
X
X
X
X
X
*x
X
X
X
CX
X
x
X
Turtur senegalensis, Linn..
Turtur suratensis, Gmel....
X
X
x
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
...
Turtur risorius, Linn
Turtur humilis, Tern
Chalcophaps indica, Linn..
X
X
X
x
...
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
A
X
X
N
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
x
X
cx
c.
cx
X
x
X
Y
...
Geopelia striata, Linn.
Galcenas nicobarica, Linn..
M.
N.
Pterocles coronatus, Licht.
Pterocles senegallus, Linn.
Pterocles arenarius, Pall..
Pterocles exustus, Tern. ...
Pterocles alchata, Linn. ...
Pterocles Lichtenstenii,
Tern
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Y
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
Y
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
...
X
X'..-
X
...
Pterocles fasciatus, Scop....
Syrrhaptes thibetanus,
Gould
...
...
X
X
X
X
X
X
...
...
X
...
X
...
X
Pavo cristatus, Linn
x
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
cx
X
Arffusianus STATUS I inn
Y
labar. J Sikkim. Assam. || Khasia Hills. C. Ceylon.
M. Mergui Archipel. A. Andauiaus. N. Nicobars.
BRITISH INDIA AND ITS DEPENDING! E.
No. in
Avifanna.
Jcrdon's
Xos.
SPECIEB.
*Q
r.
'r.
a
3
'"i.
'A
*-z
cc
~
1
S
(L
Afghanistan.
x>
.-
1
N. W. Provinces!
A
-r
r
1
r
:.
-,
Knjpurrma.
_
~
a
i
|
i
1
I
M
j
'J
.in.
d
d
^
=
/
hBurmahi
!
^
1189
Polyplectron thibetanum,
R
''
x
1190
Megapodius nicobariensis,
Myth
N"
1191
Crossoptilon thibetanum,
Hodys
x
1192
804
Lophophorus Impeyanus,
Lath
X
\\
1193
Lophophorus Sclateri, Jerd.
S
^i
H<)4
805
Ceriornis satyra, Linn. ...
X
X
1?
1195
806
Ceriornis melanocephalus,
Gray. ,
X
X
* t
1196
807
Ithaginis crtientus, Hardw
A
1197
808
Pucrasia macrolopha,
x
H
* t
x
1198
809
Phasianus W a 1 1 i c h i,
Hardw
X
X
X
1199
810
Euplocamus albocristatus,
x
X
X
1200
Euplocamus leucomelanus,
Lath
X
1201
811
Euplocamus melaiionotus,
Elyth
g
t
1202
Euplocamus horsfieldi,
G. R. Gray
I
S
s
1203
Euplocamus 1 i n e a t u s,
Elliot
X
1204
Eaplocamus Cuvieri,7V2w.
]]
1205
Euplocamus A n d e r s o n i,
Elliot
1206
Euplocamus, Vieilloti,
G. R. Gray
\/
1207
812
Gallus ferru^iiifus Gin
i
x
<X
il X
>
V
\
i
1208
813
Gallus sonnernti Tew
v
X
1209
814
Galloperdix spadiceus,
Gmel. .
X
X
>
X
X
1210
815
Galloperdix 1 u n u 1 a t u s,
X
X
1211
816
Tetraogallus Himalayensis,
G R Gray
X
1212
Tetrao thibetanus Gould.
\
1?13
817
Lerwa nivicola Ilodos*
>
xT
1214
818
Francolinus T u 1 g a r i s,
Rffnh
x
X
x
x
X
v -
X
X
>
X
X
X
X
1215
819
Francolinus pictus, Jard.
and Sclbij
X
x
>
X
x
1216
x
1217
820
Carnahis rViiikor. Grau. .
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
Sikkim.
Assam. II Khasia Hills. \\. Hhootan.
S. Sadya. II. Arracan Hills.
N. Nicobars.
36
DISTRIBUTION TABLE OP THE BIRDS OF
No. in
Avifauna.
.
o
S
SPECIES.
CO
Beloochistao.
A
1
d
1
a
%
,0
"a'
3
C-
N .W. Provinces.
d
be
1
\
tl
rt o
i
Pu
1
a
o
o
Uuzerat.
1
1
Deccan.
.2
s
CQ
British Hurmah.
t
1218
1219
1220
1221
1222
1223
1224
1225
1226
1227
1228
1229
1230
1231
1232
1233
1234
1235
1835
1237
1238
1239
1240
1241
1242
1243
1244
1-245
1247
1248
1249
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
(832]
1833J
834
835
836
837
1 838
839
$ Bikki
Ammoperdix bonhami,
Gray
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Ortygornis ponticeriana,
Gmel
X
X
X
B
X
X
X X
X
X
CX
...
..
Ortygornis gularis, Tern....
Arboricola torqueola,
Valenc
X
xj
Arboricola atrogularis,
Blyth
g
Ch T.
Arboricola brunneipectus,
Tick
V
Arboricola cbloropus, Tick.
Arboricola intermedia,
Blyth
v
V
\
N
Arboricola rufogularis,
Blyth
v
Arboricola mandelli, Hume.
Bambusicola F y t c h i,
II
"3
N
X
v
..
Caloperdix oculea, Tern. ...
Rollulus roulroul, Scop. ..
X
...
Perdicula asiatica, Lath ...
x
X
X
x
x
X
x
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
CX
Perdicula argoondah,
Opbrysiasuperciliosa, J. E.
Gray
Microperdix erythrorbyn-
cha, Sykes
X
X
X
...
Microperdix Blewitti,
Hume
x
Coturnix com munis, Linn.
Coturnix corornandelica,
Gmel
X
X
X
x
X
X
x
x
X
X
X
X
X
Sy
X
*
X
X
X
X
II
X
X
A
A.
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
Sy
x
X
X
X
X
x
x
x
c.
X
X
X
x
X
X
xt
Excalfactoria chinensis
Linn
Turnix plumbipes, Hodys.
Turnix joudera, Hodgs. ...
Turnix Dussumieri, Tern...
Turnix maculosa, Tern. ..
X
x
...
...
...
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
x
X
X
X
cX
X
v
...
...
T
Turnix albiventris, Hume..
Nicol
3ars a
nd Andamans.
Otis tarda, Linn
H
X
X
X
X
X
krr
pp(
ast
X
X
X
X
x
aca
jrai
lagur
Otis tetrax, Linn
X
Eupodotis Edwardsi, Gray
Houbara Macqueenii, Gray
Sypbeotides bengalensis,
Gmel
X
x
x
X
X
X
X
n.
i.
x
X
X
X
I
X
B.
CJ
X
Sy
X
Bh(
a. (
X
X
X
)0t
3hi
X
X
X
X
X
Sypbeotides auritus, Lath
tn Assam. || Khasia I
Sy. Sylhet. G. Garo Hills
X
nil
3.
1
T.
L .
Ti
X
JL
tta f
X
JOB
X
C.
e-
X
Ge
x
plon.
BRITISH INDIA ANT) ITS DEPENDENCIES.
37
No. in
Avifauna.
.Terdon's
Nos.
SPECIES.
Brad.
Beloochistan.
1
I
C * b.'
1 _JSI
.-' = "T ~ = -~ c =
^ -~ / - ' x ^ *
= = '- S *C
u: -j
1250
1251
1252
1253
1254
1255
1256
1257
1258
1259
1260
1261
1262
1263
1264
1265
1266
1267
1268
1269
1270
1271
1272
1273
1274
1275
1276
1277
127S
128C
1281
1-282
128?
128^
128^
1286
1285
840
340W*.
841
842
842 bis.
843
844
845
84G
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
857
855
855fos.
856
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
5 872
7 873
* 886
Bho(
Cursorius coromandelicus,
Gmel
X X
X X
X
.. X X X X X ?
X X X X ... X ..I .'.
X X X X X
.XX
Cursorius gallicus, Gmel...
Rh inoptila bitorquata,
Jerd
x
Glareola orientalis, Leach.
Glareola pratincola, Linn.
Glareola lactea, Tern
y
x ..
x c, x
x ..
x
. x
X
... x
. x x
x x
Squatarola helvetica, Linn.
x x
x
X
X . . .XX
.XX..?
. X XXX ...
Charadrius pluvialis, Linn.
^Egialitis Geoffroyi Wagl.
JSgialitis mongolica, Pall.
^Egialitis cantiana, Lath...
jEgialitis dubia, Scop
x x
x x
x >
x >
X >
: x
: x
: x
: x
vx
XX..
X X ...
X ... X ... X X ...
'. x ... x ... x x ...
' X X X X cx X ...
C X X X ...cx X X
. X X C. X ...
. ... X X
X X X X X X
X X X X X X X >
. . x
^E^ialitis Jerdoni, Legge...
Vanellus cristatus, Meyer
Chettusia gregaria, Pall....
Chettusia leucura, Licht ...
Chettusia cinerea, KJyth....
Hoplopterus ventralis,Z/tVw.
Lobivanellus indicus, Bod.
Lobivanellus, atronuchalis,
X >
X >
X >
x
x
X )
c x
C X
< X
< X
XXX...
X X X X ... X X .
X X X X X X X >
.XX..
.X... X
< X X X ?x
X X X X X
X X X X X X X >
X X
< X X X ... X X X
x
Sarciophorus b i 1 o b u s,
Gmel
x
X X X X X X )
KXXXXcxXX
< X X X Xcx X ...
X X X X X X X ...
X cx
^Esacus recurvirostris, Cuv
(Edicnemus crepitans, Tern
Strepsilas interpres
Linn-
x ;
x :
x ;
x
x
< X
< X
< X
X X
x x x x x x :
.'..xx xxx x:
x
Dromasardeola, Paykull..
Hsematopus, ostralegus
. X X X ...C
x x
X X ... cx . ...
X X X X X X
X X X X X X X ...
X X X *X X
X X X X X X
x ... x ... x
Gius leucogeranus, Pall..
Grus cinerea, Bechst
Anthropoides virgo, Linn
Scolopax rusticola, Linn..
Gallinago nemoricola
Hodys
X
X
x
X
X ?
X X
x x x x
.. X X X X X X
X X X X XX
X X X X X
x
Gallinago solitaria, Ilodys
Gallinago stenura, Kuhl..
Gallinago scolopacina
X
X
X
X
X
c.
x ..
X X
X X
X X
x
1 X......B
. X X X ... XAXKX
X X X X X X X
X X X X X X X
... X X X ... X X
.. x .,
... X X X Xc. X ...
> X X X Xcx X ...
>' XXX X XX ...
XXX cx X ...
... X X X... X X...
Gallinago gallinula, Linn
Rhynchosa capensis, Linn
Limicola platyrhyncha
TVtu
)tan.
Ceylon.
Assam.
Note. Marks in the columns Beloochistan and
countries.
Persia refer chie3y to tho coast and gulf of those
33
DISTRIBUTION TABLE OP THE BIRDS OP
<a
5
eg
*4
fi
SPECIES.
"3
C
''A
Beloochistan.
oj
'
o>
cu
i
5
3?
<!
i
1
N.-W. Provinces
f.
p3
&
bi
c
fS
d
I
pj
p.
'&
35
.5?
^5
1
"c
0)
c
Central Prov.
^3
M
Guzerat.
Concan.
Deccan.
45
'S
p
1 1
03
British Burmah.
1
o
fc
1289
887
Eurynorhynchus pygmeeus
Linn
i
X
r
V
1290
884
Tringa minuta, Leisl
Y
Y
X
X
X
Y
Y
X
X
x
Y
Y
X
V
Y
ex
V
1291
Tringa subminuta, Midd..
Y
x
r v
X
m?
885
Tringa temmincki, Leisl. .
X
X
r v
X
1293
Tringa crassirostris, Tern
X
Y
X
1294
1295
882
883
Tringa subarquata, Gould
Tringa cinclus, Linn
X
X
X
X
X
X
Y
X
Y
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Y
X
X
X
X
cx
X
X
1296
1297
1298
880
888
890
Machetes pugnax, Linn..
Calidris arenaria, Linn..
Phalaropus hyperboreus,
X
X
X
X
X
Y
X
X
Y
X
X
Y
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
cX
CX
r
X
X
X
X
1299
889
Phalaropus fulicarius,
Y
r
1300
1301
1302
1303
1304
1305
1306
893
892
891
894
895
897
896
Actitis hypoleucos, Linn..
Actitis ochropus, Linn. ..
Totanus glareola, Gmel ...
Totanus canescens, Gmel..
Totanus stagnatilis, Bechst.
Totanus calidris, Linn. ...
Totanus fuscus, Linn, ...
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
x
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
cx
cx
cX
CX
cx
cX
cX
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
1307
Totanus Haughtoni, Hume.
x
X
1308
Totanus dubius Murray...
X
no9
876
Terekia cinerea Gould.
X
Y
Y
Y
Y
x
V
C X
X
1310
874
Pseudoscolopax semipal-
matus, Jerd
v
1311
875
Lirnosa seo'ocephala, Linn.
X
Y
X
X
X
Y
-Y
X
c x
X
1312
Limosa lapponica, Linn. ..
X
Y
X
Y
Y
x
X
r v
X
1313
8/8
Numenius phseopus, Linn.
X
Y
X
Y
X
V
X
r Y
X
1314
877
Numenius arquatus, Linn.
X
X
X
X
V
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
CX
X
1315
S79
Ibidorhynchus Struthersii,
Vw
X
1316
899
Recurvirostra avocetta,
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
1317
898
Himantopus candidus,
X
X
X
X
Y
Y
X
Y
X
Y
Y
X
X
X
X
r v
Y
1318
900
Metopodius indicus, Xiath.
Y
Y
Y
Y
X
X
X
V
Y
1319
901
Hydrophasiauus chirurgus,
X
Y
Y
X
Y
X
Y
Y
Y
B
1320
902
Porphyrio poliocephalus,
Lath
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
Y
Y
X
X
X
r v
Y
13^1
903
X
Y
X
X
X
X
X
Y
X
Y
Y
X
Y
X
X
X
Y
X
1322
Podica personata, G.R Gray
Y
13?3
913
Hypotsenidia striata Linn.
s
Y
RTl
II
X
*
r V
1324
914
s
\s
syl
Y
r v
Y
Y
1325
912
Rallina euryzonoides,
Lafresn.
X
X
t
X
B
CX
X
X
C. Cashmere.
Note. Marks in the columns Beloochistau and Persia refer chiefly to the coast and gulf of those
BRITISH INDIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.
39
PS
"" 3
d2
fc-
gg
|l
i-a
SPECIES.
c/5
Beloochibtan.
z
'
Afghanistan.
4
r.
1
N.-W. Provinces!
_
t>
~
I
~
Rajputana. J
1
c
1
J
1
Kntch.
Guzernt.
Con can. |
i
-si
1
1
1326
1327
1328
1329
1330
1331
1332
1333
1334
1335
1336
1337
1338
1339
1340
1341
1342
1343
1344
1345
1346
1347
1348
1349
135u
J351
1352
1353
1354
1355
1356
1357
1358
135'J
136U
1361
1362
1363
1364
Ittrtfi
910
906
911
908
905
9U7
904
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
Q'4Q
Rallina fasciata, Raffl. ...
x
Rallina Cnnningi, Ti/fler...
\
7
Porzana Bailloni, Vieili. ...
Porzana maruetta, Linn....
Porzana fusca, Linn
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X X
X X
...'X
f
>
:
?
x
>
c
X
X
>
X
X
Xr
X
X
>
f"
Porzana minuta, Pall. ...
X
Porzana akool, Sykes
X
X
x -;
>
X
>
X
/\
X
X
X
>
N -
x
x
f
>
x
Gallinula cliloropus, Linn.
Gallinula phcenicura, Penn.
Gallicrex cinereus, Gm. ...
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
<
>
X
x
x
X
>
X
>
Xr
X(
;
1
X,
X(
>
>
>
X
>
X
A
* .
* *
Leptoptilos argala, Lath .
Leptoptilos javanicus,
Horsf.
X
...
...
...
X
v -:
>,
X
>
X
-
?
X
>
X
X
X
?
X
X
X
X
X
x -
X
X
x
>
>
>
x
>
x
7
X
<
>
<
\
<
>
x
X
>
X
<
i
X
.'
X
X
x
x
N -
:
>
x
x
; -
>
-
'
Xenorhynchus asiaticus,//a<
Oiconia nigra, Linn. .
X
X
X
X
.
X
Ciconifl leucocephala, Gm
X
...
-
...
x<
>
...
Ardea sumatrana, Rnf
J
Ardea insignia, Hody$on. t .
Ardea cinerea, Linn
A rdea purptirea, Linn . .
X
X
X
X
X
X
v,
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
x <
X
X
X
X
>
X
X
X
>
X
X
X
>
X
X
X
x -
X
X
x
X
X
N v
X
>
. v
^
v -
X
X
X X
XX
XX
XX
x
<
X
X
>
>
>
x
X
<
x
>
>^
X
X
KO
X.
x<
xc
xc-
X
X
>
>
>
Herodias alba, Linn
Herodias intermedia, Von
Ilasselt
Herodias garzetta, Linn. ...
Herodias eulophotes,
Demi-egretta gularis, Hose.
Demi-egretta sacra, Gmcl
Bubulcus cor om and us,
JhM
X
X
...
...
...
X
N
X
"
A
X
X
...
...
X
...
xc
x
...
X
X
X
X
X
X
''
^
x -
X
X
X
>
X
X
x
x
X
x
>
"
X
X
X
>
x<
Xi
>
>
-
...
Ardeola grayi, Sykes
Ardeola prasinoceles,
Butorides javanica, Jlorsf.
Ardetta flavicollis, Lath. ..
Ardetta cinnamomea, Gmel.
X
X
X
v
X
X
X
s ^
>
s -.
X
X
X
X
>
X
>
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
\
<
X
<
X
>
v
X
v v
X
V
X
>
x<
X(
X(
X.
<
x
I
Ardetta minuta, Linn
Botaurus stellaris, Linn...
Nycticorax griseus, Linn.
Gorsachius melanoloplius,
Rdf
X
v
X
X
X
X
X
>
;
X
x
...
">
x
X
]
<
<
x
X(
xi-
X
...
TJU) talus leucocephalus,
X
X
X
X
X
>
X
<
<
<
<
<
X
<
x
X
<
'
-,
<
X(
X.
x
x
! ' 1 ! i M h .-i li >ii/*nrrkflin 7, inn.
N<,te.~ Marks iu the columns Beloociiistan and Persia refer chiefly to the coast aud gulf of those
countries.
40
DISTRIBUTION TABLE OF THE BIRDS Of
No. in
Avifauna.
Jerdon'a
Nos.
SPECIES.
73
C
00
I
X.
1
Persia.
Afghanistan.
,fl
1
p-
N.-W. Province*
^3
I
1
<a
cq
i
.1
OS"
--,
Central India.
Central Prov.
,a
o
"3
^
Guzerat.
Concan. j
Deccan.
_rt
'S
C
C/2
British Murmahj
I
0>
z;
1366
1367
940
938
Anastomous oscita.us,Bodd.
Threskiornis melanocepha-
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
V
X
X
X
V
X
V
X
X
x
V
X
Y
x
X
X
Y
X
X
Y
1368
942
Geronticus papillosus,
Temm
X
X
X
X
V
V
V
V
V
V
Y
X
Y
Y
1369
Graptocephalus Davisoni,
Hume
X
1370
1371
943
944
Falcinellus igneus, Linn. ...
Phoenicopterus antiquorum,
Tern
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
V
X
Y
X
V
X
V
X
V
X
V
x
Y
X
x
Y
Xc
x
Y
...
1372
Phoenicopterus minor,
Ge'tf. St. Hit
X
X
X
X
V
Y
Y
1373
Cvgnus olor, Gm
X
X
X
V
1374
1375
945
940
Anser cinereus, Meyer. ..
Anser brachyrrhynchus,
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
...
x
X
...
...
...
...
1376
947
Anser albifrons, Gm. ......
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
1377
948
Anser erythropus, Linn*...
X
X
1378
949
An^er indicus, Lath
X
X
X
V
V
V
1379
950
Sarkidiornis melanonotus,
Pen.
X
X
X
V
x
X
V
V
Y
Y
1380
951
Nettapus coromandelianus,
Gmel
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
V
V
X
Y
Y
Y
Y
1381
952
Dendrocygna j a v a n i c a,
Horsf.
X
X
X
V
V
V
x
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
138?
953
Dendrocygna fulva, Gintl.
X
X
X
V
V
V
x
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
1383
1884
9.^4
955
Casarca rutila, Pall
Casarca scutulata Mull. ...
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
V
X
s
X
X
X
X
X
X
xc
X
Y
X
1385
1386
1387
1388
956
957
958
959
Tadorna cornuta, Gm
Spatula clypeatR, Linn. ...
Anasboscas, Linn
Anas poecilorhvncha, Forst
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
x
X
X
Xc
Vc
X
X
1389
960
Anas caryophyllacea, Lath.
s
Y
1390
1391
961
Chaulelasmus streperusLm.
Chaulelasmus rufiventris,
Sp Nov
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
...
X
X
X
X
X
X
...
X
X
1392
Chaulelasmus angustiros-
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
1393
962
Dafila acuta Lin".
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Y
x
X
X
Y
Y
Y
X
1394
1395
1396
1397
963
964
965
966
Mareca penelope, Linn. ..
Querquedula crecca, Linn
Querquedula circia, Linn..
Querquedula f o r m o s a
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
x
X
x
X
X
X
X
XC
xc
X
X
X
...
1398
Querquedula f a 1 c a t a,
X
X
X
1392
967
Fulieula rufina. Pall .
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Note. Marks in the columns Beloochistan and Persia refer chiefly to the coast and gulf of those
countries.
BHITISH INDIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.
No. in
Avifauna.
o oa
SPECIES.
p
t
t
_
/
IE
J
1
.j
A t'lrlianLtan.
4
-
~
A
N.-W.ProvincesJ
~
a
B
pq
1
H.
i al India.
Central Prov.
a
M
c
1 '"
~
-
od
Burmah.l
1
1400
1401
971
970
Fuligula cristata, Linn. ..
Fuligula marila, Linn......
X
X
x
X
!
.-
/
,
:-
-
X.
v
1402
968
Fuligula ferina, Linn
X
>
>
>
>
>
>
.
> -
.
,
v.
1403
1404
069
Fuligula nyroca, Gould. ..
Clangula glaucion, Linn..
<
-.
x
'
X
;"
X
X
-
X
: "
.
. .
1405
Erismatura leucocephala,
Scop
s -
1406
Mergus serrator, Linn
X
1407
972
Mergus merganser, Linn...
X
>
X
.
>
x
>
1408
973
Merj-ellus albellus, Linn...
X
X
\
X
X
\
-
1409
974
Podiceps cristatus Linn...
X
.-
X
. . .
X
X
x
>
. .
."
:
1410
Podiceps nigricollis, Sund
X
x
1411
975
Podiceps minor, Linn... .
x
y
>
v
v
V
\
>
-
\
\
X-
1412
976
Oceanites oceanica, Kuhl .
X
X
X
>
1413
Daption capensis, Linn. ..
(
1414
Purh'nus persicus, Hume ..
X
X
1415
Puffinus chlororhynchus,
Lesson
N -
--
1416
Stercorarius asiaticus,
Hume
X
1417
Larus cacchinans, Pall...
x
X
X
X
x
X
1418
Larus affinis, Reinh
X
x
x
x
v
V
1419
Larus gelastes, Licht
X
X
X
* *
1420
1421
980
Larus hemprichi, Bp
Larus brunneicephalus
Jerdon
X
X
X
x
X
x
...
...
...
..
\
...
x
>
X
y
X
X
f '
...
1422
1423
1424
979
981
984
Larus ichthyaetus, Pull. ...
Larus ridibundus, Linn. ...
Hydrochelidon hybrida,
Pall
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
x
x
X
X
x
x
x
x
X
X
x
v -
\
x -
x
>
v -
\
>
y
'
1425
Hydrochelidon leucoptera,
AJfisn and Schinz
X
v
x
\
x
x
x
x
x
\
N --
x
.
v .
xr
y
1426
Hydiochelidon nigra, Lin..
X
X
Xl
"
1427
1428
983
982
Gelochelidon anglica, Mont.
X
x
X
x
X
x
...
X
X
X
X
X
-
...
X
>
(
X
1429
1430
989
Sterna Bergii, Licht
Sterna cantiaca, Gm. .
x
x
x
X
x
...
X
-
*
X
x
X
1431
990
Sterna media, Horsf. ...
X
\
v ^
v -
1432
991
Sterna melanauchen Tetntn.
1433
985
Sterna seena, tykes
x
x
.X
X
x
X
v ;
\
x
\
X
x
x '
X
>
x
1434
1435
987
Sterna melanogastra, Temm.
Sterna Dousalli Mont ..
x
X
X
x
X
x
X
X
>
x
x
>
X
:
X
X
Xt
(
X
x
1436
986
N -
X
1437
Sterni albi^ena Liclit
v
x
1438
Steina Saundersn Huwe
V
988
v -
(
v
1440
992
Sterna antesthetus, Scov...
X
X
X
x
c
X
Note Marks in the columns Beloochistan and Persia refer chiefly to the coast and gulf of those
countries.
42
DISTRIBUTION TABLE OF THE BIRDS OF BRITISH INDIA, &C.
No. in
Avifauna.
Jerdon's
Nos.
Sl'ECIES.
'-d
a
H
C
Beloochistan.
<~
'%
CD
AH
Afghanistan.
,CJ
dt
'P
o
PH
N.W. Provinces.
_a
''C
3
C
R
Ct
C
cc-
TJnjpntana.
CC
C
1 1
1
a,-
Central Prov.
pd
_CJ
&
eS
N
6
Con can. |
Deccau |
"5
i
02
British Burmah. |
i
CD
fc
1441
1442
144
1444
1445
1446
1447
1448
1449
1450
1451
1452
1453
1454
1455
1456
1457
1458
1459
993
994
995
996
997
1000
998
999
1004
1001 \
1003 /
1005
1006
1007
1008
Sterna fuliginosa, Gm
Anous stolida, Linn..
X
X
X
X
X
*
r
V
Anous tenuirostris, Tern....
X
Anous leucocapillus, Gould.
Rhynchops albicollis.
Swains.
X
X
X
X
X
X
V
X
X
...
Phaeton rubricauda, Jtodd.
X
Phaeton flavirostris, Brand,
Phaeton indicus, Hume. ...
Fre^ata aquila, Linn....*....
X
X
X
X
v
X
*
r
Sula cyanops, Sundev
Sula australis, Steph....
X
X
X
v
r
X
V
Sula piscator, Linn
X
Pelicanus crispus, Bruch.
Pelicanus manillensis, Gm.
Pelicanus roseus, Gm
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
V
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
xc
Xc
Xc
C
C
C
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Phalacrocorax carbo, Linn-
Phalacrocorax fuscicollis
Steph.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Phalacrocorax pygmaeus
Pall
V
X
Plotus melanogaster, Penn.
X
X
X
...
Note. Marks in the columns Beloochistan and Persia refer chiefly to the coast and gulf of those
countries.
THE
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA
AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.
A SYSTEMATIC ACCOUNT,
WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF ALL THE KNOWN-
SPECIES OF BIRDS INHABITING BRITISH INDIA,
OBSERVATIONS ON THEIR HABITS, NIDIFICATION, &c.,
TABLES OF THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL
DISTRIBUTION IN PERSIA, BELOOCHISTAN.
AFGHANISTAN, SIND, PUNJAB, N. W. PROVINCES,
AND THE PENINSULA OF INDIA GENERALLY,
WITH
WOODCUTS, LITHOGRAPHS, AND COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS,
BY
JAMES A. MURRAY, !
MEM. NAT. HIST. SOC. AND OF THE ANTHROP. SOC., BOMBAY
MANAGER, VICT. NAT. HIST. INSTITUTE ; LATE CURATOR KURRACHEE MUNICIPAL
LIBRARY AND MUSEUM; AUTHOR OF " A HAND-BOOK TO THE GEOLOGY,
BOTANY, AND ZOOLOGY OF SIND ;" " THE PLANTS AND DRUGS OF SIND ;"
"KURRACHEE TO KANDAHAR;'' "THE VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY OF SIN
" THE REPTILES OF SIND," &C.
VOLUME II. PART I.
LOXDOX : TRUBNER & Co., LUDGATE H;
BOMBAY : EDUCATION SOCIETY'S F
1888.
BOMBAY :
PRINTED AT THE EDUCATION SOCIETY'S PRESS, BYCULLA,
Opinions on the "Avifauna of British India.' 1
The Times of India of March 18 says :
Since Jerclon wrote his work on *' The Birds of India," no nat'
ambition to give to the world, in a concise form, a work 01
based on a more natural arrangement, and including all tl.
occur in India during the past quarter of a century. Hume, with
Mid '' Stray Feathers/' at one time intended, it is believi < , h a
work, but, having liberally given his collection to the National M
no longer possible. * * * The author deserves all th
hie from scientists, and it behoves the Government, too, to help . -king
which must have cost the author immense labour, besides a large expend
he least, there is no work on Indian ornithology which can be compared with the
work now before the public. Mr. Murray has laid all ornithologists und-
him. To any one taking up the study of ornithology the work is to be recomrm .
and it is to be hoped that it will receive from Indian ornithologists the su
emphatically deserves.
The Bombay Gazette also says ;
The first instalment of Mr. Murray's new work, which was long a desideratum.
ji.'st been published. The late Dr. Jerdon wrote his work on the <; Birds of Ind ,.
1862. Since then the journals of scientific societies, both in India and in Englanc'..
" Stray Feathers" too, have brought to light numerous new and interesting forms from
almost untrodden lands in India and Burma, which were unknown to Jerdon and to
science, and till now no one but Mr. Murray would undertake the arduo
consulting the multitude of scattered papers for the additions which were
time to time, of blending all previously published materials into one harmonious whole,
and thus rendering greater facilities to the future student of the oniis of British India.
* * * * * As a standard work, with a revised classification, arranged accord-
ing to the most modern, natural and generally accepted system, there is not another
work on Indian Ornithology which could be so well recommended as deserving of public
support. Students, faunistic workers, and all ornithologists, Indian and Conti:.
should supply themselves with a copy of it, for it cannot fail to be of the g:
vice to them. It has also to be borne in mind, as the author says, that the number
of coloured and other illustrations will depend very materially on the amount of support
which may be given to the work.
Professor WURTZ, of Florence, says :
" k is something Ornithologists in this part were long looking for. It will be i:
able to our working Ornithologists."
Dr. A. C. L. G. GUNTHER, of the British Museum, in cpist. says :
" A book of this scope and plan will be a great boon to Indian Orn'thole.
PART III.
IT is little short of nine months since the first part of this most useful manual of Indian
ornithology made its appearance. Part III., completing the 1st volume
issued, and it is to be noted that, while the work continues to maintain uniformity
of the arrangement of the matter it contains, the plates are as excellent
previously issued parts and the wood-cuts representing the generic i
numerous. This part is without doubt an index of the author's i
learning, and reflects the highest credit on Mr. Murray, wh-
through the 1st volume of the arduous task he has undertaken. V
will probably be the most laborious and comprehensive work on Indian Ornithc
has yet been produced. As a work of reference it will be simply invaluable.
India, $lst Dec. 1887.
The third part of this work one of the most important and valuable <
the scientific survey and record of that vast multitude of win;.,
demand our attention, and in which many take m<
just been issued, and completes the first volume. To how many m.
is to be extended it is not known, but all interested in the Ornith-
and especially the student will find it a magazin<
by the beautiful coloured illustrations ex.
numerous woodcuts which enrich tlv
be an addition to our standard works in Natural
Its character, scope, and purpose mark it as one whi,
large or small, Indian or Continental. -don
his achievements thus far. Bombay Gazette. 4 -*8.
PRICE, Part III., Rs. 8 ; Vol. I., complete, Rs. .
May be obtained at THE EDUCATION SOCIETY'S PRESS,
BOMBAY.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
Rs. A.
HANDBOOK TO THE GEOLOGY, BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY
OF SIND 8 o
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The Subscription for th: ' Avifauna of British India' complete after
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Being anxious to make the work replete with information,
in regard to the habits, nidification, &c., of every species, the
author would be extremely obliged if Ornithologists and
Oologists would send him such notes as would be of material
service.
THE
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA
AND ITS DEPENDENCIES-
A SYSTEMATIC ACCOUNT,
WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF ALL THE KNOWN
SPECIES OF BIRDS INHABITING BRITISH INDIA,
OBSERVATIONS ON THEIR HABITS, NIDIFICATION, &c.,
TABLES OF THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL
DISTRIBUTION IN PERSIA, BELOOCHISTAN,
AFGHANISTAN, SIND, PUNJAB, N. W. PROVINCES,
AND THE PENINSULA OF INDIA GENERALLY,
WITH
WOODCUTS, LITHOGRAPHS, AND COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS.
BY
JAMES A. MURRAY, F.S.A.L.
MEM. NAT. HIST. SOC, AND OF THE ANTHROP. SOC., BOMBAY ;
MANAGER, VICT. NAT. HIST. INSTITUTE ; LATE CURATOR KURRACHEE MUNICIPAL
LIBRARY AND MUSEUM ; AUTHOR OF " A HAND-BOOK TO THE GEOLOGY,
BOTANY, AND ZOOLOGY OF SIND ;" " THE PLANTS AND DRUGS OF SIND ;"
" KURRACHEE TO KANDAHAR;" "THE VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY OF SIND;"
" THE REPTILES OF SIND," &C.
VOLUME II. PART II.
LONDON : TRUBNER & Co., LUDGATE HILL.
BOMBAY : EDUCATION SOCIETY'S PRESS, BYCULLA,
1888.
V\
BOMBAY
PRINTED AT THE EDUCATION SOCIETY'S PRESS, BYCULLA
Opinions on the "Avifauna of British Inc.
c/ India of March i
Since Jerdon wrote hi
ambition to give to the world, in
based on a more natural arra?
: in India during the
.\ Feathers," at o:
work, but, having liberally given his collection to t
no longer possible. Murray, an author of some reptr
is the only known naturalist who has ventured to publish work
and botany, also with such success that a copy of 1
had. The first part of his great work has just been .] the patient labour
devoted to the work is apparent on < ,,f the hundred pnp
In order to popularize ornithology, woodcuts are given ot >ecies typi<
the genus, and also of species not well known. The lithographs ^ r 'g'v g rjf
Mintern Brothers deserve credit for their work. The book is certainly a n
bhould be, well written, admirably arranged, free from un: repetition
quotations. It contains ample descriptions of plumage, habits, distribution and nidifu
The arrangement of the text is also good. The article on each species is c>
six parts - I. Synonomy, 2. Description. 3. Habitat and Distribution. 4. Oi
5. Habits ; and lastly, Modification, as far as the materials within his reach would
him. The author deserves all the encouragement possible from scientists, and it
behoves the Government, too, to help an undertaking which must have cost the author
immense labour, besides a large expenditure. To say the least, there is no work on
Indian ornithology which can be compared with the work now before the public.
Mr. Murray has laid all ornithologists under obligations to him. To any one taking up
the study of ornithology the work is to be recommended, and it is to be hoped that it
will receive from Indian ornithologists the support it so emphatically deserves.
The third part of this work one of the most important and valuable contributor
the scientific survey and record of that vast multitude of winged creatures which
demand our attention, and in which many take more than an intelligent interest has
just been issued and completes the first volume. To how many more volumes the work
is to be extended it is not known, but all interested in the Ornithology of the Indian Empire
and especially the student will find it a magazine of knowledge immensely simplified
by the beautiful coloured illustrations executed by Mintern Brothers of Loml<
numerous woodcuts which enrich the pages. The work, when completed, will decidedly
be an addition to our standard works in Natural History, and cannot -ily valued.
Its character, scope, and purpose mark it as one which should be in every public liorary,
large or small, Indian or Continental. Mr. Murray is certainly to be congratulated on
chievements thus for. Bombay Gazette, qth Jan. fSS
PRICK. Part III., Rs. 8; Vol. I., completa, Rs. 20; covers for Vol. L, R
INDIAX BIRDS; OR THE AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA AND '
BY JAMES A MURRAY, VOL. II., PART I.
As promised, the author of this most important work to ornithologists!
his number the Preface and Introduction to Vol. I- The nunv
is now 596, and at the rate the Education Society's i urning out th<
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number there are seven full-page plates, three of which are coloured lithographs and the
remainder uncoloured, one of which latter illustrates the introduction. Too much cannot
.id of the introduction, except that Mr. Murray has in a most happy manner
condensed the whole of the subject-matter in twenty. four closely printed pages, wh
the same time nothing is omitted which, an ornithologist would wish to learn. Shortly,
it contains an account of the external and internal anatomy of bird ("the
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of motion ; also of the habits of birds and their migration. A good account is also
given of the writers on Indian Ornithology since the year 1832. The late Dr. Jerdon, Allan
Hume, Blanford, Theobald, Ball, Brooks, Sinclair, the Collector of Colaba, and Davi
of Khandeish, are all mentioned, but himself Mr. Murray hasv tly left out.
ind" and I -ontnbutions to scientific period
'bough in the references they naturally fii
further promise in his introduction that
Ornithology of India will r thatfuf;
irch far and wide, and consult large libraries of bo-
idy recorded, but in 'using this work will find it an un;
them in adding to the pr< r.ulation of facts much which
Ion and unknow
; lie continuation
will serve as a very r.
now the pi
May be obtained at THE EDUCATION SOCIETY'S PRESS,
BOMBAY.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
*
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ZOOLOGY OF BELOOCHISTAN AND SOUTH AFGHANISTAN, i 8
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The Suo^&iption for the 'Avifauna of British India' complete after
this issue wiii be (Rs. 35) and is payable m advance to the SUPERINTEND
Education Society's Press.
Being anxious to make the work replete with information,
in regard to the habits, nidification, &c., of every species, the
author would be extremely obliged if Ornithologists and
Oologists would send him such notes as would be of material
service.
THE
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH
AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.
A SYSTEMATIC ACC
:H DESCRIPTIONS OF ALL THE KNG
S OF BIRDS INHABIT
noxs c:
S OF THEIR GEOGRAPHIC
:A, BELOOCH
"HOGRAPHS, AND COLOURED IL
BY
JAMES A. MURRAY, F.S.A.L.
GEOLOGY.
.TE ZOOLOGY OF :>
VOLUME : :. PART in.
LL.
nf^~
^ ^^^
BOMBAY :
PRINTED AT THE EDUCATION SOCIETY'S PRESS, BYCULLA,
Opinions on ike "Avifauna of British /
Jon wrot' \ on "The Birds of
the world, in a conci^
tatural arr;
illy given his collection to ;
naturalist who ; ,lish work
and bo1 50 with such success that a copy of hi
part of his great \vork has just been i bour
k is apparent on of the In:
popularize ornithology, woodcuts art- given "f tin-
,:iesnot well known. The lithograph
credit for their work. The book is
! written, admirably !, free from u;
.tions. It contains ample descriptions <, habits, distri!
nt of the text is also good. The article on each sj
I. Synonomy. 2. Description. 3. Habitat and Distribution. 4. (Jl
5- H i lastly, Nidification, as far as the materials within his reach would
him. The author deserves all the encouragement possible fro
behoves the Government, too, to help an undertaking which must have ithor
immense labour, besides a large expenditure. To say the least, there is no work on
Indian ornithology which can be compared with the work now before the p
laid all ornithologists under obligations to him. To any on--
the study of ornithology the work is to be recommended, and it is to be ho-
ceive from Indian ornithologists the support it so emphatically desi :
third part of this work one of the most important and valuable contribution
ientific survey and record of that vast multitude of winged create:
;id our attention, and in which many take more than an intelligent in
~.>ued and completes the first volume. To how many moi
woodcuts which enrich tl Dieted, wifl dec
be an addition to our standard works in Natural History, and cannot be t<> alued.
Its character, scope, and purpose mark it as one which should be in every public 1
or small, Indian or Continental. Mr. inly to be c
, ements thus far. Bow&a:
PRICE. Part III., R.s. 8; Vol. I., complete, Rs. 20; c
\\ BIRDS; OR THE Av. BKITIM ITS DEIM
BY \ , VOL. II., PAR i I.
promised, the author of this most important work to orn;-
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is now 596, and ai the rate the Education Soci- -timing t>
:.ologists may expect to have the i aths. In the p
number there are seven full-pa :.d the
.inder uncoloured, one of which latter illu-- ntroduction. Too much <
- :id of the introduction, except that Mr. M i.
'. the whole of the subject-matter in t\ r closely pi
the s
it ct account of th<
rgans and
!>its of birds and their migration. A
Allan
Hume, Blanford, Theobal.:
of Khandeish, are al' % ly left out.
ology of Sind" and numerous contnbuti-
.entioned, though in :n the book. Mr.
i further ]. iis introdi;.
Ornithology of India
rch far and wi-'.
been already recorded, but in using this work will find it an un:
them in adding to the pr '-h which
nt hidden and unknou
In his Pr-
our Indian
India." It will
and t'ii f the rest:'
of Indian birds, now t
Address at the Asiatic Soci -?al.
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THE
AVIFAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA
AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.
A SYSTEMATIC ACCOUNT,
WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF ALL THE KNOWN
SPECIES OF BIRDS INHABITING BRITISH INDIA,
OBSERVATIONS ON THEIR HABITS, NIDIFICATION/&C.,
TABLES OF THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL
DISTRIBUTION IN PERSIA, BELOOCHISTAN,
AFGHANISTAN, SIND, PUNJAB, N. W. PROVINCES,
AND THE PENINSULA OF INDIA GENERALLY,
WITH
WOODCUTS, LITHOGRAPHS, AND COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS,
BY
JAMES A. MURRAY, F.S.A.L.
MEM. NAT. HIST. SOC. AND OF THE ANTHROP. SOC., BOMBAY'
MANAGER, VICT. NAT. HIST. INSTITUTE; LATE CURATOR KURRACHEE MUNICIPAL
LIBRARY AND MUSEUM ; AUTHOR OF " A HAND-BOOK TO THE GEOLOGY
BOTANY, AND ZOOLOGY OF SIND '" " THE PLANTS AND DRUGS OF SIND *"
" KURRACHEE TO KANDAHAR ;" " THE VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY OF SIND j"
" THE REPTILES OF SIND ;" " THE EDIBLE AND GAME BIRDS OF
BRITISH INDIA, WITH ITS DEPENDENCIES AND CEYLON," &C.
*2- y
VOLUME II. PART IV.
LONDON : TRUBNER & Co., LUDGATE HILL.
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56 J.
MILVUS GOVINDA, Sykes.
The Large Pariah Kite.
Loc.
THE MANAGER, VICTORIA NATURAL HISTORY INSTITUTE,
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Receives Skins of all large Game ; also of Birds, to be cured Flat, or Mounted,
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,, mounted 1-0-0
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Cured Flat skins supple and glove-soft, per foot of length, Ks. 0-12-0.
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