Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/116

102 650. Calliope camtschatkensis. The Common Ruby-throat.

Motacilla calliope, Pall. Reise Russ. Reichs, iii, p. 697 (1776). Turdus camtschatkensis, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 817 (1788). Calliope camtschatkensis (Gmel}, Blyth, Cat. p. 169; Horsf. $ M. Cat. i, p. 3] 3 ; Jerd. B. /. ii, p. 150 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi, p. 337 ; Anders. Yunnan Eiped., Aves, p. 615 ; Hume, Cat. no. 512 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 209 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 199. Calliope yeatmani, Tristram, Ibis, 1870, p. 444. Erithacus calliope (Pall.), Seebohm, Cat. B. M. v, p. 305 ; Gates, B. B. i, p. 14. Gunpiffora, Beng. ; Ganyula, Nep.

Fig. 29. Head of C. camtschatkensis.

Coloration. Male. The whole upper plumage olive-brown, the head darker, and all the feathers indistinctly edged paler ; a line from the forehead over the eye white ; lores and under the eye black; a broad moustachial streak white; throat and fore neck scarlet, each feather margined at the tip with white, and the whole patch bordered by black ; upper breast brownish grey, paling and becoming buffy grey on the lower breast and sides of the body ; abdomen and under tail-coverts white ; tail brown, edged on the outer webs with olive-brown ; wing-coverts and quills brown, edged w ith bright olive-brown ; axillaries buff.

Female. Superciliary streak buffy white ; lores and in front of the eye dusky brown; the bright scarlet of the throat and the surrounding black line absent, and replaced by dull white ; moustachial streak olive-brown ; other parts as in the male.

The young are mottled, and moult into the plumage of the adult female at the first autumn, and the crimson throat- patch is assumed in the first winter without a moult.

Bill light brown, white at the gape ; mouth flesh-colour ; iris brown ; legs pale plumbeous ; claws horn-colour. Length 6 ; tail 2-4; wing 2*9: tarsus 1-15; bill from gape -8.

Distribution. A winter visitor to Nepal and Sikhirn, extending through the plains of the Eastern portion of India proper as far south as the latitude of Eaipur in the Central Provinces. This species is common in Bengal, Bhutan, and Assam, and extends down to Arrakau, Pegu, Karennee, and the northern portion of Tenasserim. As an accidental visitor this bird may be expected to occur in almost every part of India, and Jerdon records an instance of its being found near Bombay.

In winter the Common Ruby-throat extends its migration as far as the Philippines, * and in summer it is found throughout Northern Asia up to the Arctic Circle.