Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/117

Rh 651. Calliope pectoralis. The Himalynn Rudy-throat.

Calliope pectoralis, Gould, Icon. Av. pt. i, pi. iv (1837) ; Blyth, Cat. p. 100 ; Horsf. # M. Cat. i, p. 313 ; Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 150 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. ii, p. 45 ; Blanf. J. A. S. B. xli, pt, ii p. 52 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 325 j id. Cat. no. 513 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 304 ;

Biddulpk, Ibis, 1881, p. 64 ; Gates in Hume's N. # E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 67.

Erithacus pectoralis (Gould), Seebokm, Cat. B. M. v, p. 301.

The White-tailed Ruby-throat, Jerd.

Coloration. Male. After the autumn moult the whole upper plumage, wing-coverts, and sides of the neck are dark slaty, blacker on the crown ; forehead and a short supercilium white ; middle of chin and of throat bright crimson ; lores, sides of head, sides of chin and of throat, and the whole breast deep black, every feather fringed with ashy ; abdomen, vent, and under tail-coverts white ; wings brown, edged with olivaceous ; middle tail-feathers black, (he others with the basal half white and the terminal half black tipped with white. In summer the ashy fringes are cast and the upper plumage is tinged with olivaceous.

Female. Olive-brown, the outer webs of the quills suffused with fulvous ; lores, edge of forehead, and a short superciliura dingy white ; chin and middle of throat white, contrasting with the ashy-brown of the sides of the throat and the breast ; abdomen pale fulvous ; middle tail-feathers olive-brown, the others blackish brown tipped with white.

The nestling has the upper plumage fulvous-brown, much darker on the crown, all the feathers with fulvous streaks ; lower plumage fulvous, all the feathers margined with dark brown; the tail-feathers at first tipped with fulvous instead of white, and the male from the earliest age has the base of the tail white. At the first autumn moult the young male assumes the dark upper plumage of the adult male, but retains the lower plumage of the adult female; traces of the black breast are assumed during the first summer, but the breast does not become fully plumaged till the moult of the second autumn. The female becomes adult at the first autumn moult.

Bill black, brownish at tip and base of lower mandible ; iris brown ; feet brown ; the tarsi rather livid ; claws dusky (Scully).

Length about 6 ; tail 2*4 ; wing 3 ; tarsus 1'2 ; bill from gape *75.

Distribution. A constant resident on, or a summer visitor to, the higher portions of the Himalayas from (Hlgif to Sikhim and Bhutan. A winter visitor to the intermediate and lower ranges of the same mountains, being occasionally found in the plains at the foot as in the Bhutan doars and at Sultanpur in Oudh, In summer this species is also found in Turkestan.

Habits, iv. Breeds in Kashmir and Sikhim at 10,000 feet and upwards. A nest, said to belong to this species and found in Sikhira, is described as being a saucer- shaped pad of fine mo-- and roots placed in a deep crevice of a rock. The eggs are described as being pale salmon-bull' and as measuring about '9 by "06.