Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/124

110 is found from 10,000 feet upwards in summer, but at much lower levels in winter. In summer it extends into Turkestan.

Habits, fyc. Breeds in Gilgit and Afghanistan in May and June, and generally throughout the higher parts of the Himalayas. According to Wardlaw Ramsay the nest is composed of small twigs and grass, lined with hair, and is placed in a crevice or hole in the face of a cliff. The eggs, five in number, are of a dull cream-colour, with a darker zone of the same round the thicker end, and measure about -84 by "62. According to Hume this species lays a blue unspotted egg, but it appears from his account that in the single instance in which he found the nest he did not secure the bird, and consequently there may have been some mistake about it. I am also disposed to believe that "Wardlaw Ramsay's identification of the eggs is correct, as the bird is not a Redstart according to my views.

Genus GRANDALA, Hodgs., 1843.

The genus Grandala contains one bird of remarkable structure, the position of which it is somewhat difficult to determine. It is placed by Seebohm among the Thrushes, and by Jerdon among the Saxicolince, and I place it here in an intermediate position, considering it more allied to the Robins than to the Thrushes or Chats. The proper position of this species may probably be among the Brachypteryyinw.

The plumage of the nestling of this species is streaked, and so far it resembles that of the adult female ; but the streaks are more numerous and less distinctly defined, giving it a decided, though not typical, Thrush-like appearance.

Fig. 33. Head of G. cxlicolor.

In Grandala the bill is about half the length of the head and slender; the nasal membrane is clothed with plumelets to its middle portion, and the rictal bristles are rather long ; the wing is excessively long, the first primary very minute, and the second reaching to the tip of the wing ; the tail is rather longer than half the wing and square ; the tarsus is slender and smooth and fairly long. The sexes are coloured differently, and the plumage is soft and copious.

Only one species of this genus is known. Seebobm unites it with Sialia, a genus of American birds, with which, however, it has, in my opinion, no affinities.