Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/138

124 Distribution. I have examined specimens of this Blackbird from Kashmir, Kandahar, Bala Murghab, Tashkent!, and Yarkand. It: meets M. vulgarism Persia, and both species occur in that country.

Habits, fyc. According to Scully, this bird is said not to be uncommon during the winter near Kashgarh and Yarkand. It seemed to keep principally among Elezgnus trees and thorn-bushes in the vicinity of unfrozen bits of water. It migrated northwards in spring. St. John states that it is common about Kandahar.

667. Merula simillima. The Nilgiri Blackbird.

Turd us simillimus, Jerd. Madr. Journ. L. 8. x, p. 253 (1839). Merula simillima (Jerd.), Blyth, Cat. p. 162 ; Horsf. # M. Cat. i, p. 401 ; Jerd. B. 1. i, p. 524 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 232 ; Fairbank, S. F. v, p. 403 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. M. v, p. 2ol ; Hume, Cat. no. 360 ; Gates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 88.

Coloration. Male. Forehead, crown, and nape black ; the whole upper plumage and the outer webs of the feathers of the wings and tail dark ashy brown ; the whole lower plumage, axillaries, and under wing-coverts dark brown, the feathers indistinctly edged paler.

Female. The whole upper plumage, including the forehead, crown, and nape, dark ashy brown ; the whole lower plumage, including the axillaries and under wing-coverts, brownish grey, some of the feathers of the abdomen with whitish shafts ; chin and throat streaked with dark brown.

Iris brown ; bill reddish orange ; orbital skin and eyelids yellow; legs orange-yellow (Wardlaiv Ramsay}. Length about 10-5 ; tail 4-2 ; wing 5 to 5-2 ; tarsus 1-25 ; bill from gape 1*2.

Distribution. A resident on the higher portions of the Nilgiri hills, the Brahmagiris in Coorg, and the Palni hills.

Habits, fyc. Frequents dense woods, occasionally entering gardens. Breeds from March to May, constructing a massive cup-shaped nest of ferns, grass, moss, and roots, more or less plastered together with mud, in a branch of a tree up to 20 feet from the ground. The eggs, usually four or five in number, are greenish marked with brownish red, and measure about 1/17 by -86.

668. Merula kinnisi. The Ceylon Blackbird.

Merula kinnisii, Kelaart, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xx, p. 177 (1851) ; id. Ibis, 1867, p. 304; Hume, Cat. no. 360 his ; Seebohm, Cat. B. M. v, p. 252 ; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 90.

Turd us kinnisi (Blyth), Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 449.

Coloration. Male. Upper plumage black, each feather with a bluish-grey margin at all seasons apparently ; quills and wing- coverts black, with similar margins ; tail black, the feathers with narrow and less distinct bluish-grey margins ; lower plumage slaty brown, each feather with a pale margin.