Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/151

Rh 683. Geocichla wardi. The Pied Ground-Thrush.

Turdus wardii, JenL J. A. S. B. xi, p. 882 (1842) ; id. III. Ind. Om. pi. viii ; Lc(/qe, Birds Ceyl. p. 453.

Merula wardiV (Jerd.}, Blyth, Cat. p. 163 ; Horsf. $ M. Cat, i, p. 402.

Turdulus wardii (Je.rd. Jerd. B. I. i, p. 520 ; Hume, Cat. no. 357 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 172.

Cichloselys wardii (Jerd.}, Hume, N. fy E. p. 231. Oreocincla pectoralis, Legge, S. F. iv, p. 244. Geocichla wardi (Jerd.}, Seebohm, Cat. B. M. v, p. 178 ; Gates in Hume's N. 8f E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 97.

Ward's Pied Blackbird, Jerd.

Coloration. Male. The whole head, neck, breast, upper plumage, wings, and tail black ; the lesser and median wing-coverts very broadly tipped with white ; the greater wing-coverts and quills tipped with white, except the earlier primaries, which, with the primary-coverts, are partially margined with white ; the rump and upper tail-coverts with crescentic white tips; tail with a considerable amount of white, increasing in extent from the middle feathers to the outer ; a w r hite supercilitnn to the nape ; abdomen, vent, and under tail-coverts white ; sides of the body and the axillaries white, each feather with a subterminal black bar ; under wing-coverts black tipped white.

Female. Upper plumage and wings olive-brown, all the wing- coverts and tertiaries with buff tips, the outer webs of the quills suffused with russet, the longer feathers of the rump and upper tail-coverts tipped with dull white ; tail olive-brown, the portion next the shafts darker, the four outer pairs of feathers tipped white ; a broad buff supercilium to the nape ; sides of the head and of the throat mixed buff and black ; chin nearly plain white ; middle of throat and the upper breast pale huffish white, each feather margined with dark brown ; lower breast, upper abdomen, and sides of the body barred with olivaceous and suffused wit h ochraceous ; middle of abdomen, vent, and under tail-coverts white.

Iris brown; bill ochre-yellow, the tip of upper mandible black ; legs and feet fleshy ochre (Hume).

Length about 8'5 ; tail 3'3 ; wing 4-5 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from gape 1'15.

Distribution. Summers in the Himalayas from the Sutlej valley to Sikhim and the Bhutan Doars up to 6000 or 7000 feet ; vint crs in Southern India and Ceylon. The chief winter-quarters of this species appear to be the Nilgiris and other hill-ranges down to Cape Comorin and Ceylon. It must necessarily occur over a great part of India when migrating, but it has seldom been observed at that period. Major Lloyd records it from the Konkan, and Jerdon from Nellore in the Carnatic.

Habits, Sfc. Brooks remarks that this species has a strange song of two notes and quite unmusical. It breeds in the Himalayas from May to July, constructing a nest of moss and fibres, with or