Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/152

138 without mud, in the branch of a tree, and lays four eggs, which are described as being pale green marked with purple and brownish red, and measuring about 1 by -72.
 * GEOCICHLA AVENSIS.

Turdus avensis, Gray, Griffith's ed. Cuvier, vi, p. 530, pi. (1829). Geocichla avensis (Gray), Hume, 8. F. viii, p. 39 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. M. v, p. 167. Coloration. Forehead, crown, nape, and hind neck bright chestnut ; upper plumage, wings, and tail dark slaty brown, the lesser and median wing-coverts almost entirely white, and the greater coverts tipped with white ; lores, cheeks, and a portion of the ear-coverts white ; remainder of the head, throat, and upper breast black ; lower breast, abdomen, and sides of the body white spotted with black ; middle of abdomen, vent, and under tail-coverts white ; axillaries white tipped black ; under wing-coverts black tipped white. Wing 4'2 ; tail 2'5. It is not known how the sexes differ. The above description probably applies to the male only. The only record of the occurrence of this species within Indian limits is the statement of Gray that the plate of G. avensis in his work was taken by Mr. Crawfurd from a specimen procured at Ava. Until this habitat is con- firmed, I think it preferable merely to notice this species and thus draw atten- tion to it. This species has never been observed in Burma again since Crawfurd's time. I have little doubt that G. avensis is the same bird as G. interpres, Kuhl. The two species are said to differ only in one slight respect. G. avensis has the greater wing-coverts plain, and G. interpres has them tipped with white ; but as all we know of the former bird is derived from Gray's figure, too ^much reliance must not be placed on this character. Hume received a specimen of a Thrush from the Malay peninsula (Kumbow) which he identified with G. avensis. On examining this specimen, which is now in the British Museum, I find that the greater wing-coverts are wanting or in part moulting, and that the new sprouting feathers of this part appear to be tipped with white. The specimen is by no means a good one for the purpose of deciding the question of the identity or difference of the two species, which must for the present remain unsettled.

684. Greocichla sibirica. The Siberian Ground-Thrush.

Turdus sibiricus, Pall. Reis. ~Russ. Reich, iii, p. C94 (1776) ; Hume, Cat. no. 369 quat.

Oreocincla inframarginata, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxix, p. 106 (1860) ; Ball, S. F. i, p. 70 ; Hume, S. F. ii, p. 223. Turdulus davisoni, Hume, S. F. v, pp. 63, 136 (1877). Turdulus sibericus (Pall.), Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, pp. 255, 513 ; Hume t S. F. xi, p. 132.

Geocichla sibirica (Pall.), Seebohm, Cat. B. M. v, p. 180; Gates, B. B. i, p. 4.

Coloration. Male. The fully adult has the whole plumage slaty black, the margins of the feathers paler ; the outer three pairs of tail-feathers narrowly tipped with white ; a broad white super- cilium to the nape ; the under tail-coverts tipped with white ; axillaries white tipped with dark ashy, and the under wing-coverts ashy tipped white. Males after the second autumn moult are bluish slaty instead of slaty black, but the middle of the abdomen