Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/158

144 lores, centre of chin and throat, a patch on the side of the neck, and a broad but ill-defined cheek-stripe buff, each feather more or less fringed with black ; ear-coverts black with mesial buff streaks ; greater coverts and quills more or less margined white ; tail plain brown ; lower plumage, axillaries, and under wing-coverts barred with black and buff.

In the male the bill is black ; gape yellow ; iris dark brown ; feet vinous brown or black ; claws blackish : in the female the bill is dusky ; mouth and gape yellow ; iris brown ; tarsus dark brown ; toes blackish (Scully}.

Length about 9*5; tail 4'2; wing 4'9 ; tarsus !! ; bill from gape 1-2.

Distribution. A permanent resident in the Himalayas from Chamba to Bhutan ; the Khasi hills ; Cachar ; Manipur ; the mountains east of Toungngoo. This species extends into Western China.

Habits, fyc. Breeds from April to July, constructing a nest on the ground under a rock or stump or in a hole in a bank, and laying three eggs, which measure about 1 by '75, and are described by Hodgson as being somewhat buff-coloured.

691. PetropMla cinclorhyncha. The Blue-Jieaded Rock-Thrush.

Petrocincla cinclorhyncha, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 172. Phoenicura cinclorhyncha ( Vig. Gould, Cent. pi. xix. Mouticola cinclorhvncha ( Vig.), Blyth, Cat. p. 164 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. M. v, p. 320 ;" Gates, B. B. i, p. 9 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 170. Jerd. id. Cat. no/353 ; Scully, S. F. via, p." 282; Oates in Hume's N. '$ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 103.

The Blue-headed Chat-Thrush, Jerd.; Krishen patti, Nepal.

Coloration. Male. Head, from the nostrils to the nape, and the lesser wing-coverts, the chin, throat, and cheeks cobalt-blue ; lores, under the eye, ear-coverts, sides of neck, back, and scapulars black ; primaries black, all but the first two edged exteriorly with blue ; secondaries black, each with a white patch on the outer web ; tertiaries wholly black ; greater coverts black, edged with faint blue ; rump, upper tail-coverts, and lower plumage, with the axillaries and under wing-coverts, chestnut ; tail blackish, edged faintly on the outer webs with bluish. In autumn most of the feathers of the black and blue portions of the plumage are fringed with pale buff and these fringes are dropped in spring and summer plumage.

Female. The whole upper plumage is olive-brown tinged with ochraceous, especially on the rump and upper tail-coverts, which are also barred with black ; wings brown, the quills ochraceous on the outer web, and the tertiaries and later secondaries margined with white ; chin and throat nearly white ; sides of the head mottled with white and brown ; remainder of lower plumage white, tinged with ochraceous on the breast, and the whole, with the exception of the