Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/168

154 Length about 10'5; tail 3'6 ; wing 5-2 ; tarsus 1*2 ; bill from gape 1-5.

Distribution. The hill-ranges of Southern India, from the Nilgiris to Travancore, above 2000 feet, where this Thrush appears to be a permanent resident.

Habits, $~c. Represented to be a very fine songster. Breeds from March to June, constructing a nest of green moss in trees, and laying three eggs, which are greenish blue speckled with rusty brown, and measure 1'21 by *82. 700. Oreocincla imbricata. The Ceylon Thrush.

Zoothera imbricata, Layard, A. M. N. H. (2), xiii, p. 212 (1854). Oreocincla gregoriana, Nevill, Hume, S. P. i, p. 437 (1873). Oreocincla imbricata (Layard}, Hume, Cat. no. 372 quat. ; Leyye, Birds Ceyl. p. 455, pi. xix.

Geocichla imbricata (Layard}, Seebohm, Cat. B. M., p. 159.

Coloration. Resembles 0. dauma in general appearance, but has the upper plumage darker olive-brown, the tips of the feathers blacker, and the subterminal pale bars absent ; tips of wing-coverts inconspicuous ; the whole lower plumage a rich ochraceous buff, with the bars very black ; the bill is much larger, resembling that of a Zoothera.

Iris brown ; bill blackish brown, paling at the base of the lower mandible ; legs and feet fleshy brown, some with a bluish tinge ; claws brownish at the tips (Legge).

Length about 9'5; tail 3-2; wing 4-9; tarsus 1-1 ; bill from gape 1-4.

Distribution. Confined to Ceylon, above 3000 feet.

701. Oreocincla mollissima. The Plain-backed Mountain- Thrush.

Turdus mollissimus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xi, p. 188 (1842).

Oreocincla mollissima (Blyth}, Blyth, Cat. p. 160 ; Horsf. fy M. Cat. i, p. 193 ; Jerd. B. I. i, p. 533 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. ii, p. 36; Hume, Cat. no. 370; id. 8. F. xi, p. 132; Gates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 108.

Geocichla mollissima (Blyth}, Seebohm, Cat. B. M. v. p. 159.

Phanaiok-kiok-pho, Lepch. ; Teliakanrim, Bhut.

Coloration. The whole upper plumage rich olive-brown ; wings dark brown, the feathers all broadly edged with olive-brown, the median and greater coverts very narrowly and indistinctly tipped with fulvous ; the four middle tail-feathers olive-brown, the next three pairs blackish faintly tipped with white, the outermost pair black on the basal two thirds of the inner web, olive-brown elsewhere and tipped with white ; a ring of fulvous feathers round the eye ; sides of the head mingled black and fulvous ; chin, throat, breast, and sides of the body ochraceous, each feather with a terminal black band ; abdomen white, with similar bands ; under tail-coverts greenish brown streaked with white ; axillaries white