Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/53

Rh Coloration. The whole head, neck, and breast ashy, darker on the crown, the feathers of which are obsoletely centred with brown ; lower plumage bright yellow ; under wing-coverts pale yellow; lores and the edges of the eyelids whitish ; back, rump, scapulars, and upper tail-coverts greenish yellow ; wings and coverts dark brown, the outer webs of all the feathers edged with greenish yellow; the lesser coverts edged on both webs; tail dark brown, the outer webs of all the feathers except the median pair broadly edged with greenish yellow.

Iris dark hazel; bill brown, paler at the base and gape; mouth yellow ; legs yellowish brown ; claws horn-colour. Length about 5 ; tail 2'2 ; wing 2-4 ; tarsus -55 ; bill from gape *55.

Distribution. The whole Empire except Sind, the Punjab, and Rajputana, from which provinces I have not seen any specimens. This species is a permanent resident on the Himalayas up to 8000 feet, and on all the hill-ranges such as the Nilgiris, Khasi hills, &c., but to many portions of the plains it is probably only a winter visitor. The most westerly locality on the Himalayas from which I have examined a specimen is Baramula on the Jhelum river in Kashmir. It is found in Ceylon at about 1000 feet elevation, but it apparently does not extend to the Andamans nor to the Nicobars. This Flycatcher ranges as far as Java and Borneo.

Habits, <$fc. Breeds from March to June, constructing a small nest of moss against a rock or tree-trunk. The eggs, three or four in number, are whitish marked with brown and grey, and measure about -61 by -43.

Genus NILTAVA, Hodgs., 1837.

The genus Niltava contains three species of Flycatchers remarkable for the brilliant plumage of the males. The sexes differ in colour, but both may be recognized by the presence of a bright spot or mark on the side of the neck. Cyornis oatcsi approaches these birds in having some bright blue on the side of the neck, but the patch is of a different character, being connected with the nape and forming a band rather than a spot. This bright mark is more-over absent in the female.

The Niltavas frequent thick jungle and are less typical in their habits than the species of Cyornis, and they are said to eat berries. They appear to be resident on the Himalayas. Mr. Cripps, how- ever, states that N. sundara and N. macyrirforice are seasonal visitors to Dibrugarh in Assam, but he omits to state at what season they visit that district.

In Niltava the bill is somewhat compressed laterally and narrow, and the base is covered by a multitude of dense plumelets, which conceal the nostrils; tin; rirtal bristles are moderate in number and in length; the first primary is large, being quite hull' the length of the second, and the tail is rounded.