555 



THE BIRDS OF THE ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR 

 ISLANDS. 



By a. L. Butler, f.z.s., 



Curator^ Selangor State Museum. 



{Continued from page 403.) 



Part II. 



680. Merula obscuka, Gemel. Gates, II, p. 134 ; " Str. Feath,," II, p, 223. 



I only came across this thrush once, a female which I shot on May 14th. 

 It was feeding on the dead leaves under a bamboo by the roadside and 

 flew up into a tree with a squeak .very much like that of a redwing, which, 

 from its size and colour and conspicuous superciliary streak, it very much 

 reminded me of. 



Mr. Hume did not meet with it, and includes it in his list on the strength 

 of a specimen received by Blyth. Mr. Gates says it is " a winter visitor, 

 more or less abundant to the whole of Burma, the Andamans, Manipur, 

 Shillong, Sikkim and Nepal." In the Andamans it is decidedly rare, 



684. Geocichla sibirica, Pall. Gates, II, p. 138 ; " Str. Feath ," II, 

 p. 223. 



Has only been recorded from the Andamans once, Mr. Blyth having 

 received a specimen from Port Blair in 1860. 



688. Geocichla ALBiGULARis, Blyth, Gates, II, p. 142; " Str. Feath.," 

 p. 221. 



Fairly common throughout the Nicobars, but shy and diGScult to procure. 

 One or two usually frequent the heaps of old cocoanut husks and other 

 refuse thrown into the jungle edge near every Nicobarese village. Mr. 

 Gates mentions as one of the differences between this bird and CHrina that 

 " the under tail coverts are much tipped and otherwise marked with 

 greenish or slaty brown " ; this difference does not, I think, hold good ; one 

 adult bird I killed (out of four only) having the under tail coverts pure 

 white with only the faintest greyish tips on two of the feathers. Mr. Gates 

 says the colour of the bill, &c., have not been recorded. My notes are : — Bill, 

 black, lower mandible horny grey at base; iris, brown ; legs a.nd feet, dark 

 brownish fleshy. 



The nest and eggs are similar to those of the next species. I obtained 

 one egg, but it was unfortunately broken. 



In the young bird the two cheek-stripes are dark and blackish brown and 

 very conspicuous. In freshly killed specimens the crown of the head is a parti- 

 cularly rich reddish chestnut, quite different from the dull brown tinged 

 orange chestnut in Andamaiiensis, making the Nicobar bird by far the hand- 

 somer species of the two. Car Nicobarese name, '* chook-chyong," 



