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RUTICILLA TITHYS. THE BLACK-BREASTED 

 REDSTART. 



BLACK REDSTART. BLACK REDTAIL. 



Sylvia Tithys. Lath. Ind. Orn. II. 512. 



Bee-fin Rouge-queue. Sylvia Tithys. Temm. Man. d'Orii. I. 218. 

 Tithys Redstart. Phcenicura Tithys. Selb. Illustr. I. 193. 

 Sylvia Tithys. Black Redtail. Jen. Brit. Vert. An. 105. 



Male with the upper parts greyish-blue ; the throat and breast 

 blacky the rump and tail-coverts red. Female gret/ish- brown 

 above, light grey beneath. 



Male. — The Black-breasted Redstart is in form and size al- 

 most precisely similar to the White-fronted or common species, 

 but differs in colour, its breast being black instead of red. Its 

 general form is rather slender, its neck short, its head ovate, 

 its bill shortish, nearly straight, broader than high at the base, 

 compressed towards the end, the upper mandible with the tip 

 slightly declinate, and without notch. The feet are slender, 

 and of ordinary length ; the tarsus compressed, with a long 

 plate and three scutella anteriorly ; the lateral toes equal ; the 

 claws arched, extremely compressed, laterally grooved, acute. 

 The plumage is soft, blended, rather loose. The wings are of 

 ordinary length ; the first quill eleven-twelfths of an inch long, 

 the second four-twelfths shorter than the third which is longest, 

 but scarcely exceeding the fourth and fifth, the seventh and 

 second equal. The tail is of moderate length, and nearly even. 



The bill, tarsi, toes, and claws are black. The upper part 

 of the head, the hind-neck, and the back are light greyish-blue ; 

 the rump and tail-coverts brownish -red ; the tail light-red, ex- 

 cept the two middle feathers, which are brown ; the wing- 

 coverts and quills are greyish-black, the latter edged with 

 greyish-white, of which colour is a large portion of the outer 

 webs of the secondaries, so that the cubital portion of the wing 

 seems greyish-white when closed. A band across the lower 



