1. GEOCICHLA. 173 



Petrocossj'pliLis citrious (Lath.), Gray, Cat. Mamm. SjC. Nepal Coll. 



Hodgs.'yi. 79 (1846). 

 Geocicbla citriua {Lath?), Blyth, J. A. S. Bene/, xvi, p. 145 (1847) ; 



id. Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. lO-'J (1849) I Bp. Co7isp. i. p. 268 



(18-50) ; Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 6 (1850) ; Horsf. 8c Moore, Cat. B. 



Mus.E.L Co. i. p. 189 (1854); Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 517 (1862) ; 



Godtc.-Ausf. J. A. S. Beng. xxxix. pt. 2, p. 268 (1870); Hume, 



Nest and Eggs hid. B. p. 229 (1873); Blgth 8,- Wald. B. Burm. 



p. 99 (1875) ; Hume ^- Davison, Stray Feath. vj. p. 250 (1878) ; 



Leqge, Birds of Ceylon, p. 457 (1879) ; Scully, Stray Feath. viii. 



p. 283 (1879). 

 Geocichla la_yardi, Wald. Ann. Nat. Hist. 1870, v. p. 416 ; Holdsio. 



P. Z. S. 1872, p. 445 ; id. P. Z. S. 1877, p. 160. 



In the adult male in spring plinnarie the head and nape are 

 orange-chestuut ; general colour of the rest of the upper parts pale 

 slate-gro}', each feather darker in the centre ; lores and ear-coverts 

 chestnut : no trace of eye-stripe ; quills and innermost secondaries 

 brown, with the uuemarginated portions of the outside webs slate- 

 grej' ; lesser wing-coverts slate-grey ; median wing-coverts broadly 

 tipped with white ; greater wing-coverts and primary-coverts dark 

 brown on inside web and slate-grey on outside web, gcnerallj' with 

 traces of white on the outside webs at the tip : two centre tail- 

 feathers and most of the outside webs of the remainder dark slate- 

 grey, the rest dark brown ; the outside tail-feathers are generally 

 paler towards the tip, and frequently many of them have white tips. 

 The underparts are orange-chestnut, occasionally approaching dark 

 orange-chestnut, shading into white on the under tail-coverts ; 

 axillaries, basal portion white, terminal portion dark slate-grey ; 

 lower under wing-coverts, basal portion dark slate-grey, terminal 

 portion white ; basal portion of the secondaries and some of the 

 primaries white on the inside webs. Bill dark brown, paler at 

 the base of the under mandible ; rictal bristles very short. "Wing 

 with the third and fourth primaries nearly equal and longest ; 

 second primary generally between the fifth and sixth, sometimes 

 between the sixth and seventh ; bastard primary 1-1 to 0-9 

 inch. Legs, feet, and claws flesh-colour. Length of wing 4-8 

 to 4'4 inches, tail 3-15 to 2-85, culmen 0-95 to 0"8, tarsus 1'35 

 to 1-2. 



The female is supposed to resemble the male, except in having 

 the upper back and scapulars suflused with olive-green and in 

 having dark tips to the ear- coverts ; but as I find only three skins 

 in this state of plumage in a series of thirty-two, I suspect it to be 

 '^hat of the female in first year's pltunage onl}'. A bird in the col- 

 lection injirst plumage has pale shaft-streaks on the feathers of the 

 aead and back, and the underparts are dull and obscurely streaked. 

 This bird is moulting on the middle of the back into the slate-grey 

 of the adult. No important change in the colour of the plumage of 

 the adult is produced by the autvmn moxdt. 



Eirds from Ceylon have been dcsciibed as a distinct species. I 

 cannot learn that more than two examples have been obtained on 

 this island, where it is probably onh an occasional winter visitant. 



