26 



faded brown looking bird, with a few chocolate featbers just shining oir 

 breast. I should think it is about six or nine months old. 



[This bird is evidently immature, and from the attitude of your adult bird towards 

 it, it would appear that it was a young- male still in nestling plumage. — Kd.] 



I understood Mrs. Miller had the other, and if she would give nie her 

 experience I should be glad. 



Please give all information re Ruby-Throat, which I have just 

 obtained. Food, habitat, whether rare, etc. (Mrs.) E. W. Vernon. 



*- * * 



Both the Common and White-tailed Ruby-throats are rare birds in 

 captivity, and very uncommon in this country, though judging by adver- 

 tisements in the Fancy press, quite a fair number have recently come to 

 hand. I have never kept this species and cull the following notes from. 

 Jerdon's Birds of India. 



The Common Ruby-Throat. 

 Calliope kamtschalfcensis. 

 Adult male : Upper surface, olive-brown ; sides of head black, crossed 

 above and below the eyes by whitish bands; throat, ruby red; breast, 

 ashy; abdomen, whitish ; flanks, olive-brown; bill, horn colour; legs and 

 feet, purplish; iris, dark brown. Total length 6 inches, of which the tail- 

 measures 2\ inches. 



"The female has in general no trace of the ruby-throat, which is whitish and the 

 " lores brown ; but some old females have a tinge of the ruby-colour." 



It is a shy and retiring bird, solitary and silent ; frequenting thickets 

 and underwood. It feeds on the ground on various insects. This charming 

 bird is found principally in Northern and Central India, and is a cold 

 weather visitant in Bengal and Eastern India. It extends throughout 

 Central and Northern Asia and occasional specimens have been killed in- 

 Europe. * * * 



The White-tailed Ruby-Throat. 

 Calliope pecloralis. 



This species is found throughout the Himalayas from Cashmere to 

 Sikkim. It frequents thick brush-wood and conies to the road or open 

 space to feed on insects. Jerdon describes the species as follows: 



" General colour dark brownish ashy, with a white supercilium ; lores black, and a 

 "small moustachial spot white ; the breast and sides of the throat black ; and the chin 

 "and middle of the throat and upper part of the neck bright glistening crimson; the 

 "belly, vent, and under tail-coverts white, ashy on the flanks and mixed with dusky on 

 "tail-coverts; tail white on the basal half, except the centre pair, and white tipped, also 

 "some white on the outer web of the outermost feathers. In winter the black of the 

 " breast is broadly edged with grey, and the red of the throat is less intense ; the back too 

 "is not so dark. The female is plain olive-brown, paler on the breast, and whitish on the 

 " throat and belly ; supercilia pale rufescent, there is much less white at the base of the 

 "tail, and the terminal spots are light rufescent. Bill dusky ; legs pale reddish -brown ; 

 " hides, dark brown. Total length 6 inches, tail 2J." 



