42 



MUSCICAPID.E. 



595. Niltava macgrigoriae. The Small Niltava. 



Plicenicura macgrigorise, Burton, P. Z. S. 1835, p. 152. 



Niltava macgrigoriae {Burton), Blyth, Cat. p. 174 ; Horsf. 8f M. Cat. 

 i, p. 288; Jerd. B. I. i, p. 475 ; Hume, N. # E. p. 214 ; Wald. in 

 Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 102 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 231 ; Sliarpe, 

 Cat. B. M. iv, p. 465; Hume, Cat. no. 315 ; id. S. F. xi, p. 113 ; 

 Oates, B. B. i, p. 299 ; id. in Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 21. 



The Small Fairy Blue-Chat, Jerd. ; Phatt-tagrdk-pho, Lepcli. 



Coloration. Male. Upper plumage bright purplish blue ; fore- 

 head, supercilium, rump, upper tail-coverts, and a patch on each 

 side of the neck cobalt-blue; lesser whig-coverts brown, tipped 

 with blue; median coverts entirely blue; greater coverts and quills 

 dark brown, edged with blue; median tail-feathers entirely blue, 

 the outer webs of the others blue, the inner dark brown ; lores, 

 feathers at base of the upper mandible and those in front of and 

 below the eye black ; cheeks, ear-coverts, chin, throat, and breast 

 purple ; the breast occasionally ashy like the abdomen ; remainder 

 of the lower plumage ashy, becoming albescent on the abdomen 

 and under tail-coverts ; under wing-coverts ashy white. 



Female. Upper plumage olive-brown, tinged with rufous ; tail 

 rufous-brown ; wing-coverts and quills brown, edged with rufous- 

 brown ; forehead and sides of the head mixed brown and fulvous ; 

 a patch of brilliant blue on each side of the neck ; lower plumage 

 ochraceous buff, paling on the abdomen and under tail-coverts ; 

 under wing-coverts and axillaries pure white. 



The young nestling is streaked with fulvous. 



Bill black ; legs reddish black ; iris dark brown (Jerdon). 



Length nearly 5 ; tail 2-1 ; wing 2-6 ; tarsus *7 ; bill from 

 gape "6. 



Distribution. The Himalayas from Grarhwal to Assam from about 

 8000 to 5000 feet elevation ; the Khasi hills ; North Cachar hills ; 

 Manipur ; Karennee; Northern Tenasserim. 



Habits, $x. Breeds from April to June, constructing a nest of 

 moss, sometimes, it is said, on the ground, at other times in the 

 hole of a trunk of a tree. The eggs are described as being white 

 or stone-coloured, freckled with brownish purple or brownish pink, 

 and measure about "76 by "53. 



Genus PHILENT0MA, Eyton, 1845. 



The two Flycatchers which constitute the genus Philentoma are 

 birds of peculiar coloration, maroon and chestnut eutering into its 

 composition. 



In this genus the sexes are dissimilar. The bill is very large 

 and coarse, and its base is covered by the frontal plumelets ; the 

 wing is rounded, and the first primary is much longer than half 

 the length of the second ; the tail is square. Both species are 

 resident, and they have all the habits of the typical Flycatchers, 

 catching insects on the wing. 



