58 TURDID.E. 



Ill the Chats the bill is strong and the rictal bristles occasionally 

 very numerous and strong ; the wing in most is pointed ; the tail, 

 of twelve feathers, is seldom or never longer than the wing ; and the 

 tarsus and foot are of medium size and strength. 



The Chats nest in holes in the ground or in walls, or among 

 heaps of stoues, and they lay eggs which, so far as is known, are 

 always marked with brown or rufous. 



Key to the Genera. 



a. Bill broad at base ; rictal bristles numerous and 



strong. 



a'. Tail shorter tbau wing ; outer feathers reach- 

 ing nearly to tip Pbatincola, p. 58. 



V . Tail about as long as wing ; outer feathers 

 falling short of tip by about 'half length of 

 tarsus * Oreicola, p. GO. 



b. Bill narrow, not strikingly broad at base ; rictal 



bristles few and weak. 



e'. Tail with a pattern of two colours Saxicola, p. G7. 



<?. Tail entirely of one colour Ceecomei.a, p. 79. 



Genus PRATINCOLA, Koch, 1816. 



The genus Pratincola contains a considerable number of species 

 of wide distribution, some of which are migratory and others 

 resident. They are mostly familiar birds, displaying little fear, 

 and one or more species are generally common in every part of the 

 Empire except the tracts covered with forest. 



In Pratincola the bill is rather less than half the length of the 

 head, broad at base and well notched ; the rictal bristles are very 

 strong ; the wing is rather sharp, and the first primary varies from 

 one half to one third the length of the second ; the tail is shorter 

 than the wing and slightly rounded, and the tarsus is moderate in 

 length. The sexes are invariably dissimilar, and the seasonal changes 

 of plumage are very marked. 



Key to the Species *. 



a. Plumage entirely black and white. 



a'. Wing about 2-8 ; bill from nostril to tip '3 . P. cuprata c?, P- 59. 

 b '. Wing about 3 ; bill from nostril to tip 4 . . P. atrata <S , p. 60. 



* I exclude the following species from the Indian list : — 



Pratincola robusta, Tristram. 

 Pratincola robusta, Tristram, Ibis, 1870, p. 497 ; Hume, S. F. ix, p. 133. 

 The type of this species, said to have been procured iu Mysore by Mr. H. E. 

 Fox more than twenty years ago, has been obligingly lent to me by Canon Tristram. 

 It is identical with the larger Bush-Chat of Madagascar, and both Sharpe and 

 Tristram agree with me in this identification. There are two Bush-Chats of 

 this type in Madagascar, agreeing in coloration but differing in size. To one 



