96 tuedid^:. 



Coloration. Male. In typical autumn plumage the forehead, 

 sides of the head, chin, throat, breast, and sides of neck are black 

 with grey fringes, the black more or less concealed ; crown, nape, 

 hind neck, back, and scapulars ashy grey, this grey appearance 

 caused by broad fringes which generally quite conceal the black 

 bases of the feathers ; lesser and median wing-coverts black, edged 

 with ashy ; the other coverts and the quills brown, edged with 

 rufous ; rump and upper tail-coverts bright chestnut ; tail chestnut 

 except the middle pair of feathers, which are brown ; abdomen, 

 vent, under tail- and wing-coverts, and axillaries deep orange- 

 brown. 



In typical summer plumage the whole head, neck, back, scapu- 

 lars, lesser and median wing-coverts, and the breast are deep black, 

 with an ashy supercilium and some ashy on the crown just behind 

 the forehead. The rufous margins to the greater coverts and 

 quills are reduced or disappear. 



Between these two stages every intermediate form occurs re- 

 gardless of season, the deep black plumage sometimes making its 

 appearance immediately after the moult, and some birds even at 

 midsummer retaining the broad ashy-grey fringes in varying 

 legrees. Some males are said to breed in female plumage. 



Female. Upper plumage brown tinged with fulvous ; the wings 

 broadly edged with fulvous ; rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail 

 chestnut, except the middle pair of feathers, which are brown ; a 

 circle of pale feathers round the eye ; lower plumage buffy brown, 

 suffused with orange on the abdomen, flanks, vent, and under tail- 

 coverts. 



Bill, legs, feet, and iris black ; base of bill yellow {Bingham). 



Length about 6 ; tail 2*6 ; wing 3*3 ; tarsus *9 ; bill from 



gape -7. ... . 



Distribution. A common winter visitor to a great portion of the 

 Empire, this species occurs from the Himalayas down to Bangalore 

 and the Nilgiris, and from Sind to Assam, thence ranging down to 

 Manipur. It appears to be common from September to April. 

 Some few birds are found in the plains in summer, but do not 

 apparently breed. In the Hume Collection there are specimens 

 shot at Sambhar in July and at Ahmednagar in June. 



This Bedstart extends on the west to Persia and on the east to 

 China, and large numbers appear to summer in Turkestan and 

 Mongolia. Within our limits it breeds on the higher mountains 

 of Kashmir above 10,000 feet. It also breeds in Afghanistan. 

 Mandelli procured a specimen in Native Sikhim in June, and pro- 

 bably it may be found to breed throughout the Himalayas at great 

 heights. 



Habits, Sfc. The nest of this species has seldom been found, and 

 little is known of its nidification. Wardlaw Bamsay found the 

 nest in Afghanistan on the 1st July in an old tree- stump, but the 

 young had apparently left it some time before. 



