120 TURDTD.T. 



G65. Cittocincla albiventris. The Andaman Shama. 



Kittacincla albiventris, Blyth, J. A. 8. B. xxvii, p. 269 (1858) ; Ball, 

 8. F. i, p. 73; Hume, 8. F. ii, p. 232 ; Walden, Ibis, 1873, p. 307, 



pi. xii, fig. 1. 

 Cercotriclias albiventris (Blyth), Hume, Cat. no. 47Gbis. 

 Cittocincla albiventris, Blyth, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. vii, p. 90. 



Coloration. Both sexes are alike, or nearly so, the female merely 

 differing from the male in having the chin and throat less glossy 

 and they both resemble the male o£ C. macrura, from which they 

 differ in the colour of the abdomen and vent, which is white instead 

 of chestnut. The under tail-coverts and flanks are pale ferru- 

 ginous. The tail is much shorter. 



The nestliug bird is dark brown, spotted with ferruginous; the 

 wings are margined with the same, and the coverts spotted. 



Legs and feet pale fleshy ; bill black {Hume). 



Length about 9 ; tail about 5 ; wing 3-6 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from 

 gape 1. The female has usually a shorter tail. 



Distribution. The Andamans. 



Subfamily TURDINiE. 



The Turdince comprise the true Thrushes. These differ chiefly 

 from the Saxicolinoi and Ruticillince in being of larger size, in 

 having a greater tendency to be gregarious, aud in being less 

 dependent on insects for their food — berries forming a considerable 

 portion of their diet during winter. 



The Thrushes are mostly migratory ; some few are resident, and 

 when this is the case they are generally confined to limited areas. 

 The majority undergo a seasonal change of plumage through 

 the margins of the feathers dropping off ; but these changes are 

 never very striking, aud frequently hardly appreciable. The 

 Thrushes feed a great deal on the ground, and their long tarsi 

 enable them to hop with great facility ; they are good songsters ; 

 they mostly build cup-shaped nests in trees, and they lay spotted 

 eggs. 



The Turdince resemble each other closely in structure, and it is 

 by no means easy to divide them into genera. I have had recourse 

 to the type of coloration in subdividing them, and I have found the 

 colour of the under wing-coverts and axillaris of considerable 

 importance in classification. 



The young of the Thrushes are greatly spotted, and they acquire 

 the adult plumage at the first autumn moult. I have not attempted 

 to describe the young of each species, as, from the nature of the 

 coloration, the descriptions, to be of any utility, must of necessity 

 be somewhat lengthy, and space does not permit of this ; and it 

 may be doubted if any description of young Thrushes, however 

 elaborate, would enable the student to identify the species. 



