cinclin^;. 



161 



Female. Differs from the male in the coloration of the wiug 

 only. The secondaries and tertiaries have the basal patch on the 

 outer webs yellowish brown instead of blue, and this colour occu- 

 pies the major portion of the outer webs of the greater coverts, 

 the blue edgings being very narrow. 



The young bird (perhaps the female nestling only, the male 

 resembling the adult male probably in the coloration of the wing) 

 has the crown, forehead, and nape bluish brown, each feather 

 tipped black and with a subterminal band of white ; the upper 

 plumage greenish brown, with large buff spots ; supercihum black ; 

 ear-coverts white, with blackish tips ; the whole lower plumage 

 buff, irregularly and narrowly cross-barred with black ; the wings 

 and tail as in the adult female. 



A nearly adult bird killed in Sikhim in March, and one in 

 Manipur in May, have the cheeks, ear-coverts, and a demi-collar 

 at the side of the neck pure white ; the chiu and throat also are 

 whitish, and the lower plumage bright chestnut-brown. Accord- 

 ing to Hume this is the second stage of plumage. There does not 

 appear to be anything analogous to it, however, in C '. purpurea. 



Iris brown, brownish orange, dull brownish maroon ; legs brown, 

 with a varying amount of pinkish tiuge ; bill black ; gape and 

 orbital skin pink {Hume Coll.). 



Length about 11; tail 4-8; wing 5*6; tarsus 1-1; bill from 

 gape 1*2. 



Distribution. The Himalayas from Kumaun to Sikhim up to 

 11,000 feet; Cachar; Manipur. This species extends into China. 

 Hume gives the Bhagirati valley as the western limit of this 

 Thrush, but there is no specimen from this locality now in his 

 collection, and I have seen none from further west than Jeoli 

 below Nairn Tal. 



Habits, Sfc. The nest of this species is described as being a cup 

 composed of fine twigs and roots coated externally with moss, and 

 built on branches of large trees ten to twenty feet from the 

 ground. An egg was greyish green marked with red, and measured 

 1-03 by -75. 



Subfamily CINCLIN^. 



The Cinclhue or Dippers appear to be allied to the Thrushes, but 

 to have uudergone some modification of structure to adapt them to 

 a different mode of life. 



In the Dippers the bill is about as long as the head, narrow and 

 straight, the tip slightly bent down and notched ; the nostrils are 

 covered by a large membrane and the rictal bristles are entirely 

 absent ; the wing is very short and rounded ; the tail exceedingly 

 short ; the tarsus long and smooth. 



The sexes are alike and the young are spotted. These do not 

 assume the adult plumage till the first spring of their life, and the 

 change is effected by the casting-off of the margins of the feathers. 



VOL. IT. M 



