12 Mr. Blyth's Commentary 



tail. They are, moreover, forest birds in their habits, not affect- 

 ing, like the Dhyals, the vicinity of human abodes, and they 

 are far superior as songsters. The most intermediate species 

 known to me is Cittocincla albiventris, nobis, common in the 

 Andamans ; and the song of this bird is inferior to that of other 

 Shamas — though still not Dhyal-like, being much deeper in 

 tone. Had a solitary specimen been obtained on the mainland, 

 it would probably have been considered a hybrid between Co- 

 psychus saularis and Cittocincla macrura) — C. saularis being also 

 an inhabitant of the Andamans, but not C. macrura, so far as 

 known ; and it is most unlikely to have escaped the eye and ear 

 of Col. Tytler*. 



477. Myiomela leucura. 



Congeneric with, and most closely allied to, Notodela diana, 

 Lesson, as suggested by me in 1847 (J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 138), to 

 which the generic name Ajax has been applied, holdmg prece- 

 dence of Myiomela. A, leucurus was obtained by Col. Tickell in 

 the Amherst district, Tenasserim ; and A. diana is described 

 from Pegu, and was procured by Mr. Wallace in Western Java. 

 He refers it to Brachypteryx albifrons, Boie (Bp. Consp. Av. i. 

 p. 257). The only distinctions between the two consist in A. 

 diana being brighter-coloured and having the white lunate 

 mark on the forehead. A third species of Ajax is Mr. Swinhoe's 

 M. montium (Ibis, 1864, p. 362). Mr. Hodgson ligures a 

 mossy nest and clay- coloured egg, much pointed at the small 

 end, as those of A. leucurus. 



478. Grandala ccelicolor, Hodgs.; Gould, B. As. pt. xiv.pl., 

 is figured also perched upon a twig by Gray and Mitchell (Gen. 



* In the Report of the Proceedings of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta, 

 for May 1865, a communication from Mr. T. F. Peppe, of Gya, is pub- 

 lished, wherein that gentleman remarks : — " An annual 77iela, or fair, is 

 held at Budhpore during- the Churruk Puja festival, to which, amongst 

 other things, are brought, I understand, numbers of young birds for sale, 

 chiefly the Shama {Cittocincla macrura') and young Parrakeets {Palce- 

 ornis rosa). I imagine that it is from these fairs, which appear to be 

 usual in many places in the district at this particular festival, many of 

 those birds are collected which eventually find their way for sale to 

 Calcutta, and are said to come trom the Rajmehal hills." 



