64 TURDID.i;. 



to become confluent at the larger end, somewhat in the form of an 

 irregular cap ; in the other the spots and blotches are larger and 

 more equally diffused throughout the surface." 



639. Ruticilla frontalis (Vigors). The Blue-fronted Redstart. 



Ruticilla frontalis ( Vig.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 141 ; Hume, Cat. 

 no. 503. 



Mandelli's native collectors brought 13 eggs, probably belonging 

 to this species, from Native Sikhim, where they were found during 

 the latter part of June. Many of the smaller birds and eggs they 

 brought with them were sadly mixed together and they could not 

 point out the parent bird of these eggs with certainty ; the eggs 

 are no doubt those of a RuticUla and the only bird of this genus 

 they brought was a R. frontalis ; whether all the eggs belong'to this 

 species or to some other Ruticilla besides, it is of course impossible 

 to say. 



The eggs are somewhat elongated ovals, more or less conspicu- 

 ously pointed towards the smaller end and ai-e sometimes pyri- 

 formed. The shell is extremely fine and delicate and sometimes 

 has but little, at others a fair amount of gloss. The colour is an 

 extremely beautiful uniform pale slightly greenish blue ; they vary 

 in length from 0-75 to 0-86, in breadth from 0-58 to 0-62, but the 

 average is 0*82 by 0-59. 



644. Ruticilla rufiveiitris (VieilL). The Indian Redstart. 



Ruticilla rufiventris ( V.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 137 ; Ilmne, Rough 

 Draft N. ^- E. no. 497. 



Dr. Stoliczka told me that he saw four eggs of this species at 

 the camping ground of Lama Yuroo, in the valley of the Tsarap 

 in Eupshu, at an elevation of about 13,000 feet. They were a 

 little larger, and their uniform sky-blue colour was a little paler 

 than that of the eggs of the common European Eedstart. 



I may notice that the bird is absolutely a winter and spring 

 visitant only to the plains, and that in the following account 

 Colonel Sykes must have made some mistake. He says : — " Has 

 a peculiar manner of vibrating its tail when seated on a bough. A 

 pair of these birds built their nest in an out-house constantly 

 frequented by my servants and within reach of the hand " (Sykes, 

 P. Z. S. 1832, p. 92). It is absolutely certain, in my opinion, that 

 this bird never breeds in the plains of India *. 



Major Wardlaw Eamsay says, writing of Afghanistan : — " At 

 12,500 feet on the Safed Koh, on the 1st of July, I observed a pair 



* But birds of this species are certainly met wit li in the plains in sunnner 

 and cannot bo very rare. Tliere are three in the Hume Collection shot at 

 Sambhur by Mr. Adam in July and one procured at Ahmednuggur by Dr. 

 Fairbank in June. — En. 



