13i SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



Bill black ; iris brown ; legs pale flesh colour. 



Length about 1 1 ; wing 3*7; tail about 6 ; tarsus 1 ' 1 ; 

 bill from gape • 95. 



Distribution. — Found throughout the greater part of the 

 low-country forests, but less common in the west and south- 

 west. It ascends the hills to about 3,500 feet. It occurs in 

 Central and Southern India, the sub- Himalayan region from the 

 Ganges eastward and in Assam and Burma. 



Habits. — A shy bird, which spends most of its time in 

 forest undergrowth and bamboo scrub. It feeds on insects, 

 and is generally found in pairs. It is our finest songster ; 

 the notes are lower and richer than those of the Magpie 

 Robin. I have found eggs from February till June. The 

 nest is made of dry leaves, grass, and twigs, and is placed 

 in the hole of a tree or dead stump in the forest. The eggs 

 are, as a rule, slightly smaller and more elongated at the 

 narrow end than those of the Magpie Robin. The ground 

 colour is pale grayish -white, at times with a slight green 

 tinge, thickly and rather streakUy freckled all over with 

 umber brown. At times the markings are more pronounced 

 at the larger end. Average size • 89 by • 64. 



Sub-family Brachypteryginss. 



Genus Larvivora. 



Blue Chats. 



In the classification adopted by Gates, the Brachypteryginas 

 formed a sub-family of the Crateropodidse, and, as he remarks, 

 connect them with the Turdidee. I have, however, followed 

 Stuart Baker, in transferring the Ceylon species Arrenga 

 blighi from this sub-family to the Turdinse, and the sub- 

 family itself, which now contains only one migratory Ceylon 

 species, to its present position in the Turdidee. The young 

 appear to have discarded the normal mottled plumage 

 characteristic of the family, but the afiinities seem to be 

 with the Thrushes and not with the Babblers. The Blue 

 Chat in its general colouration is not unlike the Blue Fly- 

 catchers of the genus Cyornis. It is, however, strictly 



