142 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



Young birds resemble females, but have broader white 

 fringes. 



BiU, legs, and feet black ; iris hazel. 



Length about 9*5; wing 4*9 ; tail 3*4; tarsus 1*2 ; bill 

 from gape 1'2. 



Distribution. — The Blue Rock Thrush breeds over a wide 

 range from Southern Europe to China and winters in Northern 

 Africa and Southern Asia. It varies considerably, the present 

 sub-species, which is the Western form, visits almost the 

 whole of the Indian Empire in winter. In Ceylon it is only 

 an occasional visitor, which has been recorded from a few 

 localities in the hiUs. 



Habits. — A shy restless bird, which may be looked for in 

 bare rocky spots, especially under high precipices. Birds 

 which visit us appear to frequent the same locality during 

 the whole of their stay. 



Oreocincla imbricata. 



The Ceylon Thrush. 



Oreocincla inihricata (Gates, Vol. II., p. 154 ; Legge, p. 455). 



Description. — Head and upper body plumage olive-brown, 

 slightly paler on the rump and upper tail coverts, the feathers 

 with crescent -shaped black tips giving the plumage a scaly 

 appearance ; feathers of the head and neck each with a pale 

 shaft-streak, which adjoining the black tip becomes a tawny 

 patch, this is more noticeable in some specimens than in 

 others ; wings dark brown, the secondary coverts tipped and 

 narrowly edged on the outer web with tawny-bufl, the 

 primary coverts black on the inner web and tip, the outer 

 web washed with tawny-buff, the quills more faintly washed 

 on the outer web with the same hue ; tail olive -brown, the 

 three feathers next the outermost on each side blackish with 

 paler tips ; face and lower parts rich tawny -buff, the chin 

 and abdomen paler, each feather with a bold black crescent - 

 shaped tip, these tips become almost obsolete on the chin, 

 centre of abdomen, and lower tail coverts ; axillaries white 

 at the base, black at the tip ; wing-lining black tipped with 

 white. 



