204 MUSCICAPID^E, 



of the 4th ; the 5th and 6th quills subequal ; feet moderate ; claws slender, 

 moderately curved. 



230. Xanthopygia fuliginosa, ( Vfg.) Sharpe, Cat. . Br. M. iv. 



p. 253. Phoenicura fuliginosa, Vig. P. Z. S. 1831, p. 35 ; Myth, J. A. S. 

 B. xi. p. 190. Phoenicura rubicauda, Hodgs. in Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 82. 

 Ruticilla fuliginosa, Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 180; Blyth,J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 134; 

 Moore, P. Z. S. 1854, p. 29 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 142. Ruticilla plumbea, 

 Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 134. Rhyacornis fuliginosa, Blanford, J. A. S. B. 

 xli. pt. i. p. 51; Bl. and Wald. B. Burm. p. lol ; Brooks, tr. F. 1875, 

 p. 240 ; Inglis, Sir. F. 1877, p. 37. Nymphaeus fuliginosus, Hume, Nests 

 and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 322 ; Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 284. The PLUMBEOUS 

 WATER- ROBIN. 



Male. The whole plumage dull cyaneous ; upper and lower tail coverts, 

 vent and tail bright chestnut ; wings black, edged externally with bluish or light 

 slaty grey ; a frontal line and feathers in front of the eye blackish ; bill black ; 

 gape fleshy white ; irides dark brown ; feet dark horny brown ; claws black. 



Length. 4*5 inches; wing 3*05 ; tail 2 g i ; tarsus 0*9 ; culmen 0*45. 



The female is dull bluish brown above, the upper and under tail coverts 

 while ; tail feathers white at base, brown at the tips, the white increasing 

 obliquely toward the outer tail feather, which is entirely white, except a narrow 

 edging along the outer web and a small brown tip to the inner one ; two 

 centre tail feathers rufous brown ; wing coverts like the back, and tipped with a 

 small spot of ashy white ; primary coverts dark brown ; lores buffy white, 

 mottled with dusky bases to the feathers ; orbital ring of feathers dull rufous ; 

 ear coverts dull ashy brown, with broad white shaft streaks ; whole lower 

 plumage ashy brown, each feather centred with whitish and margined with 

 paler ashy ; tertiaries brown, edged with rufescent and tipped with whitish. 



Length. 4*5 inches ; wing 2*6; tail 1*9; tarsus 0*85; culmen 0-45. 



Hob. The Himalayas, ranging to China and Mongolia. It is found in 

 South China, the hill tracts of Eastern Bengal, and along the whole range of 

 the Himalayas from Assam to the North- West. 



According to Jerdon it lives entirely along rivers and mountain-torrents, 

 and may often be seen on a wet and slippery rock just above a boiling rapid ; 

 it climbs up the wet rocks with great facility, and, every now and then alight- 

 ing on a rock, it spreads its tail, but does not vibrate it like some of the 

 Redstarts. Its flight is rapid and direct. It feeds on various aquatic insects 

 and larvae, some kinds of which are always found just at the edge of the water, 

 and which a wave often leaves behind it on a rock. The nest, made chiefly 

 of moss, is placed on the shelf of a rock, or in a hole in a bank, and the eggs, 

 3 to 5 in number, are faint green, marked with pale reddish brown. 



