234 MUSCICAPID^E. 



Nasal plumes and lores black ; forehead, crown, nape and a small patch on 

 the wing coverts near the edge of the wing cobalt blue ; upper plumage and 

 wing coverts deep blue ; quills dark brown, edged with blue ; four central 

 feathers dull blue ; the next pair dark brown, edged with blue and with a 

 long streak of white on the outer web ; the next two pairs brown on the outer 

 webs and almost entirely white on the inner webs ; the outermost pair brown, 

 merely white at the base ; sides of the head and neck, chin and throat, dull 

 blue; abdomen and sides of the body bluish grey; vent and under tail coverts 

 pure white ; under wing coverts ashy. 



The female has the nasal plumes and lores reddish brown ; the upper 

 plumage olive brown tinged with rufous ; wing coverts and quills dark brown, 

 margined with rufous ; tail the same, the white on the feathers the same as in 

 the male, except that the outermost feathers are broadly edged with white 

 on the inner web ; chin, throat, breast and sides of the body rufous olive ; 

 foreneck with a large patch of white ; centre of abdomen whitish ; vent and 

 under tail coverts white ; under wing coverts and axillaries rufous ashy ; bill 

 black ; legs light brown ; irides deep brown. (Limborg.) 



Length. 7 inches; tail 3 ; wing 3*6; tarsus O'9 ; bill from gape I. (Gates.) 



Ilab. Tenasserim, where it was procured by Mr. Limborg ; at Taoo and on 



the Mooleyit Range at elevations of 5,000 and 2,000 feet. It is, according to 



Davison, an eminently forest bird. It has the habit of rapidly expanding its 



tail, thus showing the white on it. 



274. Niltava macgrigorise, (Burton.) Jerd. B. imL i. p. 475, 



No. 315 ; Hume, Nests, and Eggs, p. 214 ; Wald in BL B. Burm. p. 102 ; 

 Hume and Dav., Sir. F. vi. p 231 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 465; 

 Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 93 ; Phoenicura macgrigorios, Burton, P. Z. S. 1835, 

 p. 152. Niltava vivida, Hume, Sir. F. ii. p. 475. The SMALL FAIRY BLUE- 

 CHAT. 



Above rich purplish blue ; forehead, eyebrow, rump, upper tail coverts and a 

 spot on each side of the neck brilliant rich cobalt ; lores, sides of face, feathers 

 above the eye and entire throat deep purple ; lesser wing coverts purplish blue ; 

 median coverts and quills black, edged externally with purplish blue ; tail 

 feathers deep purplish blue, all but the centre feathers black on the inner web ; 

 lower plumage ashy, becoming albescent on the abdomen and under tail 

 coverts ; under wing coverts and axillaries pure white ; bill black ; legs reddish 

 black ; iris dark brown. 



The adult female is plain olivaceous above, lighter below, with a neck patch 

 of light lavender blue. 



Length. 4 '6 to 4'8 inches ; wing 26; tail 2*15 ; tarsus 0*7; culmen o'6. 



Hab. The Himalayas up to Simla in the N. W. Provinces, also Oudh, the 

 hills of Eastern Bengal, Assam, Sikkim, British Burmah and Nepaul. 



