MONTICOLA. 



Length. 7 to 7-5 inches; wing 4; tail 275 to 3; bill at front I. 



Hal. The Indian Peninsula, ranging to Nepaul and Cashmere. Occurs 

 sparingly in Sind, Punjab, and N.-W. Provinces, and more abundantly in the 

 Concan, Deccan, Travancore, North Guzcrat, and Rajputana in the course of 

 its migration. Breeds in the Himalayas. Eggs 4, pale blue, spotted with 

 brown ; size 0-96 x 0-79. 



387. Monticola erythrogaster, ( Vig.} Dav. et Oust. Ois. Chine, 



p. 159; Scebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 325. Turdus erythrogaster, ( Vig.) 

 P. Z. S. 1831, p. 171. Orocetes erythrogaster, (K/.) Jerd. JB. Ind. i. p. 5*4, 

 No. 352 : Hume and Davison, Str. F. vi. p. 250. Petrophila erythrogaster, 

 (Vig.) Hume, Nzsts and Eg%s, Ind. B. p. 227; Str. F. viii. p. 94; Scully t 

 Sir. F. viii, p. 282. The CHESTNUT-BELLIED ROCK THRUSH, 



Whole upper plumage cobalt blue, more or less dusky, and occasionally 

 blackish on the back ; wings black, all but the first two primaries blue on the 

 outer web ; lores, cheeks, and ear coverts black ; chin and throat dusky blue ; 

 remainder of lower plumage, including the axillaries and under wing coverts, 

 bright chestnut ; tail blue turning to dusky on the inner webs. 



The upper plumage of the female is brown ; the rump, lower back, and 

 upper tail coverts barred with black ; wings brown, each feather edged with 

 dusky white ; chin and a line down the throat buff ; a spot on the side 

 of the neck .fulvous ; sides of the head blackish, with pale central streaks ; 

 under plumage buffy, barred with black ; tail uniform brown. The young 

 are like the female. In the first stage the plumage above is barred with 

 black, which gradually disappears. The variations of colour in the young, 

 however, are very great. 



Bill black j irides dark brown ; feet vinous brown, In the female the bill 

 is dusky. 



Length. 9-4 to 9*5 inches ; wing 4*7 to 4-9 ; tail 4 to 4*2 ; tarsus i'l ; bill 

 from gape 1*2. 



Hab. The Himalayas from Nepaul to Assam and British Burmah. It is 

 recorded from the N.-W. Himalayas, Kumaon, Nepaul, Darjeeling, and 

 Bhootan, also the Upper Punjab and N.-W. Provinces. Dr. Jerdon procured 

 it in the Khasia Hills and Colonel Godwin-Austen in North Cachar. In 

 Burmah Captain Wardlaw-Ramsay obtained it on the hills east of Tounghoo. 

 Hume says he has only once seen the nest of the Chestnut-bellied Thrush 

 on a journey from Kangra into Kooloo. It was placed at the root of a tree 

 in the forest, and was a large shallow saucer, composed almost entirely of 

 moss and lined with moss roots. The species lay from May to August. Eggs, 

 4 in number, somewhat buff-coloured and about ri by 0^75 inches in size. 

 The average size is I by 0-75 inch. 



