316 TURDIN^E. 



Length. 6 inches ; wing 2'9; tail 2*4; tarsus 1*15 ; bill from gape 0*8. 



Hab. Throughout Siberia, where it breeds, extending southwards as far 

 as the extreme north of China. Winters in the Philippine Islands, British 

 Burmah, and in Northern and Central India and Bengal, also the Western 

 coast, occasionally straying into Europe. It is recorded from Arrakan by Blyth. 

 Abundant in Pegu, rather rare in Tenasserim, also at Thayetmyo and 

 Karin. Jerdon says it is found chiefly in Northern and Central India, also 

 that he saw it south of Bombay. In Bengal he says it is most common, and 

 in the eastern side of India. In its manners it is shy, silent, and solitary ; 

 haunts thickets and underwood, and feeds on the ground on various insects. 

 It has a pretty song. 



391. ErithaCUS peCtOrStlis, Gould, Icones. Avium. pt. ii. pi. I ; 

 Blyth, J. A. S. J3, xii. p. 934 (1843); id. xvi. p. 135 ; Adams, P. Z. S. 

 1858, p. 492 ; Godwin- Austen, Jf. A. S. B. xxix. pt. ii. p. 270 ; Jerd. B . Ind. 

 ii. p. 150, No. 513 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 325 ; Brooks, Str. F. 

 1875, p. 241 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. JBr. Mus. v. p. 307. Calliope ballioni, 

 Severtz. Turkest. Jevotn. pp. 65, 122; id. Str. F. 1875, p. 429. The INDIAN 

 RUBY-THROATED 



Upper parts, including the ear coverts and sides of the neck, 'a uniform dark 

 slate grey, shading into brown on the crown ; lores black ; eye-stripe white, 

 meeting in a narrow line over the forehead ; wings brown, the outer webs of 

 the wing coverts slate grey ; tail with sometimes two and sometimes four centre 

 feathers plain brown, the remaining feathers dark brown with more or less 

 white on the base and tips of most feathers ; chin and upper throat glossy 

 scarlet ; cheeks, lower throat, and upper breast dull black ; belly and under 

 tail coverts white, shading into slate grey on the flanks, axillaries, and under 

 wing coverts ; bill black ; rictal bristles almost obsolete ; legs and feet 

 brown. 



Length. 6 inches ; wing 2*7 to 2*9 ; tail 2 f o to 2 f 25 ; culmen 0*65 ; tarsus 

 1-25. 



The female differs from the male in having the general colour of the upper 

 parts a uniform earthy brown ; the black on the lores, cheeks, lower throat, 

 and upper breast replaced by greyish brown ; the slate grey of the flanks, 

 axillaries, and under wing coverts replaced by brown. Tail feathers brown 

 terminally with a spot of white. 



Hab. Throughout the Himalayas from Cashmere to Sikkim, where and in 

 Turkestan it breeds in the pine districts, and descends into the valleys 

 during the cold season. Frequents thick brushwood or long grass jungle. 

 In the Punjaub and N.-W. Provinces it is less common. In Assam, and pro- 

 bably Upper Bengal, it frequents similar situations. Of its nidification nothing 

 authentic is known. Mr. Hume had a nest and some eggs brought to him in 



