318 TURDIN^E. 



one ; rest of under surface buffy white ; tail rufous or pale ferruginous, the two 

 centre feathers and the terminal third of the others dark brown, lighter on the 

 outermost ; ear-coverts silky rufescent brown ; bill dusky ; gape yellow ; legs 

 dusky brown ; irides dark brown. 



Length. 5-5 to 6-5 inches ; wing 3 ; tail 2 to 2-25. The female is like the 

 male, but without the pectoral gorget ; the throat, chin, and neck buffy white, 

 with a line of dusky brown from the base of the side of the lower mandible 

 continued to, and across the breast ; rest of under surface buffy white. 



Hal. Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Winters in the plains of India. 

 Common in Sind, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Bengal, and the whole of India, 

 to Nepaul and Cashmere; also in Beloochistan, S.-E. Persia, Afghanis- 

 tan, and E. Turkistan. It has been recorded from Arrakan, and is found 

 nearly throughout British Burmah. Its habits are quite those of its congeners, 

 frequenting thick brushwood and long grass jungle in the vicinity of water. 



Gen. Sialia. Swainson. 



A small group of birds, the natural position of which is difficult to 

 define. Some authors place the genus among the Saxicolinae, which is as 

 nearly as possible its true place, being very closely related to the Redstarts. 



The single species known in India was characterized by Hodgson under 

 the generic title of Grandala (J . A. S. B. xii. p. 447), which was admitted 

 by Blyth and subsequently by Jerdon. Seebohm, however, in his Cat. B. 

 Br. Mus. v. p. 327, places Grandala as a synonym of Sialia, which I 

 follow. 



The genus is characterized by Jerdon and Seebohm as having a moderate, 

 slender, straight, and black bill, slightly depressed at the base. Nostrils oval ; 

 rictal bristles nearly obsolete ; legs black ; tarsus not scutellated ; tail moderate, 

 of 12 feathers, slightly forked ; wings long and pointed ; 2nd primary as 

 long or nearly so as the third; tertials half the length of the primaries ; colour 

 blue. 



Sialia Ccellcolor. 



