NOTODELA. 59 



nidiftcation in the Pulney Hills, from which it may be inferred that the White- 

 bellied or Pulney Short-wing breeds during April in a hole in the side of the 

 trunk of a tree, and that two is the normal number of eggs. Colour grey, with 

 a tinge of green or olive brown, thickly covered with small spots of bistre. 

 Size 0*9 x O'68 inch. 



483. C illeU3 rulivontriS, Jerd., J?. Ind. i. p. 496 ; id , Ibis, 1872, 

 p 13?; Hume, Ncs/s and Eggs, Ind. 23. p. 219; id., Sir. F. 1879, P- 93; 

 Sharp?, Cat. B. Br.Mus, vii. p. 16. Phcenicura major, Jerd., Madr. Journ. 

 xiii. p. 170; Blythy Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 178. The RUFOUS-FLANKED 

 SHORT-WING. 



Above slaty grey, the forehead paler, showing an indistinct band of paler 

 blue; the lores and nasal plumes blackish, the former washed with slaty blue; 

 sides of face and throat slaty blue, lesser and median wing coverts slaty grey ; 

 the greater series and quills blackish, externally washed with slaty grey; 

 tail dusky, the feathers externally washed with slaty grey ; abdomen white ; 

 sides of body and flanks reddish buff; under tail coverts brighter fulvous ; 

 Uftder wing coverts the same, the axillaries also, but with grey bases- Bill 

 black ; legs dirty reddish ; irides brown. 



Length, 6-5 to 7 inches; wing 3^3 ; tail 2'6 ; tarsus ri5; culmen 0*65* 



Hab. Southern India ; confined to the Neilgherries. Reid in his " Cat, B. 

 Prov. Mus., Lucknow," records it also from the Brahmagerries, Coorg. It 

 breeds in holes or depressions of banks in the Neilgherries in April and May. 

 The nests, Mr. Hume says, resemble those of Niltava Macgrigoritz from 

 Darjeeling. They are soft masses of green moss, some 4 or 5 inches in 

 diameter externally, lined with very fine dark moss roots. Eggs two in 

 number, pale olive-brown mottled with reddish brown at the large end, and 

 forming an ill-defined cap. Size 0^97 to 1*02 inch x 0-65 to 0*69 inch. 

 Gen. NotOdela Less. 



Bill short, slender, compressed, notched and slightly curved at the tip ; 

 rictus very feebly bristled ; wings long, falling short of tail by less than the 

 length of tarsus; 5th quill longest; tail moderately long, broad, slightly 

 rounded ; tarsi long and smooth. 



497- NotOdela lOUCUra, Blyth, J. A. S. B xvi. p. 138; Hume, Str. 

 F. 1874, p. 477 ; id., Nesfs and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 306 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. 

 Mus. vii. p. 23. Muscisylvia leucura, ffodgs., P. Z. S. 1845, p. 27. Myiomela 

 leucura, Hodgs., P. Z. S. 1845, P- 2 7- Myiomela leucura, Jerd., B. Ind. 

 ii. p. Il8, No. 477; Bl. and Wald. B. Burm. p. loo; Hume, Sir. F. vi. 

 p. 103 ; Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi. p. 334 ; Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 23. 

 The WHITE-TAILED BLUE-CHAT. 



Male. Forehead, over the eye and the lesser wing coverts, bright smalt 

 blue ; the whole plumage indigo blue or blue black, the edges of the feathers 

 only being of a blue colour ; throat, breast and abdomen almost plain black. 



