LARVIVORA. 181 



Genus LARVIVORA, Hodgs., 1837. 



The gemis Larvivora contains two species, one of which is 

 confined to India and the other is found in the eastern portion 

 of the Empire and Eastern Asia in general. The first is a migra- 

 tory, bird in a small degree, moving from the hills to the plains and 

 back again according to season ; of the second very little is known 

 except that it has a very extensive range. 



In Larvivora the sexes differ in colour, and all the evidence I 

 have been able to collect points to the fact that the nestling resembles 

 the female. The position of this genus is therefore in this sub- 

 family, to which its coloration, habits, long legs, and short tail further 

 ally it. 



In this genus the bill is slender and about half the length of the 

 head and the nostrils are long ovals. The wing is somewhat pointed, 

 with the first primary of comparatively small size ; the tarsus is 

 slender and long and the tail is very much shorter than the wing, 

 whereas in the Robins, to which the Blue Chats bear considerable 

 resemblance, the tail is proportionately much longer. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Upper plumage blue. 



a. Lower plumage white L. cyanea <$ , p. 181. 



6'. Lower plumage bright chestnut L. bnmnea tf , p. 182. 



b. Upper plumage olive-brown. 



c. Throat and breast pale fulvous, mottled with 



brown L. cyanea $ , p. 181 . 



d". Throat and breast bright fulvous, mottled 



with brown L. brunnea $ , p. 182. 



190. Larvivora cyanea. The Siberian Blue Chat. 



Motacilla cyane, Pall. Reis. JRuss. Reichs, iii, p. 697 (1776). 



Larvivora gracilis, Siuinh. Ibis, 1861, p. 262. 



Brachypteryx vel Callene, sp., Beavan, Ibis, 1870, p. 321 ; Blyth, Birds 



Burm. p. 101. 

 Larvivora cyane (Pall.}, Wald. in BlytWs Birds Burm. p. 101 ; Hume 



8f Dav. S. F. vi, pp. 335, 516 ; Hume, Cat. no. 507 bis j Bingham, 



S. F. ix, p. 185 ; Oates, S. F. x, p. 213 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 198. 

 Erithacus cyaneus (Pall.), Seebohm, Cat. B. M. v, p. 303 ; Oates, B. B. 



i, p. 13. 



Fig. 53. Head of L. cyanea. 



Coloration,. Male. The base of the bill, the lores, and a line 

 under the cheeks black ; cheeks, ear-coverts, and the whole upper 



