TEPHRODORNIS. 475 



and back bluish ashy ; rump, scapulars, and lesser wing-coverts 

 brown tinged with ashy ; a baud of white on the lower rump ; 

 upper tail-coverts dark brown ; wings, tail, median and greater 

 wing-coverts brown ; lower plumage pale vinaceous, turning to 

 pure white on the lower abdomen, flanks, and under tail-coverts. 



Female. Differs from the male in having hardly any tinge of ashy 

 on the upper plumage and in having the eye-band brown. 



Bill and claws black ; legs and feet dark plumbeous ; iris oil- or 

 greenish yellow (Davison}. 



Length about 8'5 ; tail 3'3 : wing 4*4 ; tarsus *75 ; bill from 

 gape 1'2. 



Distribution. The western coast of India from Belgaum to 

 Travancore. This species ascends the Nilgiris and other hill- 

 ranges up to about 5500 feet. 



Habits, <$fc. Breeds in Mysore in April. A nest found in that 

 state was composed of roots and fibres woven into a shallow cup 

 and covered with cobwebs and lichens, and was placed in a tree. 

 The eggs, two in number, were white marked with blackish brown 

 and inky-purple and measured *98 by '73. 



488. Tephrodornis pondicerianus. The Common Wood-Shrike. 



Muscicapa pondiceriana, Gmel. Syst. Nat. \, p. 939 (1788). 



Tephrodornis affinis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi, p. 473 (1847) ; id. Cat. 

 p. 153 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 434 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii, p. 276. 



Tephrodornis pondiceriana (Gm.), Blyth, Cat. p. 153; Horsf. 8f M. 

 Cat. i, p. 169 ; Jerd. B. I. i, p. 410 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 176 ; Sharpe, 

 Cat. B. M. iii, p. 275 ; Anders. Yunnan, Exped., Aves, p. 646 ; 

 Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 372 ; Hume, Cat. no. 265 ; Oates, B. B. i, 

 p. 254 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 147 ; Oates in Hume's N. 8f E. 2nd 

 ed. i, p. 332. 



Coloration. The whole upper plumage with the lesser wing- 

 coverts ashy brown, the rump-feathers tipped with white ; upper 

 tail-coverts dark brown ; a broad supercilium white, tinged with 

 rufous ; lores, cheeks, and feathers under the eye dark brown ; 

 lower plumage ashy, whiter on the throat and abdomen and darker 

 on the flanks ; under tail-coverts white ; wings, with the median 

 and greater coverts, ashy brow r n, each feather very narrowly edged 

 paler ; the two outer pairs of tail-feathers white, the bases brown 

 and with a brown patch near the tip ; the remaining feathers en- 

 tirely dark brown, the median feathers tinged with ashy. 



The nestling is banded with rufous above and slightly mottled 

 with brown below. 



Bill dark horn-colour ; inside of mouth flesh-colour ; eyelids 

 plumbeous ; iris yellowish brown ; legs and feet dark plumbeous 

 brown ; claws dark horn-colour. 



Length about 6'5 ; tail 2'7 ; wing 3'3 ; tarsus *75 ; bill from 

 gape *88. 



The plumage of this species varies considerably in different parts 

 of its range, especially with reference to the depth of colour and 

 the extent and purity of the white of the supercilium. 



Distribution. This species is found over nearly the whole Empire 



