ARTAMTTS. 499 



Tiu-i ababil, Hind. ; Tal-chatak, Beng. ; Tati-pittak, Tel. j Murasiny, 

 of Mussulmans in Beng. j Sittiangchi-pho, Lepch. 



Fig. U6. Head otA.fuscus. 



Coloration. Lores black; head and neck all round deep grey; 

 back, scapulars, rump, and the shorter upper tail-coverts brown 

 with a vinaceous tinge ; longer tail- coverts white ; tail dark grey, 

 tipped with whitish ; wings and coverts deep grey, darker at the 

 tips, and all the quills with excessively fine but distinct margins of 

 white near the tips and on portions of the inner webs ; lower 

 plumage from the throat downwards pale purplish brown ; lower 

 tail-coverts whitish, finely barred with ashy. 



The young bird is barred with fulvous above, the white margins 

 to the quills are broader, and the wing-coverts are tipped with 

 rufous. 



Bill clear pale blue, the tip and the anterior half of the margins 

 brownish ; iris dark brown ; eyelids plumbeous ; legs slate-colour ; 

 claws dark horn ; mouth black in some, in others yellow, probably 

 varying according to season. 



Length 7*3 ; tail 2-5 ; wing 5*2 ; tarsus '65 ; bill from gape "95. 



Distribution. More or less abundant throughout the Empire, east 

 of a line drawn approximately from Godra in the Panch Mahals to 

 Naini Tal in Kuinaun, ascending the Himalayas up to 5000 feet in 

 the summer months, and resident in the plains. The limit of this 

 species in Southern Burma appears to be the latitude of Amherst. 

 It is found in Ceylon, but not in the Andamans nor Nicobars. It 

 extends into Siam and China. 



Habits, fyc. Breeds from March to July, constructing a flimsy 

 nest of grass and roots in holes of trees, or on the surface of large 

 horizontal branches or on the summit of lofty stumps. The eggs, 

 usually three in number, are white marked with brownish rusty, 

 and measure about -94 by -68. 



513. Artamus leucogaster. The White-rumped Swallow-Shrike. 



? Lanius leucorhynchus, Linn. Mantissa, p. 524 (1771). 



Ocypterus leucogaster, Valenc. Mem. Mus. dHist. Nat. vi, p. 21, 



pi. vii, fig. 2 (1820). 

 Artamus leucopygialis, Gould, P. Z. S. 1842, p. 17 ; Blyth, Cat. 



p. 109; Wald. P. Z. S. 18(56, p. 555 ; Batt, S. F. i, p. 67. 

 Artamus leucogaster ( Valenc.\ Horsf. fy M. Cat. i, p. 161 ; Oates in 



Hume's N. % E. 2nd ed. i, p. 353 j Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii, p. 3. 

 Artamus leucorhynchus (Lmn.\ Hume, S. F. ii, p. 214 j id. N. fy E. 



p. 195 ; id. Cat. no. 287 bis. 



2x2 



