24 MUSCICAPID^E. 



tening blue; lores and the feathers at the base of the bill black ; 

 ear-coverts dusky blue; upper plumage dark blue, the tail with 



Fig. 8. Bill of C. ritbeculoides. 



black shafts and the inner webs mostly brown ; wings dark brown, 

 each feather narrowly edged with dark blue ; lesser wing-coverts 

 bright blue; chin, throat, cheeks, and sides of the neck dusky 

 blue ; breast and upper abdomen bright ferruginous ; lower ab- 

 domen and under tail-coverts white ; under wing-coverts pale 

 ferruginous. 



Female. Lores albescent; upper plumage olive-brown, tinged 

 with ferruginous, especially on the forehead, round the eye, and 

 on the upper tail-coverts ; wings and tail brown, edged with fer- 

 ruginous ; chin, throat, and breast ruddy ferruginous ; abdomen 

 and under tail-coverts white. 



The young are brown, streaked above with fulvous, the coverts 

 broadly tipped with fulvous ; throat and breast bright fulvous 

 mottled with brown ; abdomen white. 



Iris brown ; bill black, flesh-coloured at the gape ; legs and toes 

 pale flesh-colour ; claws pale horn-colour. 



Length 5'7; tail 2*4; wing 2*7; tarsus '7 ; bill from gape *7. 

 All the males of this species throughout the continent of India, 

 and from Assam to Manipur have the blue on the throat of con- 

 siderable extent, and sharply denned from the red breast. In only 

 a very few instances does the red of the breast run up into the 

 blue for a short distance. 



From Manipur to Tenasserim the males almost invariably have 

 the red running up into the blue throat, but a considerable amount 

 of blue is always left between the tip of the red and the angle of 

 the chin. The amount and character of the blue on the sides of 

 the throat also varies a good deal in this species. I am therefore 

 quite unable to recognize the Tenasserim and Karennee race as 

 distinct from the Indian, as the transition from one type to the 

 other is very gradual. 



Distribution. The whole extent of the Himalayas up to 6000 or 

 7000 feet ; a considerable portion of the plains of India from the 

 Himalayas to Ceylon ; I have failed to find any record of the 

 occurrence of this species in Sind, the Punjab, Eajputana, Guzerat, 

 arid Cutch; the line of migration from Kashmir is apparently 

 along the Himalayas to Nepal, and thence to the plains. In India 

 proper this bird is by no means common, but to the east, through- 

 out Burma down to the extreme south of Tenasserim, it is more 

 abundant. It is found in the Himalayas during the summer, and 



