CYANECULA. 99 



Genus CYANECULA, Brehm, 1828. 



The genus Cyanecula contains the Blue-throats, birds which are 

 very closely allied to the English Robin. The Blue-throats may 

 be recognized by their very short tail, which is only twice the 

 length of the tarsus, and by the chestnut colour of the basal half 

 of the tail. The males, moreover, have the chin and throat a 

 brilliant blue. The females are of a dull colour, but have the tail 

 chestnut as in the male. 



The Blue-throats feed on the ground, and are generally found 

 in India in thick grass-jungle, arid more rarely in open country. 

 They prefer swampy ground. They run well, elevating the tail 

 on arriving at the end of each short course of running, and some- 

 times expanding it. They are said to be good songsters. They 

 breed in holes on the ground, and lay blue eggs spotted with 

 reddish brown. The only two species of this genus are highly 

 migratory. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Throat blue, with a chestnut spot in the 



centre C. suecica <$ , p. 99. 



b. Throat blue, either entirely or with a white 



spot in the centre C. wolfi <3 , p. 100. 



, Throat huffish w) ,ite j ?$ 



647. Cyanecula suecica. The Indian Blue-throat. 



Motacilla suecica, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 336, part. (1766). 

 Motacilla caerulecula, Pall. Zooyr. Ross.-Asiat. i, p. 480 (1811). 

 Cyanecula suecica (Linn.}, Blyth, Cat. p. 167 ; Horsf. fy M. Cat. i, 



p. 311; Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 152; Hume $ Renders. Lah. to Yark. 



p. 214 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped, p. 614 ; Lcyye, Birds Ceyl. p. 443 ; 



Hume, Cat. no. 514 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 304 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. 



p. 209. 

 Erithacus caeruleculus (Pall.), Seebohm, Cat. B. M. v, p. 308 ; Oates, 



B. B. i, p. 15. 



Huseni-pidda, Hind. ; Nil kunthi, Hind, in the N. ; Gunpigera, Gurpedra, 

 Beng. ; Dwnbak, Sind. 



Coloration. Male. Whole upper plumage with wings brown, 

 the feathers of the head and back with darker centres ; chin and 

 throat bright blue, with a chestnut spot in the centre of the throat ; 

 below the blue a band of black and below this a broader band of 

 chestnut : lores black ; a stripe from the nostrils to the eye fulvous ; 

 cheeks and ear-coverts mixed fulvous and black ; belly, flanks, vent, 

 and under tail-coverts huffish white ; middle tail-feathers brown, 

 the others chestnut on the basal half and brown on the terminal 

 half. 



Female. The whole lower plumage huffish white, with a broad 

 brown-spotted gorget across the breast. 



H2 



