] 40 



and throat white ; an oblique brown band from the eye down- 

 wards, succeeded by a baud of white behind it running down the 

 neck, and by another brown band running through the middle of 

 the ear-coverts, followed again by a narrow white patch ; axillaries 

 white, tipped with ashy fulvous; under wing-coverts slaty blue, 

 tipped with white ; a large patch of white on the underside of the 

 quills. 



Female. Differs from the male in having the back, scapulars, 

 the outer webs of the secondaries, and many of the wing-coverts 

 suffused with olive-green. 



Iris dark brown ; bill black ; feet fleshy ; claws dusky (Fair- 

 bank}. 



Length about 8*5 ; tail 3 ; wing 4*1 ; tarsus 1*2 ; bill from 

 gape 1-1. 



Distribution. The southern half of the peninsula of India, from 

 about north latitude 24 to Travancore. This species appears to 

 be resident or very locally migratory within the above-defined area, 

 and to be found up to 4000 feet. 



Habits, fyc. Breeds from June to September, making a nest 

 apparently very similar to that of G. citrina, but using mud in its 

 construction. The eggs are pale bluish or greenish white marked 

 with rufous, and measure about 1 by '75. 



686. Geocichla citrina. The Orange-headed Ground- 

 Thrush. 



Turdus citrinus, Lath. Ind. Orn. i, p. 350 (1790). 



Geocichla citrina (Lath.), Blyth, Cat. p. 163 ; Horsf. 8f M. Cat. i, 



p. 189; Jerd. B. I. \, p. 517 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 229 ; Hume $ 



Dav. S. F. vi, p. 250 ; Hume, Cat. no. 355 ; Leyge, Birds Ceyl. 



p. 457 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 283 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. M. v, p. 172 ; 



Gates, B. B. i, p. 3; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 171 ; Oates in Hume's 



N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 100. 

 Geocichla layardi, Wald. A. M. N. H. (4) v, p. 416 (1870); Hume, 



S. F. iii, p. 401. 



Coloration. Male. The whole head, neck, and lower parts as 

 far as the vent orange-chestnut, darker on the crown and paler 

 beneath ; vent, thighs, and under tail-coverts pure white ; back, 

 scapulars, rump, upper tail-coverts, and lesser wing-coverts bluish 

 grey, the edges of the feathers paler ; median wing-coverts broadly 

 tipped white, forming a conspicuous spot ; remaining coverts and 

 the quills dark brown, edged exteriorly with bluish grey ; tail ashy 

 brown indistinctly cross-barred ; axillaries white, tipped with 

 grey ; under wing-coverts ashy tipped with white ; a large white 

 patch on the underside of the quills. 



Female. Of a paler chestnut throughout ; the back and scapulars 

 greenish brown with yellowish margins ; upper tail-coverts and 

 the outer webs of the feathers of the wings and tail suffused with 

 green. 



Bill very dark brown, the gape and the base of the lower mandible 



