PETROPHILA. 5 



abdomen, barred with dark brown; under tail-coverts white \\itli 



blackish streaks. 



13111 brownish black, the gape bright yellow ; tarsi dusky slaty ; 

 the toes brownish black ; claws blackish horny (Scully). 



Length about 7*5 ; tail 2*8 ; wing 4 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from gape 1*1 . 



Distribution. Found in summer throughout the Himalayas from 

 Afghanistan and Kashmir to Bhutan; in winter throughout the 

 plains of India as far south as Coorg, the Nilgiris and probably to 

 Cape Comorin. This species in the winter months is more fre- 

 quent on the hill-ranges of Western India than elsewhere, but it is 

 known to occur in almost all parts of the peninsula from. Sind to 

 Bengal. Blylh records it from Arrakan. 



Habits, cj-c. Breeds in the Himalayas from 4000 to 8000 feet 

 from April to June, constructing a cup-shaped nest of moss and 

 dead leaves at the root of a tree, in a hole in a bank or in an old 

 wall. The eggs, four in number, are pinkish white, densely 

 IVeekled witli brown and rufous, and measure about '92 by *72. 



092. Petrophila solitaria. The Eastern Blue Roclc-Thrmli. 



T urclus solitnrius, P. L. S. Mii/fcr, A>/.< Nat., Anlumy, p. 142 (1770). 



Tiirtlus manillensis, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 833 (17s s ). 



Petrocincla manillensis (Gm.),Blyth, Cat. p. 164; Horsf. $ M. Cat. 



i, p. 188. 

 Cyanocincla solitaria (MiiU.\ Hume 8f Lav. S. F. vi, p. 248 ; Hume, 



Cat. no. 3olbis; id. S. F. xi, p. 125. 

 Monticola solitaria (Mull), Scebohm, Cat. JB. M. v, p. 319. 



Coloration. Male. The whole head, neck, breast, upper plumage 

 and lesser wing-coverts bright blue, most of the feathers \\ithsmal 

 white tips and subterminal black spots ; median, greater, and 

 primary coverts blackish, edged with blue and tipped with white; 

 quills and tail black, edged with bluish and each feather very 

 narrowly tipped white; abdomen, vent, under tail-covert, axil- 

 laries, and under wing-coverts chestnut, with narrow white fringes 

 and black subterminal bars ; thighs and flank-feathers adjacent 

 to them blue. 



At the end of winter the white fringes and subterminal black 

 bars on the blue parts of the plumage are entirely lost, and the 

 marks on the chestnut parts are also removed by abrasion in great 

 measure, but never entirely. 



Female. After the autumn moult the whole upper plumage and 

 lesser wing-coverts are avery dull blue, most of the feathers being 

 fringed with white and with a subterminal black bar, and the 

 feathers of the back with black shafts ; quills and remaining wing- 

 coverts dark brown, edged with dull blue and tipped white ; the 

 whole lower plumage and the sides of the head and neck pale buffy 

 white, each feather subterminally margined with black ; the under 

 wing-coverts axillaries, and under tnil-co\vr1> snlViiM-d \\ith rufous 

 and irregularly barred with black. In summer all tin- margins of 

 the feathers become abraded, causing the plumage to become more 

 uniform. 



VOL. II. L 



