156 



grey on the sides of the breast and body ; the cheeks, sides of the 

 throat and neck, the whole breast, and the upper half of the 

 abdomen with fan-shaped or triangular black spots ; axillaries 



Fig. 39. Head of Cr. sjj 



white, tipped with dark brown ; under wing-coverts dark brown, 

 tipped with white. 



Iris brown ; eyelid leaden grey ; bill blackish, pale at gape ; legs 

 and feet dusky bluish grey or greyish fleshy ; claws dusky horn 

 (Legge). 



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

 gape 1-15. 



Distribution. Confined to Ceylon up to 4000 feet. 



Habits, $c. A nest of this bird was found by Legge in January 

 containing two eggs bluish green freckled with rufous, and 

 measuring 1*19 by '79. 



Genus ZOOTHERA, Vigors, 1831. 



In the genus Zoofhera the sexes are alike, the under wing-coverts 

 and axillaries of two colours, the colours in the one part transposed 

 or reversed in the other, the lower plumage squamated, not distinctly 

 barred nor spotted, and the rictal bristles very numerous and long. 

 The anterior or supplementary bristles extend over the nostrils as 

 in the Flycatchers, and Zoothera is the only genus of Thrushes in 

 which this feature is present. The bill is very long and strongly 

 curved near the tip, and the edges of the mandibles are frequently 

 serrated by wear and tear, but never originally so. 



The Thrushes of this genus are non-migratory, and they are 

 found in thickly-wooded tracts. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Upper plumage dark slaty ; feathers of breast 



tipped with brown ; wing- 5'5 Z. tnonticolo, p. 157. 



b. Upper plumage olive-brown ; feathers of breast 



margined with brown ; wing 5 Z. marginata, p. ]57. 



