314 



MOTACILLTD^E. 



Coloration. The whole upper plumage, wings, and tail blackish 

 brown, each feather margined with rich rufous buff, the terminal 

 two thirds of the outermost tail-feather diagonally white, the 

 penultimate feather with about an inch of white at the tip, the 

 next feather with a narrow white tip, the next tipped very faintly 

 at the extreme tip ; an indistinct pale fulvous supercilium ; sides 

 of the head pale fulvous streaked with blackish ; chin and throat 

 white, bounded on either side by a narrow black moustachial 

 streak ; fore neck, breast, sides of the body, vent, and under tail- 

 coverts buff streaked with black, the streaks on the breast more or 

 less triangular, those on the other parts narrow and long ; abdomen 

 unspotted pale fulvous. 



Fig. 86. Tail of 0. sylvanus. 



In the summer the rufous margins on the upper plumage and 

 the triangular marks on the breast become much worn away. 



Upper mandible blackish brown ; lower mandible, legs, and feet 

 fleshy, tip of lower mandible and claws shaded dusky ; iris dark 

 brown (Hume). 



Length about 7 ; tail 3 ; wing 3'2 ; tarsus *95 ; bill from gape 

 8 ; hind claw '35. 



Distribution. The Himalayas from Murree to Nepal, where this 

 species appears to be a permanent resident. A specimen in the 

 Hume Collection is stated to have been obtained at Etawah in the 

 plains, but probably there is some error. 



Habits, &fc. Breeds on the Himalayas from 4000 to 8000 feet 

 about May and June, making a shallow open nest of grass on the 

 ground under a tuft of grass or a stone, and laying four or five eggs, 

 which are whitish marked with red and purple, and measure 

 about -9 bv 68. 



