SAXICOLIN/E. 197 



exposed basal ; wings moderate, fourth and fifth quills longest, 

 third nearly equal to them ; tail rather long, graduated, or with 

 the six central feathers equal, the outer ones graduated ; tarsus 

 moderately long, stout, nearly entire ; feet moderate ; middle-toe 

 long ; hind-toe and claw moderate ; claws slightly curved. 



Copsychus saularis, Lin. 



475. -Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 115; Butler, Guzerat ; 



Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, p. 474 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. 

 IX, p. 404 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 137 ; 



Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 124. 

 THE MAGPIE ROBIN. 



Length, 775 to 8*5 ; expanse, 11 '5 ; wing, 3'8 to 4 ; tail, 3'25 ; 

 tarsus, 1-12 ; bill at front, 68. 



Bill black ; irides brown ; legs black. 



Head, neck, breast, body above, and wings, black, glossed blue 

 on all parts except the wings ; abdomen, vent and under tail- 

 coverts, white ; the four outer tail-feathers on each side white. 



The female is duller black than the males and somewhat 

 ashy on the breast. 



The young birds have the breast dusky with ruddy spots, 

 the upper surface olive-brown turning to slaty. 



The Magpie Robin is distributed generally throughout the 

 district, common in parts of the Deccan, very common in 

 Western Raj pu tana, and not uncommon in Guzerat. In Sind 

 it occurs but rarely. 



I do not think that any remain to breed in Guzerat, but at 

 Poona, at Mhow, and again in Neemuch, I found them breeding 

 plentifully during May, June and July. The nest is generally 

 in a hole in a tree sometimes at a considerable height from the 

 ground, but generally not more than eight or ten feet. 



The nest is saucer-shaped, sometimes only a mere pad, and 

 is composed of grass roots, fibres, feathers, &c. The eggs, four 

 or five in number, are typically oval in shape ; the ground color 

 is subject to considerable variation. 



In some it is greenish or pale-greenish blue, in others greenish- 

 white, or even pale sea-green, streaked and blotched with different 

 shades of reddish-brown, most densely so at the larger end. 

 They average 0'87 inches in length by 0'66 in breadth. 



GENUS, Kittaeincla, Gould. 

 (Cercotrichas.) 



Bill more slender than in the last ; tail very long, graduated ; 

 wings slightly more rounded ; tarsus slender, pale ; lateral toes 

 very short. 



Kittacincla (Cercotrichas) macroura, Gmelin. 



476. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 116 ; Butler, Deccan; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 404. 



