RUTICILLA 53 



81. GULDENSTADT'S REDSTART. 

 RUTICILLA ERYTHROGASTRA. 



Ruticilla erythroyastra (Giild.), Nov. Com. Petrop. xix.p. 469, pis. 16, 17 

 (1775) ; Gould, B. of Asia, i. pi. 49 ; Dresser, ii. p. 305, pi. 46 ; 

 Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 347 ; Tacz. F. 0. Sib. 0. p. 329 ; 

 Gates, F. Brit. Ind. Birds, ii. p. 97. 



c ad. (Caucasus). Crown and nape white tinged with silvery grey ; 

 frontal band, sides of head, throat, neck, upper breast, back, and wings 

 black, the last with a large white alar patch ; rump, tail, lower breast arid 

 under parts deep chestnut, the middle rectrices brownish ; legs and beak 

 black ; iris brown. Culmen 0'55, wing 4*1, tail 3'15, tarsus 1*0 inch. The 

 female is brownish ash, darker on the upper parts, and paler on the 

 abdomen ; tail and rump paler than in the male ; no white alar patch. 

 In the winter-dress the white feathers on the crown and nape of the male 

 have grey margins, and the plumage in both sexes is duller. The young 

 resemble the female but are mottled, the feathers having obscure pale 

 centres, and the young male has a whitish alar patch. 



Hob. The mountain ranges of the Caucasus, Turkestan, the 

 Himalayas, from Kashmir and Gilgit to Sikkim, the Onon, 

 Dauria, Mongolia, Tibet, and Northern China, descending to 

 lower altitudes and the plains in winter. 



In its habits it differs somewhat from the other Redstarts 

 and affects lakes, mountain streams, and rocky hillsides. 

 Prjevalsky found it breeding in the Nan-Schan mountains in 

 Mongolia, at an altitude of 12,000 feet, but gives no description 

 of its nest and eggs. Eastern birds have as a rule the tail 

 paler rufous and the crown whiter, and have therefore been 

 separated under the name R. grandis, (Gould, P.Z.S. 1849, 

 p. 112.) 



82. EVERSMANN'S REDSTART. 

 RUTICILLA ERYTHRONOTA. 



Ruticilla erythronota (Eversm.), Add. Pall. Zoogr. Eoss. As. fasc. ii. p. 11 

 (1841) ; Dresser, ix. p. 43, pi. 643 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. 

 p. 348 ; Tacz. F. 0. Sib. 0. p. 331 ; Gates, F. Brit. Ind. Birds, ii. 

 p. 94 ; R rufigularis, Moore, P.Z.S. 1854, p. 27, pi. lix. 



$ ad. (Afghanistan). Crown and nape slate-grey ; frontal line lores, 

 sides of neck, head, and ear-coverts black ; wings blackish externally 

 margined with grey, and with a broad band and a . small patch white ; 

 back, rump, tail, chin, throat, and under parts chestnut red, the middle 



