56 RUT 1C ILL A 



down the breast, and the abdomen is chestnut-red instead of grey. 

 Culmen 0*5, wing 3'25, tail 2 - 5, tarsus 0*85 inch. The female resembles 

 the female of/?, tltys but has the lower abdomen tinged with chestnut-red. 



Hal. Asia Minor and the Caucasus, passing south in the 

 winter. 



It resembles R. titys in its habits except that it does not 

 visit inhabited places so much as that species but frequents 

 rocky mountainous localities. It nests in the mountains, in 

 clefts of rocks or in old towers, its nest being of fine roots and 

 grass-bents, and lined with finer roots and hair, and deposits 4 

 or 5 eggs, which are white with a very faint blue tinge, but 

 according to M. Lorenz the eggs are deep blue. 



86. WHITE-THROATED REDSTART. 



RUTICILLA SCHISTICEPS. 



Ruticilla schisticeps (Hodgs.), MS. drawings of B. of Nepal Passeres, 

 pi. Ixxix., No. 813 ; id. in Gray's, 3 vol. Misc. p. 83 (1844), pi. Ixi. ; 

 Prjev. Mongol, i Strana Tangut. ii., tab. xx. fig. 10 (egg) ; Pleske, 

 Prjevalsky's E-eisen Vogel, ii., Vb'gel Taf. v. (egg) ; Seebohm, Cat. 

 B. Br. Mus. v. p. 351 ; Gates, F. Brit. Ind. Birds, ii. p. 92 ; R. nujro- 

 gularis Moore, P.Z.S. 1854, p. 29. 



ad. (Sikhim). Crown and nape cobalt, rather duller on the nape ; 

 a narrow frontal line, sides of the head and neck, throat, back, and 

 scapulars black ; the longer scapulars broadly tipped with chestnut ; tail 

 black : all but the middle feathers with concealed chestnut bases ; wings 

 black ; the larger wing-coverts and outer margins of the inner secondaries 

 white ; a well defined white patch on the throat ; rump, tail-coverts, and 

 under parts below the throat rich dark chestnut ; the centre of the abdomen 

 whitish ; bill and legs black ; iris brown. Culmen 0'52, wings 3*5, tail 2*9, 

 tarsus 0'9 inch. Female ; crown nape, back, and upper rump rich brown ; 

 lower rump, tail-coverts, and basal half of tail, except the middle feathers, 

 chestnut-red ; rest of tail bark brown ; wings dark brown, with less white 

 than in the male ; underparts warm brownish ash-grey, whitish on the 

 centre of the abdomen ; a large white patch on the throat. In the autumn 

 the black portions of the plumage and the crown in the male are margined 

 with fulvous. 



Hob. The mountains of Nepal and Sikhim, Tibet, Mongolia, 

 and North West China, 



It frequents bush-covered localities in the mountains, and 

 forests, both pine and deciduous. It breeds in the province of 



