RUTIC1LLA 57 



Kansu and in the mountains above the tributaries of the 

 upper Chuanche river and places its nest, which is constructed 

 of moss and lined with hair and feathers, in a cleft in the rocks, 

 and in May deposits 4 eggs which are pale pink with a 

 polished shell surface and are faintly dotted with brown. In 

 size they measure 19'5 to 20 by 14*5 to 15'5 millimetres. 



87. BLUE-HEADED REDSTART. 

 RUTICILLA C^ERULOCEPHALA. 



Euticilla cmrulocephala (Vigors), F.Z.S. 1830, p. 35 ; (Gould) Cent. B. 

 Himal. M. pi. xxv., fig. 2 ; Hume and Henderson, Lahore to Yark., 

 p. 211, pi. xiv. ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v., p. 353 ; (Gates) F. 

 Brit. Ind. Birds, ii., p. 108. 



< ad. (Himalayas). Crown and nape pale blue ; frontal line, chin, 

 throat, sides of head, breast, back, scapulars, lower rump, upper tail- 

 coverts, and tail deep black ; wings black, the median and inner greater 

 coverts and broad margins of the inner secondaries white ; underparts 

 below the breast white ; under wing-coverts and axillaries black tipped, 

 with white ; bill and legs black ; iris brown. Culmen 0'52, wing 3'2, 

 tail 2'6, tarsus 0'82 inch. The female has the upper parts rich brown ; 

 rump and upper tail-coverts rufous ; tail brown, narrowly margined with 

 ferruginous ; wings brown, the coverts and inner secondaries margined and 

 tipped with fulvous white ; under parts ashy brown with a fulvous tinge, 

 the centre of the abdomen nearly white ; a pale ring round the eye. In 

 the winter the crown, nape, and the black portions of the plumage have 

 the feathers margined with brown. The young male has in all plumages 

 the white margins on the wing, and the nestling is mottled all over. 



Hob. The Himalayas from Afghanistan and Gilgit to Bhutan, 

 and Turkestan. In the summer it inhabits the mountains 

 from 10,000 feet upwards, descending to lower altitudes in the 

 winter. 



In habits it does not appear to differ from its allies and 

 frequents wooded localities in the mountains. It breeds in May 

 and June, its nest, which, according to Major Wardlaw Ramsay, 

 is constructed of small twigs and grass, lined with hair, is placed 

 in a crevice or hole in the face of a cliff, and its eggs, 5 in 

 number, are dull cream coloured with a darker zone of the same 

 colour round the thicker end, and measure about 0'84 by 0'62. 



Several authors have separated this species from the true 

 Redstarts, placing it in the genus Adelura Bp. on account of 

 the absence of red in the tail. 



