2§o Oil some beautiful Insectivorous Birds from the Himalayas.


And when he warbles; his brilliant ruby, just under his

"bill, glistens and expands, and shines out brightly against the

rest of his colouring, which is grey and black and white.


Long in the shanks, he runs in Wagtail fashion on the

ground, flirting his tail up and down.


Whilst singing he spreads his black and white tail out

in fan fashion. One always knows when he is going to sing,

or it seems to me that the tail is spread a moment before

the notes are uttered.


Although the beautiful spot of ruby-red does not extend

as far down the throat, as in the case of the Siberian Ruby-

throated Warbler, yet the latter bird is not so pretty as it’s

Himalayan cousin, for the Siberian bird is for the most part of a

brown hue above, not that he is not extremely pretty, whilst the

one from India has a fine black gorget extending over the breast

around the ruby, the upper parts are soft dark grey, the abdomen

white, and the tail feathers black with white bases and large

white spots at the termination of each one. A dull white line

runs round and above the nostrils in the form of eyebrows over

the eyes.


All this applies to the male bird ; the female is principally

brown ; but she has the whitish eyebrows, and whity-brown

terminations to the tail-feathers.


Dr. Jerdon states that the White-tailed Ruby-Throat is

found throughout the Himalayas, from Cashmere to Sikkim.

“ I saw it,” he says, “at Darjeeling, where it is not common,

“ frequenting thick brushwood, and coming to the road to feed

“ on insects. Adams found it at high elevations, among rocks

“ and precipices in the N.W- Himalayas.”


The range of the species goes as far as Turkestan, Assam,

and also to the Eastward in Moupin.


These birds nest up to an elevation of 12,000 feet at least,

iu crevices of rocks.


The nest is a warm saucer-shaped pad of very fine moss

and fern-roots closely felted together. The eggs are a uniform

pale salmon buff. So says Mr. Hume in his book “ Nests and

Eggs of Indian Birds.”


Each of these birds that I have written about would by



