GULDENSTADT'S REDSTART. 81 



characters, as given by Schlegel: — -First, the two middle feathers in 

 the tail of Aurorea are black and not brown red. Second, the white 

 mirror of the wings occupies the secondary quills to the eighteenth. 

 Third, Authored is altogether smaller, the total length being six inches; 

 the wings three inches one line; tail two inches eight lines; tarsi 

 eleven lines; middle toe six lines; and the hinder toe three lines. 



In India, according to Jerdon, this bird is "found in Bootan, Nepal, 

 Kumaon, and Cashmere, chiefly in the higher regions of the Himalayas, 

 rarely lower than ten thousand feet. It is found in summer in the 

 Caucasian hills, frequenting the gravelly hollows of torrents, and 

 breeding in bushes. One pair was seen by Mr. Stewart near Landoun, 

 by the side of a stream, and it is said to frequent mountain streams 

 only like Chcemorrornis leucocephala.'''' — Birds of India, vol. ii., pi. 139. 



Mr. Stewart, who is now stationed at Colchester, as Deputy Surgeon 

 General and P. M. O. of the Eastern District, informs me that he 

 ''procured the two specimens mentioned above by Jerdon, in January, 

 1852, on the banks of a rivulet at Landoun, N.W. Himalayas, at 

 an elevation of -seven thousand feet. There was snow on the ground, 

 and I never met with the species again, as they were evidently 

 driven down by the severe weather from the higher mountain ranges. 

 One specimen I gave to Mr. Blyth for the Asiatic Society's Museum 

 at Calcutta, and it is mentioned in the Society's Journal for 1854. 

 I shot the pair on succeeding days, and at first took them for R. 

 leucocephala, which they closely resemble in habits. When they flew, 

 however, showing the conspicuous white bar on the wing, they were 

 to me evidently a new species." 



According to Giildenstadt the manners and habits of this Warbler 

 are similar to the rest of the family, approaching nearest to those of 

 the Common Bedstart. It lives on the shores of rivers, and is not 

 a shy bird. It feeds on insects, and berries of the HippoplicB 

 rJiamnoides, in which also it builds its nest with grass. Nothing seems 

 to be known about its eggs. 



The figure which I have given of this bird is from Count Miihle's 

 monograph, and is a copy of the specimen in the Leutchtenbergstein 

 collection. The following is also Count Miihle's description: — "The 

 old male in the spring has a very pretty and well-pencilled plumage. 

 The whole surface of the head to the nape of the neck is of a 

 brilliant satin white; the mantle, wings, flanks, cheeks, throat, and 

 upper part of the chest, deep velvet black; the whole under part 

 of the body, under wing coverts, rump, and tail, a lively fox red; 

 on the deep black wings, and where the feathers are almost imper- 

 ceptibly edged with a greyish tint, there is a great white mirror- 



VOL. II. M 



