476 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



316. Niltava grandis, Blyth. 



J. A. S., XI, 189— Blyth Cat. 1022— Horsf., Cat. 443— 

 Bainopus irenoides, Hodgson, Gray, Misc. — Margong, Lepcli. 



The Large Fairy Blue-chat. 



Descr. — Male, above, glossy dark purple ; the forehead, lores, 

 cheeks and ear-coverts, deep black ; the crown, large neck-spot, 

 shoulders of wings, and rump, brilliant lazuline ; beneath, the 

 throat and breast, deep black ; abdomen empurpled-black, passing 

 into dull black or ashy on the vent and lower tail-coverts ; wings 

 and tail black beneath. 



The female i^ olivaceous-brown above ; the head and nape are 

 tinged with cinereous; the forehead and lores are dusky-ferruginous, 

 and rufous on the back, rump, and tail ; neck patch on each side 

 shining ultramarine, with a faint fulvescent mark between the two 

 neck-patches ; beneath, the chin and throat are pale rufescent, the 

 rest of the body beneath pale brown, whitish towards the vent. 



Bill black; legs reddish black; irides dark brown. Length 8f 

 inches ; wing 4| ; tail 4 ; bill at front | ; tarsus nearly 1 ; extent, 



The young male is blackish, with dark ferruginous spots ; and is 

 very Meruline in its appearance. 



This handsome bird has been chiefly found in the Eastern 

 Himalayas, in Nepal and Sikhim, but extends into Tenasserim. 

 It is very common about Darjeeling, preferring a lower zone to N. 

 sundara, viz., from about 4,000 to 6,000 feet or so. It is still more 

 shy and retired in its habits than that species, frequenting thick 

 shady glens, especially near water, and feeding much on the ground 

 on various insects. Its nest is very like that of sundara, being 

 loosely made of moss, and placed in similar situations, and the eggs 

 only differ in their larger size ; when the nest is placed on the cleft 

 of a rock, the shape of the nest is accommodated to it, so that I have 

 seen the nest shaped like a parallelogram, long, quite flat on the 

 sides, and the two ends just shghtly rounded. I never heard the 

 note of this species. 



The coloring of this bird somewhat recals that of Irena; but still 

 more, perhaps, that of 31>/iophonus. 



