MERULIN.E. 513 



will be obtained of the distinctness or otherwise of these races. 

 Is it possible that affinis can be a fertile hybrid between manillen- 

 sis and cyaneus ? 



The Blue Kock-thrush, as given in our synonyms, inhabits the 

 whole of India. The variety without any admixture of rufous in 

 the N. "W. Himalayas, and throughout the West and the South of 

 India ; the variety, a^nis, in the S. E. Himalayas, occasionally in 

 Lower Bengal, and extending into Assam and Burmah. 



The former variety is common on the Neilgherries, in open and 

 rocky ground ; more rare in the Carnatic, on stony hills ; very com- 

 mon in the Deccan and Central India ; and, according to Mr. Elliot, 

 very abundant along the Northern portion of the West coast. 

 Hence it extends through N. W. India to Sindh, Cashmere, and the 

 N. W. Himalayas. In the Deccan, and the west of India, it is 

 quite a familiar bird, perching on a house-top, feeding 

 about stables, and frequently even entering verandahs, and 

 sheltering itself during the heat of the day on beams and the eaves 

 of houses. It always feeds on the ground, chiefly on coleoptera, 

 ants, &c., and is quite solitary in its habits. As previously noticed, 

 it is only a winter visitor to India, coming in about Octo- 

 ber, and retiring to the North in April. It has a very sweet 

 song, which it warbles forth, even in India, for some time before 

 it quits the country, not whilst it is feeding, but during the heat 

 of the day where it happens to have taken shelter. It is supposed 

 to be the ' Sparrow' of our English version of the Scriptures, that 

 sitteth alone on the house-top. It is found over most of 

 Europe and Asia, and the North of Africa. It is called the 

 Shdma on theBombay coast and the Deccan, where it is caught 

 and prized as a songster ; the real Shdma being the Copsychus 

 macrourus. 



I observed the Eastern variety only at Darjeeling, in open forest 

 and cleared land, and it appeared to me to be much more shy than 

 the other, and shuns the haunts of man. Blyth tells me, however, 

 that he was struck with the familiarity of this bird in Burmah ; 

 and Tytler assured him that it visited the station of Barrack- 

 pore, near Calcutta, every season, where Blyth also states that he 



has since observed it. 



3 T 



