122 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



blasted, and continued the incubation till the young ones were 

 hatched, when it was accidentally destroyed. The nest is made 

 with grass, roots, and hairs ; and the eggs, four or five in number, 

 are bluish white, spotted with purplish brown. 



480. Thamnobia Cambaiensis, Lath. 



Sylvia, apud Latham— Blyth, Cat. 966 — Horsf., Cat. 429— 

 M. fulicata, apud Tickell — Th. scapularis, Hodgs. — Saxicoloi- 

 des erythrurus, Lesson (the female), and Cinnyricinclus mela- 

 soma, Lesson (male.) 



The Brown-backed Indian Robin. 



Descr. — The male has the back, wings, and upper tail-coverts, 

 dusky olive-brown ; the wings and the tail black ; the lores, ear- 

 coverts, and lower plumage also black ; a white wing spot as in 

 the last ; the vent and centre of belly deep chesnut. The female 

 is sooty-brown throughout, except the chesnut beneath. 



Dimension of the last nearly, or a trifle smaller. The Brown- 

 backed Robin is found throughout all Central and Northern India, 

 up to the base of the Himalayas, and as far as the Punjab. It is 

 found at Nagpore, Mhow, Saugor, Chota Nagpore, and Midnapore, 

 and thence throughout northwards. It differs in nowise in its 

 habits from the last. Theobald found the nest in holes of trees 

 and banks, made of grass, and almost invariably with cast snake- 

 skins ; and the eggs were greenish-white, ringed and spotted with 

 pale reddish. 



To this series of the Shama, Dayal, and Robins, belong several 

 African forms, but it does not appear to be developed further in 

 Malayana. Thamnola>a, Cercotrichas, and Dromolcea of Cabanis 

 are African groups, a few of them coloured like the Sliamas, others 

 like the Dayals, and some more like Thamnobia, to which last 

 genus several African birds are referred. Turdus Madagascari- 

 ensis, figd. PI. Enl. 557, 1, appears very like a Copsychus. 



The next group, that of the Chats, have the bill short and stout, 

 a short tail, and wings of mean length. They frequent bushy 

 places and cultivated land, occasionally seize insects on the wing, 

 and sometimes sing while hovering in the air. 



