126 BIRDS OP INDIA 



avoids the vicinity of villages ; hence called the Jungle Bramble- 

 robin by the Telingas, in contra-distinction to the familiar P. 

 caprata. It feeds on various insects, taking them on the ground 

 from a low perch. Many of the males have assumed their summer 

 plumage before they leave the North of India. I have seen 

 it in every part of the country except the more wooded parts 

 of the Malabar Coast, and it is never seen in thick or lofty 

 jungle. 



484. Pratincola leucura, Blyth. 



J. A. S. XVI., 474— Blyth, Cat. 998— Kharyidda, II., at 



Monghyr. 



The WniTE-TAiLED Bush-chat. 



Descr. — Male, above black with the usual white wing patch ; 

 the breast bright rufous in the centre; sides of neck, breast, and 

 lower parts, pure white ; the four outer tail-feathers wholly white 

 on their inner webs, except the tip of the two outermost ; and 

 the pair next the centrals (which are wholly black) have the 

 greater portion of the inner web also white. The female is brown 

 above, the feathers edged paler, with a smaller white wing-spot, 

 but no white on the tail ; beneath earthy white, tinged rufous on 

 the breast. In winter the dorsal feathers are more or less edged 

 with brown. 



Length 5 inches; wing 2i ; tail 2 ; bill at front /^ ; tarsus {£. 



This White-tailed Bush-chat, till lately, had only been procured 

 in Sindh, whence it was sent b}' Sir A. Burnes to the Museum of 

 the Asiatic Society, and it is figured in his drawings. I found it 

 far from rare at Thyet-myo in Upper Burmah, frequenting 

 grassy churrs on the Irrawaddy, but never the low jungles that 

 lined the banks. Somewhat to my surprise I found it most 

 abundant in the Gangetic valley, from Kajmehal to Monghyr, 

 frequenting fields and long grasses. It is a permanent resident, 

 and breeds here ; for I found the young birds just flown in April, 

 but did not succeed in procuring the nest. On referring to 

 Buchanan Hamilton's MSS. Notes I find that he has confounded 

 it with the last, for, writing of rubicola, he says that he found 



