COPSYCHTJS SAULARIS. 



(THE MAGPIE ROBIN.) 



Gracula saularis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 165 (1766). 



Copsychus saularis, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 166 (1849); Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. 

 p. 120 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 263 ; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. 

 B. Mus. E. I. Co. i. p. 275 (1854); Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 114 (1863); Blyth, Ibis, 

 1867, p. 11 ; Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 359; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 453; Walden, 

 Ibis, 1873, p. 307; Hume, Nests and Eggs, ii. p. 303 (1874); id. Str. Feath. 1874, 

 p. 230 ; Ball, t. c. p. 412 ; Hume, ibid. 1875, p. 133 ; Hume & Armstrong, ibid. 1876, 

 p. 327; Hume, t.c. p. 458; Oates, ibid. 1877, p. 157; Butler, t.c. p. 322; Fairbank, 

 t.c. p. 406. 



Turdus saularis, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 87. 



Copsychus ceylonensis, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1861, p. 186 ; Legge, J. A. S. (Ceylon Branch) p. 44 

 (1870-71). 



The Dial-bird, Latham; Dyal-bird in India; Dayal in Bengal ; Dayyur, Hind. (Jerdon); 

 Thabeitgyee, in Arracan ; Pedda nalanchi, Telugu ; Sa-ka, Siam. 



Pollichcha, Sinhalese ; Pega, Portuguese in Ceylon ; Karavi-kuruvi, lit. " Charcoal-bird," 

 Tamuls in Ceylon, also Manathee in Jaffna district (Layard). 



Adult male. Length 8-0 to 8-5 inches; wing 4-0 to 4-1 ; tail 3-5 ; tarsus 1-15 to 1-2 ; mid toe and claw 1-0; bill to 

 gape 1*15. 



Iris dark brown ; eyelid neutral brown ; bill black ; legs and feet plumbeous brown or blackish leaden, claws black. 



Head, neck, chest, and upper surface with the scapulars glossy blue-black ; quills and tail black ; secondary wing- 

 coverts, outer webs of tertials, under surface from the chest, under wing-coverts, three outer tail-feathers entirely 

 and the next pair, except on the inner margin, pure white ; thighs white, black posteriorly. The white wing-coverts 

 and outer webs of the tertials form a broad longitudinal band on the wing when closed. 



Female. Length 7 - 8 to 8-2 inches ; wing 3 - S. Bill not so deep a black, and paling slightly at the base ; legs and feet 



neutral brown. 

 Above blue-black, but pervaded with a greyish hue about the hind neck, and blending on the sides of the neck into the 



slate-colour of the throat, fore neck, and chest ; the white of the wings, underparts, and external tail-feathers as 



in the male ; posterior part of thighs blackish. 



Young male. Bill blackish brown ; legs and feet dark plumbeous. Head and back brownish black, the feathers of the 

 rump edged rufous-brown ; wings blackish, the feathers edged with rufous ; the margins of the outer primaries 

 paler than the rest, least and median wing-coverts with terminal rufescent spots ; throat greyish white, the cheek- 

 feathers tipped with fulvous ; the lower neck and chest ochraceous, the feathers with dark edges, and those at the 

 lower part next the white breast dark slaty ; the white feathers of the breast finely edged with slaty. 



This is a description of a single example ; but the young vary somewhat in the extent and depth of the fulvous 

 markings ; females are slaty on the hind neck and back, and they have the chest paler. 



Obs. The females of this species in Ceylon have, as a rule, the back of a darker shade than those from North India : 

 hence the separation by Dr. Sclater of the Ceylonese from the continental race. Examples from South India, 

 however, correspond in this respect with ours ; and I have examined a Ivattiawar example quite as pale as any 

 Ceylonese one. The pale back is a character which increases as this species ranges northwards, where it exists 

 also in the male bird. The white of the outer tail-feathers varies with age. In very old birds from Ceylon 

 there is, as far as I have examined them, always a certain amount of black at the inner edge of the fourth feather 

 from the side, but it varies sometimes in the same individual as regards the two sides of the tail ; for instance, a 

 specimen before me has this feather on one side with a black inner margin near the base, on the other with a broad 



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