CITTOCINCLA MACEUBA. 



(THE LONG-TAILED ROBIN.) 



Turdus macrourus, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 820 (1788). 



Kittacincla macroura, Gould, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 7 ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 165 (1849) ; 



Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. i. p. 279 (1854); Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 116 



(1863); Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 453; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 21. 

 Copsychus macrourus, Hodgson, Cat. B. Nepal, p. 67 (1844) ; Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 121 



(1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 264. 

 Cercotrichas macrourus, Hume, Nests and Eggs, ii. p. 306 (1874) ; Ball, Str. Feath. 1874, 



p. 412 ; Hume, ibid. 1875, p. 134 ; Ball, t. c. p. 293 ; Oates, ibid. 1877, p. 157 ; Hume 



& Davison, B. of Tenass., Str. Feath. 1878, p. 333. 

 Cittocincla macrura, Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 396. 

 The Long-tailed Thrush, Latham ; The Indian Nightingale, Jerdon ; The Shdma (from its 



native name), Europeans generally in India and Ceylon ; Burmese Nightingale, Davison ; 



Shdma, in Bengal ; Abbeka, Hind. ; Murabuta, Malay ; Changchooi, Sumatra. 

 Wal-pollichcha, Sinhalese. 



Adult male. Length 10-5 to 11-3 inches (the centre tail-feathers varying much) ; wing 3 - 7 to 3-85 ; tail 6-5 to 7-0, 

 centre tail-feathers exceeding the next pair by 1*75 to 2-2 ; tarsus l'O to IT ; mid toe and claw 085 to 09 ; bill 

 to gape 0-95 to 1-0. 



The measurements of the tail-feathers are those of perfectly-plumaged birds. 



Female. Wing 3 - o inches ; centre tail-feathers shorter than in the male. 



Iris brown ; bill black ; legs and feet fleshy, with a brownish wash on the toes ; claws blackish. 



Head, neck, back, wing-coverts, throat, and chest glossy blue-black ; tail coal-black ; wings brownish black ; rump, 

 upper tail-coverts, and terminal 1J iuch of the four outer tail-feathers on each side white ; beneath, from the chest, 

 including under tail-coverts, light ferruginous ; under wing-coverts paler than the breast ; thighs white above, 

 changing to black at the knee. 



In some examples the 5th tail-feather from the exterior has some white at the tip. 



Young. Iris brown ; bill blackish, pale at the base beneath ; legs and feet fleshy. The nestling has the head, back, 

 sides of neck, and wing-coverts dark brown, with fulvous centres to the feathers of the body, and roundish terminal 

 spots of the same on the wing-coverts ; rump white, crossed by a brownish band ; upper tail-coverts mixed black 

 and fulvous : quills edged yellowish fulvous ; throat and upper breast fulvous tawny, the upper parts with blackish- 

 brown edgings. 



Obs. As will be observed, the tail-feathers in Ceylonese examples of this species vary considerably in length, old or 

 fully matured birds having them, no doubt, the longest. This same variation occurs in Indian specimens. 

 Mr. Oates gives the dimensions of males from Thayetmyo as — length 1035 to 108, wing 3-7, tail from vent 5-9 

 to 6-2 ; and of females — length 9-25, wing 3-65, tail from vent 5-0. These measurements are somewhat smaller 

 than those of our birds. In Tenasserim its measurements, as recorded by Mr. Hume, are : — Males 11-0 to 11-75, 

 tail from vent 6-5 to 7 - 2, wing 3-65 to 3-9 ; females — length 8-12 to 8-5, tail from vent 4-0 to 4-35, wing 3-25 to 

 3 - 4. I find a Nepal specimen with the breast very deep chestnut (wing 3 - 7, tail 6-4) ; a Travancore example is 

 similar to it, and a Tenasserim and Malaccan (wing 3 - 5, tail 6 - S, and wing 3'75, tail 6 - 5, respectively) very pale in 

 that part. Two skins from Travancore are very long in the tail, measuring 7"3 and 7*5, and have a good deal of 

 black at the base of the three lateral feathers. 



G. suavis, Sclater, from Borneo is a very closely allied Malaccan race of this species, differing in the coloration of the outer 

 tail-feathers, which want the black bases. In one or two specimens, however, which I have examined there is a 



