Genus THAMNOBIA. 



Bill moderate, slender, curved throughout, wide at the base, compressed towards the tip, 

 which is not notched. Nostrils oval, apert ; rictal bristles wanting. Wings rounded ; the 1st 

 quill short, the 2nd equal to the 8th, and the 4th and 5th the longest. Tail broad and rounded. 

 Tarsus long, exceeding the middle toe and claw, and covered in front by well-defined but smooth 

 scutse ; toes strong, with the claws moderately straight. 



THAMNOBIA FULICATA. 



(THE BLACK ROBIN.) 



Motacilla fulicata, Linn. Syst. Nat, i. p. 336 (1766). 



SyMafulicata, Lath. Hist. vii. pp. Ill ( <S), 112 (?) (1821). 



Ixos fulicatus, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 89. 



Thamnobia fulicata, Jerdon, Cat. B. S. India, Madr. Journ. 1839, x. p. 264 ; Blyth, Cat. 



B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 165 (1849); Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 121 (1852); Layard, 



Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 256; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. 



i. p. 281 (1854) ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 121 (1863); Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 454; 



Hume, Nests and Eggs, ii. p. 307 (1874); Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 21, et 1875, p. 396; 



Davidson & Wender, Str. Feath. 1877, p. 83. 

 Busty-vented Thrush and Sooty Warbler, Latham ; Sooty Warbler, Kelaart ; Indian Robin, 



Jerdon. 

 Kalchuri, Hind.; Nalanchi, Telugu ; Wannati-Jcuravi, Tamul, lit. "Washerman's bird" 



(Jerdon). 

 Kalu-pollichcha, Sinhalese ; Kari-kuruvi, Tamil, lit. " Blackbird." 



Adult i,inh\ Length 6*2 to 6*4 inches ; wing 3'0 ; tail 2 - 5 ; tarsus 1/0 ; mid toe and claw 0"8 ; bill to gape 0*7. 

 Iris brown; bill, legs, and feet black. 



Entire body, except the abdomen, glossy blue-black, this, with the under tail-coverts, is fine chestnut; wings and tail 

 coal-black ; a large patch on the wing, formed by the lesser and median coverts, white. 



Female. Length 6 # 2 inches; wing us. 



Bill and logs not so black as those of the male. 



i.bove blackish brown, with a brownish hue caused by the palish margins of the feathers; quills slightly paler than 



back ; secondary coverts edged with greyish ; upper tail-coverts and tail black ; beneath slaty black, under tail- 



coverts and tips of the abdominal feathers dark chestnut. 



Young. Blackish brown ; upper tail-coverts and tail black ; beneath dark brown, with a dusky fulvous stripe down 

 the throat, the feathers of the head and fore neck faintly tipped with rufescent greyish ; ear-coverts striped with 

 fulvous ; under tail-coverts rufous. 



Obs. This singular form is a difficult bird to deal with ; its peculiar shaped bill and wings, its smooth gape and 

 scutellated tarsus show it to possess Timaline affinities ; and yet it has not in any way the habits of a Babbler, but 

 is thoroughly Saxicoline in its economy. 



>;iese specimens correspond in size with those from South India : males in the British Museum and in my own 

 collection measure from 2-8 to 2-95 inches in the wing ; a female is somewhat browner above, with a more sandv 



