LAEVIVOEA BEUNNEA. 



(THE INDIAN WOODCHAT.) 



Larvivora brunnea, Hodgson, J. A. S. B. 1837, vi. p. 102 (female). 



Larvivora cyana, Hodgson, t. c. p. 102 (male) ; Jerdon, B. of Intl. ii. p. 145 (1863) ; 



Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 454 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, ii. p. 324 (1874). 

 Calliope cyana (Hodgs.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 169 (1849); Layard & Kelaart, 



Prodromus, Cat. B. App. p. 57 (1853); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. 



p. 266. 

 Pheenicura swperciliaris, Jerdon, Cat. B. S. India, Madr. Journ. 1844, xiii. p. 170. 

 Larvivora supereiliaris (Jerdon), Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 16; Brooks, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 240 ; 



Fairbank, ibid. 1876, p. 259. 

 White-browed Bedstart; The Blue Larvivora, Hodgson; The Blue Wood-Chat (Jerdon). 



Manzhil-pho, Lepchas. Bobin of Planters in Ceylon. 



Adult mull- iiml female. Length 5*3 to 5 - 6 inches ; wing 2-9 to 3*1; tail L"9 to 2'1 ; tarsus 1*0 to 1*1 ; mid toe and 

 claw 0-8 ; bill to gape 0-75. 



Male. Iris brown ; bill blackish brown above, under mandible brown, pale at base and at gape ; legs and feet delicate 

 fleshy, claws concolorous. 



Above, with the wing-coverts and tail dull blue; lores, cheeks, beneath the gape, and ear-coverts black, blending on 

 the sides of the neck into the blue ; a conspicuous white supercilium, and in some the chin and a thin bordering 

 line below the cheeks white ; wings blackish brown, the outer webs of the quills bluish, the margins of the outer 

 primaries the palest ; throat, chest, breast, and flanks tine orange-rufous ; the under tail-coverts, vent, and 

 abdomen white, blending into the surrounding colour; thighs bluish brown externally. 



f nale. Iris brown ; bill not so dark as in male ; legs and feet dusky fleshy. 



Head, upper surface, and wing-coverts dark olivaceous brown, greenest on the back, and changing into a rusty colour 

 on the upper tail-coverts ; quills brown, the outer webs of the primaries, secondaries, and primary-coverts rusty 

 brown, the longer primary somewhat pale at the edge; tail rusty olive-brown ; an orbital fringe of fulvous; 

 tips of the loral feathers dark, the bases being fulvous ; ear-coverts concolorous with the head, but striped with 

 fulvous ; thmat. chest, breast, and flanks rusty fulvous, paling to buff on the gorge and chin, and with the 

 feathers of the fore neck more or less tipped with dusky ; cheek-feathers tipped with olivaceous ; abdomen, vent, 

 and under tail-coverts pure white ; under wing-coverts fulvescent. 



Very old bird 1 ! Head, hind neck, and back a darker or less olivaceous brown than the above, with a bluish cast on the 

 crown ; the wing-coverts and the tips of the lower back-feathers, as well as the upper tail-coverts, dull bluish : 

 quills and greater wing-coverts brown, edged with rusty; tail rusty brown; lores and orbital fringe as in the 

 above; the under surface a much brighter rufous than in the mature female ; some of the throat-feathers tipped 

 « ith dusky. 



This is a description of a presumed female (carboli/.ed) which 1 received from Mr. Thwaites of Hakgala. I have little 

 doubt as to its being a female, on account of the absence of the black lores and supercilium. 



Ymiiiij. Males in the first year are dull bluish above, with the lores only black surmounted by a short white stripe or 

 spot ; throat whitish ; chest and breast as in female. With age the black extends over the cheeks and ear-coverts. 



Females are olivaceous above, brownest on the head, and changing into rusty on the upper tail-coverts ; wings and 

 tail brown, more or less edged with rusty ; lores pale, orbital friuge whitish; ear-coverts pale-shafted ; chin and 

 gorge whitish, tinged with the hue of the chest and flanks, which is olivaceous fulvous ; lower parts as in the 

 adult. Scarcely any two examples are alike ; the younger the bird is the more olivaceous are the upper tints, and 

 the more dusky the chest and sides of breast. In some there is a brownish wash across the chest, and the forehead 

 is rusty. 



