454 TURDUS WAEDI. 



seen the immature male. Tardus sibiricus, regarding which Mr. Hume himself was led into error, is, perhaps, a 

 commoner bird in English collections. 

 This species is usually placed in the subgenus Turdulus, on account of its pointed wing (the 3rd quill being the longest, 

 and the 2nd not much shorter than it) and the sexes differing in coloration ; the tarsus is somewhat shorter than 

 in the typical Blackbirds. I prefer, however, to simplify matters by keeping it in Tardus, and pointiug out here 

 its characters as a subgenus. 



Distribution. — The Pied Blackbird is a cool-weather migrant to the hills of Ceylon, arriving late, during 

 t he month of November, and leaving again at the latter end of March or early part of April. It does not 

 appear to locate itself in the same localities every year, or else its numbers vary considerably, for in some 

 seasons it is almost wanting in districts in which it has commonly been observed. It is found in most of the 

 upper regions of the Kandyan Province, from the altitude of Nuwara Elliya down to about 2800 feet ; but it is 

 most common between 3000 and 4000 feet in the Knuckles ranges, Kotmalie, Dickoya, Uda Pusselawa, Uva, 

 and Haputale. In some years it occurs in considerable numbers between the Elephant Plains and Kanda- 

 polla, Mr. Watson informing me that he has seen it in flocks in the patna-woods near Ragalla. In November 

 and December it has been several times seen in Hakgala Gardens, to which it is attracted, with many other 

 species, in search of the insectivorous food harboured in the bare soil beneath the conifers and other choice 

 trees with which this beautiful spot abounds. I have no doubt that it finds its way, in small numbers, into all 

 the forests of the main range. 



Jerdon writes of this Blackbird's distribution in India as follows : — It is " spread, but very sparingly, 

 through the Himalayas, and during the winter in the plains of India j I first procured it through Mr. Ward at 

 the foot of the Nilghiris, and afterwards obtained two specimens from Nellore in the Carnatic ; Hodgson 

 procured it at Nepal, and it has also been obtained iu the North-west Himalayas, where it is far from 

 uncommon." He further says, " Whether those birds met with near the Nilghiris also migrate northwards or 

 are permanent residents there or on other mountain-ranges cannot now be decided." I observe that neither 

 Mr. Fairbank nor Mr. Bourdillon procured it in the Travancore and Palani hills, where it should be found if 

 it were a resident in the Southern ranges of India ; and the inference therefore is that it does migrate to the 

 south from its headquarters in the Himalayas. Mr. Brooks remarks that it is common at Mussoori. 



Habits. — This species frequents the outskirts of forest, patna-juugle, detached woods, and frequently visits 

 therefrom the gardens of the planters, in which its frugivorous habits cause it to do a considerable amount of 

 mischief. It is very partial to mulberries, and, in fact, docs not seem to turn aside from any fruit grown in the 

 hills of Ceylon. Mr. Bligh, who has seen it frequently in Kotmalie and Haputale, tells me that it collects iu 

 scattered flocks to feed on the fruit of the guava and wild fig, uttering a chirping note while so doing. Young 

 males, which Mr. Thwaites observed in the Hakgala Gardens, were very shy, flying up from the gi'ouud, when 

 flushed by him, into low trees, and then escaping into the surrounding jungle; they frequented the manure- 

 heaps near his bungalow, and had a low cry like that of a young Blackbird. Its song, heard at Mussoori by 

 Mr. Brooks, and which, I conclude, is only uttered during the breeding-season, is described by him as " a strange 

 one of two notes, and quite unmusical." 



Nidification. — As regards the breeding of this Blackbird in India, the testimony of Messrs. Marshall, 

 Hutton, and Hodgson, as quoted by Mr. Hume in his ' Nests and Eggs/ proves that, on arriving from the 

 south in the Himalayas in May and June, it commences to nest, building either in the fork of a branch of 

 a tall tree, or placing its habitation in a low situation, such as ou a stump. The nest is a " compact, cup- 

 shaped structure, built of moss and dead leaves, cemented together with a little mud and lined with roots ;" 

 the interior has a diameter of about 3 and a depth of 2 inches. The eggs are four in number, and are, according 

 to Mr. Hodgson, pale vcrditcr, spotted witli sanguine brown ;" and one specimen, in the possession of Mr. Hume, 

 is described by him as of a " pale sea-green ground, blotched, spotted, and streaked, most densely at the larger 

 end (where also a number of small pale purple clouds seem to underlie the primary markings), with a mode- 

 rately bright, somewhat brownish red." Dimensions from 1 -01 to 1 06 inch in length by 0'74 to 0"76 in breadth. 



