Genus OREOCINCLA. 

 Bill stout and longer than in Turclus. Tail variable, consisting, in some members of the 

 group, of 14 feathers. 



Plumage above and beneath with dark scale-like tippings. 



OKEOCINCLA IMBEICATA. 



(THE BUFF-BREASTED THRUSH.) 



(Peculiar to Ceylon.) 



Zoothera imbricata, Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiii. p. 212 ; Jerdon, B. of India. 



i. p. 509 (1863). 

 Oreocincla nilghiriensis, Jerdon, Ibis, 1872, p. 139 ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 456. 

 Oreocincla imbricata (Lay.), Hume. Str. Feath. 1873, p. 437. 

 Oreocincla gregoriana (Nevill), id. torn. cit. 



Ad. supra ochrascenti-brunneus, plumis omnibus conspicue nigro marginatis, quasi lunulafcis, uropygii et supracau- 

 dalium raarginibus angustioribus : pilei plumis subterrninaliter clarius ochrascentibus : tectricibus alarum nigris 

 ad apicem olivaceo-brunneo maculatis et aureo-brunneo terminatis : tectricibus primariorum nigris extus versus 

 basin late aureis : remigibus nigricanti-brunneis, extus dorsi colore lavatis et aureo-bruuneo marginatis : rectri- 

 cibus duabus medianis olivascenti-brunneis, reliquis nigricanti-brunneis, exterioribus pallidioribus : loris albi- 

 cantibus : regione parotic! aureo-fulva, plumis nigro terminatis et medialiter albido striolatis : genis aureo- 

 fulvis nigro maculatim terminatis : gula aureo-fulva immaculata : eorpore reliquo subtus aureo-fulvo, plumis 

 nigro fasciatim terminatis : hypochondriis paullo latius nigro ad apicem fasciatis : abdomine et subcaudalibus 

 aureo-fulvis immaculatis : rostro brunneo, mandibula pallidiore : pedibus brunneis. 



Adult male. Length 9-3 to 9-6 inches ; wing 4-S to 5*05 ; tail 2-9 to 3*0 ; tarsus 1-1 to 1*15 ; middle toe and claw 

 1-15 to 1-2 ; bill to gape 1*38 to 1-53, average length 1-4. 



Adult female. Wing 4-65 to 4-8. 



These measurements are taken from a series of 14 examples in my own collection and those of the late Lord Tweeddale, 

 Messrs. Bligh, Holdsworth, and Thwaites. 



Iris brown; bill blackish brown, paling at the base of the lower mandible; legs and feet fleshy brown, some with a 

 bluish tinge ; claws brownish at the tips. 



Head and upper surface brownish olive, paling slightly on the rump and upper tail-coverts, each feather with a broad 

 black, crescentic-shaped tip, imparting a scale-like appearance to the upper plumage ; wings dark brown, the 

 secondary-coverts tipped and externally margined with dusky buff, the tips of the median series being the palest ; 

 the primary-coverts, with the tips and inner webs, black, and a rufous-buff wash on the outer portions of the 

 feathers ; quills margined with yellowish brown, spreading over the outer webs of the innermost secondaries ; tail 

 brownish olive, the three feathers next the outermost on each side blackish with pale tips. 



Face and under surface rich buff, paling on the chin and abdomen into whitish buff, and darkening on the sides of the 

 chest and flanks into olivaceous, each feather, except those of the gorge and abdomen, with a bold black crescentic 

 tip ; ear-coverts with pale shafts and (as also the face) tipped less blackly than the under surface, the dark tips 

 taking the form of a stripe on each side of the throat ; under wing-coverts black, with the terminal half of the 

 feathers white ; under tail-coverts unmarked. 



Females are coloured exactly like the males. 



Obs. The subgenus Oreocincla, founded by Gould for the reception of some Thrushes with the peculiar type of 

 marking above noticed, may, I think, be allowed to stand, not on account of this character, but because its 



