MONTICOLA CYANA. 



(THE BLUE ROCK-THRUSH.) 



Turdus cyanus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 291 (1776). 



Mmticola cyanus (L.), Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 552 ; Shelley, B. of Egypt, p. 70 (1872). 



Pctrocossyphus cyanus (L.), Boie, Isis, 1828, p. 319; Jerd. B. of Ind. i. p. 511 (1862); 



Sharpe & Dresser, B. of Eur. pt. 8 (1871); Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 179; Howard 



Irby, B. of Gibraltar, p. 74 (1875); Legge, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 249 (first record from 



Ceylon); Whyte, ibid. 1877, p. 203. 

 Pctrocincla j)a?idoo, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 87. 

 Petrocincla cyanus (L.), Jerdon, 111. Ind. Orn. pi. 20 (1847) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 



p. 164 (1849). 

 Cyanocincla cyanus (L.), Hume, Nests and Eggs, 1873, p. 226. 

 Cyanocincla cyana (L.), Ball, Str. Feath. 1874, p. 407 ; Butler, ibid. 1875, p. 470 ; Bour- 



dillon, ibid. 1876, p. 398 ; Hume & Davison, ibid. 1878, p. 247. 

 Blaumerle, German ; Solitario, Portuguese. Shdma, Hind. South of India ; Pandu (male), 



Maal (female), Mahrattas ; Podda kachi-pitta, Tel. (Jerdon) ; Tchau-tchau zeralc, Moorish 



(Howard Irby). 



Adult male and female. Length G'3 to 9-0 inches : wing 4 - o to 4"8 ; tail 3 - 25 to 3 - 8 ; tarsns 1*1 ; bill to gape 1/2 to 1-3. 

 These measurements are from a series of specimens from widely spread localities. 

 Iris brown ; bill, legs, and feet black. 



Adult male (spring plumage, Mus. Seebohm). Upper and under surface dull blue, brightening into silvery blue on the 

 forehead and crown ; the face ami throat the same, but less bright ; lores and a fringe round the eye black ; wings 

 dark brown, the outer webs of the primaries and secondaries edged with dull blue ; the primary-coverts and outer 

 feathers of the median series with fine light edgings ; quills faintly tipped light ; tail slightly darker than the 

 wings, t he feat hers margined with blue ; breast and belly a duller blue than the breast, and with a few light tippings 

 to the abdominal feathers. 



In winter the adult male has the feathers edged with brown, and the blue is not so bright. 



Adult female (normal dress). Above greyish brown, the feathers of the head with faintly indicated pale edgings, and 

 the same on the rump ; lores fulvous-grey; throat and fore neck fulvous, each feather with a dark brown edging ; 

 on the chest the feathers change into greyish brown, with the fulvous hue gradually reduced, and the dark edgings 

 change into terminal bars on each feather, preceded by a fulvous patch ; the under tail-coverts are generally of a 

 richer hue than the rest — that is, rufescent fulvous, boldly barred with blackish. Messrs. Sharpe and Dressi-r 

 contend, in their long and able review of the plumage of this species, that the female eventually assumes the blue 

 dress of the male, in support of which theory they examined correctlv identified specimens from various parts of 

 Europe. It would appear, however, that the majority of female birds are shot in the brown dress — Mr. Hume 

 having acquired a very large series from all part s of India, out of which only three were in the blue livery, which 

 is, perhaps, merely the result of advanced age or barrenness, in which latter stage not a few species put on the 

 plumage of the male. 



Young. The nestlings of both sexes are alike, being brown, with dusky bars and light spottings ; this dress is doffed 

 by the male at his first autumn moult. Messrs. Sharpe and Dresser instance an example, shot in Macedonia in 

 August, which was in a " state of change," moulting from the downy mottled white feathers to the blue immature 

 dress, in which the upper feathers have white tips preceded by a black line ; most of the feathers were shaded with 

 brownish, as in the winter plumage of the adult. 



