EBITHACUS HYECANUS. 



(PERSIAN REDBREAST.) 



Sylvia rubecula (nee Linn.), Menetr. Cat. Rais. Cauc. p. 35 (1832). 

 Erythacus rubecula (nee Linn.), De Filippi, Viagg. Pers. p. 347 (1865). 

 Erithacus hyrcanus, Blanford, Ibis, 1874, p. 79. 

 Erythacus hyrcanus, id. E. Persia, ii. p. 160, pi. xv. fig. 1 (1876). 

 Landalus hyrcanus (Blanf.), Lorenz, Orn. Faun. Kaukas. p. 17 (1887). 



Malinowka, Russian ; Karmurlandsh, Armenian. 



Figura unica. 

 Blanford, E. Persia, ii. pi. xv. fig. 1. 



Ad. E. rubecula affinis, sed pectore rufo saturatiore, supracaudalibus ferrugineis, fronte rufa latiore et rostro 

 longiore distinguendus. 



Adult (Resht, October) . Resembles E. rubecula, but the red on the breast and throat is deeper in colour, 

 and the upper tail-coverts are chestnut-brown or dull ferruginous and not olivaceous. Total length 

 about 5 inches, culmen 6 - 7, wing 3'8, tail 235, tarsus 1*05. 



Obs. Like our Robin Redbreast, the present species is variable in the tone of colour of the throat and upper 

 breast, and the two specimens in my collection illustrate this very clearly, as the male from Kuban 

 bas these parts coloured no darker than in an average British specimen, whereas the female from 

 Resht has them as richly coloured as in any one I have examined from Teneriffe. 



The Persian Redbreast ranges from the Caucasus eastward to Persia. Lorenz obtained it at 

 Kislovodsk in the Northern Caucasus in October ; and according to Dr. G. Radde it is tolerably 

 common in the Caucasus, and breeds amongst the underwood in the deciduous forests of Borshon. 

 It arrives atTiflisnot earlier than the 10th (22nd) March, and ten days later it was common about 

 Borshon and collecting nesting-materials. They arrive earliest of any of the Warblers, and are 

 most zealous songsters. In the lowlands of Lenkoran large numbers remain over winter. 

 During bad weather, and especially when the snow is deep, they forsake the open localities and 

 take to the jungle. A few breed in the gardens of the town. Dr. Radde also met with it in 

 Transcaspia, where it is, he says (Vog. Transcaspiens, p. 54), very common wherever there are 

 gardens or watercourses skirted by bushes or reeds. At Askabad the first arrived in 1886 

 on the 12th April, and in 1887 on the 15th April, at Sary-jasy on the Murghab. According 

 to Zarudny it is very common in the gardens of the Merv oasis, but rarer in those of the Pinde 

 oasis, and breeds but rarely along the central course of the Murghab and Tedjend. It is, how- 

 ever, common in the mountain villages and in the bushes skirting the mountain-streams, but 

 somewhat rare in the Ahal-Teke plains. In the early part of July they were in full moult. 



