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ACCENTOR IMMACULATUS,^, 



Blue-shouldered Accentor. 



Accentor immaculatus, Hodgs. in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part xiii. p. 34,-Gray, Cat. of Spec, and Draw, of Mamm 

 and Birds presented to Brit. Mns. by B. H. Hodgson, Esq., p. 71, and App. p. 153. 

 - mollis, Blyth, Jonrn. Asiat. Soc. Beng., vol. xiv. p. 581.-Ib. Cat. of Birds in Mas. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta 

 p. I31.-Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. iii. App. p. 8, App. to p. 187.-Bonap. Consp. Gen 

 Av., p. 306. r 



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A careful examination of the figure of this bird, comprised in Mr. Hodgson's original and named drawings, 

 now at the British Museum, as well as of the numerous specimens in the national collection, and in the 

 Museum of the East India Company, has convinced me that the Accentor mollis of Mr. Blyth is identical 

 with the A. immaculatus of Mr. Hodgson ; I am therefore obliged to reduce Mr. Blyth's name to the rank 

 of a synonym. Mr. Blyth considers this species to be the beauty of the genus, and I coincide in this opinion, 

 since it really is one of the most pleasingly coloured members of the genus yet discovered. As regards its 

 structure and contour, it more nearly assimilates to our Hedge Accentor than to any other ; and if we may judge 

 from its thick clothing and the silky feel of its plumage, forest lands, thick underwood, and humid placts 

 are the situations it frequents ; but, on this point, nothing has as yet been recorded. I believe that all the 

 specimens sent to our museums have been collected in Nepaul, a country the natural productions of which 

 are rich in the extreme. 



Head and back of the neck dark slate-grey, the feathers of the forehead narrowly fringed with silvery- 

 grey ; lores black ; wing-coverts pale grey ; back chestnut-brown, gradually blending with the grey of the 

 back of the neck, and becoming of a paler hue on the upper tail-coverts ; spurious wing black ; primaries 

 brown, narrowly edged with silvery-grey; secondaries and tertiaries more chestnut externally, internally 

 brown ; tail slaty-brown ; chin, throat, chest and upper part of the abdomen pale slate-grey ; lower portion 

 of the flanks, vent, and under tail-coverts dark rusty-red ; bill black ; feet fleshy-brown. 



In other specimens, supposed to be females, a similar style of colouring prevails, but the tints are more 

 blended and of a lighter hue. The plant is a species of Gentiana. 



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