ENICURUS MACULATUS, n t 



Lunated Forktail. 



gors. 



Enkurus maculatus, Vig. in Proc. of Comm. of Sci. and Corr. of Zool. Soc, part i. 1830-1831, p. 9.-Gould, Cent. 



of Birds, pi. 27.-Hodgs. in Gray's Zool. Misc. 1844, p. 83.-Gray, Cat. of Spec, and Draw, of Mamm. 



and Birds, pres. to Brit. Mus. by B. H. Hodgson, Esq., p. 76.-Jameson, in Calcutta Journ. Nat. Hist., 



vol. vii. p. 363.— Gray, Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 204, Enicurus, sp. 2.— Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng., 



vol. xvi. p. 156.- Id. Cat. of Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, p. 159.— Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. 



torn. i. p. 251, Enicurus, sp. 2.— Horsf. and Moore, Cat. of Birds in Mus. East Ind. Comp., vol. i. p. 346. 



—Adams, in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part xxvi. 1858, p. 489, and part xxvii. 1859, p. 179.— Jerdon, Birds of 



India, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 212. 



fuliginosus, Hodgs. in Asiat. Res., vol. xix. 190, young. 



Khanjan, in the N.W. Himalayas. Oong-sam ching-pho of the Lepchins. Chubia leka of the Bhotans. 



The figures in the accompanying Plate were taken from specimens precisely like the bird which formed the 

 subject of one of the illustrations in my ' Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains ; ' I deem it 

 necessary to state this because I believe that another, but very nearly allied, species from the same range of hills 

 has hitherto been confounded with it. The bird referred to is the one characterized by me in the ' Pro- 

 ceedings of the Zoological Society ' for 1865, under the name of Enicurus guttatus, a representation of 

 which will be found on the succeeding Plate. Where the two birds inosculate in the great Himalayan range 

 has not yet been ascertained ; but I believe that both are found in Nepaul, and that from thence the range 

 pi E. maculatas extends as far to the westward as the country of Afghanistan, while the E. guttatus frequents 

 Sikhim, Bhotan, and probably proceeds even still further to the eastward. 



The birds constituting the genus Enicurus must form a conspicuous feature in the landscape among the 

 rocky gullies of the elevated regions they inhabit. 



Dr. Leith Adams remarks that the E. maculatus is " common on the mountain-streams southwards of 

 the valley of Cashmere. Among the tangled jungles by the sides of the mountain-torrents this beautiful 

 creature sports from rock to rock ; it flutters like a huge butterfly, intently searching after its winged prey, 

 now and then uttering a harsh scream as it runs along the water's edge with its tail expanded like a fan." 



" This beautiful Wagtail," says Mr. Jerdon, " may be said to be one of the adjuncts of Himalayan scenery ; 

 if you come suddenly on a mountain-stream crossing the road or path, and still more certainly if there be a 

 waterfall, you are sure to see one of these birds, either on the road or in a rock in the stream. If on the 

 former, it will at times fly before you to the next stream that crosses the path, and repeat the movement 

 for a dozen times m succession ; but more commonly as you approach it flies rapidly into the jungle and 

 disappears up the stream, but, owing to the density of the jungle, does not go far. I cannot say that I have 

 seen it perch, but on one or two occasions thought I did. In the larger streams it may be seen running on 

 the shingle at the edge of the river, but still more frequently on rocks, especially on those in rapids that are 

 washed over by the spray. There it picks up the various small insects and their larvae which constitute it 



chief food. 



" In general it is a solitary bird ; occasionally two or three may be seen near each other, but in that case 

 one usually drives away the rest. The nest is made of roots, fibres, and a little moss ; the eggs, which are 

 three or four in number, are of a greenish white, with a few rusty-brown spots." 



The adults of both sexes differ but little in size and colouring; the dress of the young during the first 

 autumn is very dissimilar, the head and back being olive brown and the throat and breast light olivaceous 

 brown, with a stripe of grey down each feather ; and present no appearance of the black, studded with white, 

 which characterizes the older birds, and which, when once acquired, is not again changed. 



The adult birds have the forehead and frontal half of the crown, greater wing-coverts, lower half of the 

 back, rump, upper tail-coverts, abdomen, thighs, and under tail-coverts pure white ; hinder half of the 

 crown, sides of the head and neck, throat, and breast black ; a few of the feathers on the lower edge of 

 the latter with a lunate mark of white at the tip ; upper half of the back black, lunated with white, the 

 lunations increasing into large spots and forming a conspicuous mark on each side of the nape ; spurious 

 wing and secondaries black, with the exception of an oblique line of white on the tips of the latter ; 

 primaries dark brown ; lateral tail-feathers and the tips of the inner ones white, the basal portion of the 

 latter being black ; irides dark brown ; bill black ; legs and feet fleshy white. 



The Plate represents the two sexes of the size of life, and with a reduced figure of a young bird. 



