158 



10 



Rock-Thrush from the European one, and in this is followed by Horsfield in his catalogue. Blyth united 

 them in his catalogue, but subsequently described a P. longirostris from Cashmere, which he has siuce referred 

 to the European race P. cyaneus ; and on carefully examining specimens from Europe with Indian ones of 

 P. pandoo, in company with Mr. Blyth, we agreed that these could not be separated. Indian specimens are 

 apparently deeper blue ; but this may depend on season, this bird being only a winter visitant in India ; and 

 though, in some specimens, the bill is shorter than in those from Europe, yet others with equally long beaks 

 are met with. Mr. Blyth has lately also joined both his P. affinis from Darjeeliug and Burmah and P. 

 manillensis from China and the Philippines to the European species, making the following varieties : — a. P. 

 longirostris, Bl., from Cashmere and Afghanistan, precisely the same as the bird from Europe ; b. P. pandoo, 

 Sykes, from Western and Southern India; c. P. affinis, Bl., from Sikkim, Lower Bengal, and Burmah; d. P. 

 manillensis, auct., from China and the Philippines. In deference to Mr. Blyth's matured opinion, I have put 

 P. affinis as a synonym of P. cyaneus; but I cannot do the same with P. manillensis, and I am in great doubts 

 about the affinity of P. affinis. It generally has the blue more vivid than in P. cyaneus, the dusky markings 

 being less developed ; there is generally more or less deep ferruginous here and there, sometimes on the 

 lump*, and occasionally in the lower plumage, and the outer tail-feathers are generally shorter than the 

 penultimate pair. The female, too, is generally more tinged with blue above, and the ground-tint of the 

 lower parts is more rufescent than in the female of P. cyaneus. The young bird has the light markings of 

 the nestling plumage much more white above, and more rufescent beneath. Mr. Blyth was first led to change 

 his previous opinion of the diversity of these two races by shooting two birds in Burmah, in succession, upon 

 the same tree, on the following day, close under a deep rock-cutting, one of which had the outer tail-feathers 

 shorter, the other not, and which he would have referred respectively to P. affinis and P. cyaneus if he had 

 received them from different localities. It will be observed that, of these races or varieties, each race ocrapies 

 a peculiar range of longitude : — P. cyaneus (with P. pandoo) on the west range, without any admixture of 

 rufous ; P. manillensis on the extreme cast, with the whole abdomen chestnut ; and P. affinis, between the two, 

 sometimes with, sometimes without, any rufous. When specimens in summer plumage from various points 

 along the north of Asia have been compared, perhaps a more correct judgment will be obtained of the distinctness 

 or otherwise of these races. Is it possible that P. affinis can be a fertile hybrid between P. manillensis and 

 /\ cyaneusf" We are inclined to agree with Dr. Jcrdon and Mr. Blyth in believing that P. pandoo is not 

 separable from P. cyanus, which seems to come to India in the winter and range down the western coast. 

 In the same manner does P. solitarius find its way from the east in winter, when it occurs in the Himalayas, 

 near Darjeeling, again in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, extends down the Malayan peninsula, and doubtless 

 inhabits at this season of the year all the islands of the Indo-Malayan subregion, as it has been traced into 

 the Austro-Malayan subregion as far as Gilolo and Ternate. The great question for solution is, therefore, 

 whether the ranges of the two species, converging upon the Indian peninsula in winter from the east and 

 west, ever really coalesce, and if so, where. 



We have now before us nine specimens from different parts of India. One from the Punjaub, given us by 

 Captain C. II. T. Marshall, seems to be in all respects identical with European examples, and measures as 

 follows : — Total length 8 - (J inches, culmen TO, wing 4'7, tail 33, tarsus 1*15. Lord Waldeu has a specimen 

 in his collection from Candeish, also apparently referable to P. cyanus, and measuring : — Total length 9 inches, 

 culmen PI, wing 4/7, tail 3'4, tarsus 1*15. Both these specimens are in full blue garb, and appear to be 

 nearly in complete breeding-plumage, retaining only a few obsolete whitish edgings on the abdomen. In 

 Dresser's collection of Thrushes are three skins sent by Mr. W. E. Brooks from Etawah, where they were 

 procured in December and January ; they appear to be all males of the year in winter plumage. Total length 

 7'J-8'2 inches, culmen O'95-PO, wing 4 - 6— 48, tail 3'4, tarsus P05. Another specimen in Lord Walden's 



* This we cannot quite make out. None of our specimens ever had a trace of this colour above, and it is 

 evidently a misprint. — S. & D. 



