152 Notices and Descriptions 0/ various New [Feb. 



squared ; whereas in P. pandoo the outermost rectrices are a trifle 

 shorter than the rest, and in P. affinis they are a good deal shorter, 

 the penultimate and ante-penultimate also graduating. 



Monticola, Brehm : Petrophila, Swainson ; Orocetes, G. R. Gray. 



27. M. cinclorhyncha, (Vigors) : O. cyanocephala, Swainson : 

 Black- collared Thrush, var. A, Latham. The members of this group 

 are of a shorter make, and more Chat-like, than those of the preced- 

 ing one, with greater variegation in the colouring. The Indian spe- 

 cies is perfectly true to the type of the European M. saxatilis, which 

 is the standard of the division. In this bird the sexes, as I have been 

 informed, resemble each other ; but such is not always the case, for a 

 female in the Society's collection is very similar to the female of 31. 

 saxatilis, though differing of course in not having the tail rufous, nor 

 the indication of the white mark on the croup of the male M. saxatilis, 

 as also in its under-parts being less rufescent. In both species, the 

 female plumage is of the same general character as in the female Pe- 

 trocinclm. The young also are similarly much spotted with pale ful- 

 vescent ; the young males of M. cinclorhyncha being distinguished 

 from the other sex by possessing the white spot upon the wing, the 

 same as in the sexes of the Stone Chat ( Pratincola rubicola), while 

 also in nestling plumage. The present species is a hill — but not a 

 rock — bird, frequenting the tops of trees in the forests : and it extends 

 its range to all India in suitable localities ; being met with occasionally, 

 but rarely, in the plains during the seasons of passage, at which period 

 (that of vernal migration) I once obtained one in the vicinity of Cal- 

 cutta, which I kept for some time alive. Its song is sweet, plaintive, 

 and tolerably loud ; delivered in the manner of a Robin's song : and its 

 manners are very like those of a Stone Chat. 



The Turdus eremita, Gm., founded on le Merle solitaire de Manille 

 of BufFon, would seem to be the female of a species of this division, 

 and not (as I suggested in XII, 182,) that of Petrocincla manillensis, 

 both sexes of which are figured in the Planches Enluminees. 



From the Thrushes, we may pass to the Myiotherine birds of Swain- 

 son, leading to his Thamnophilince : a great series of forms, more 

 especially developed in South America. In India, we have 



Cinclus, Bechst. The Dippers. One species, confined to the Hima- 

 layan torrents, and which was originally discovered in the Krimea, — C. 



