12 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
Birds of the year and young in first plumage differ from the female very 
slightly. {Seebohm.) 
Iris hazel ; eyelids plumbeous ; bill blackish horn ; mouth yellow ; feet 
black ; claws dark horn. 
Length 9 inches_, tail 3*5^ wing 4*7^ tarsus I'l^ bill from gape 1*2. The 
female is a trifle smaller. 
There are two extreme forms of this Blue Rock-Thrush. The western 
form^ inhabiting Europe and a great part of Asia^ is described above. The 
eastern form_, M. solitaria, inhabiting Japan^ China and South-east Asia, 
differs in having the lower breast, abdomen, flanks and under tail-coverts 
deep chestnut. 
The majority of the birds found in British Burmah apparently belong to 
M. cyanuSy being characterized by an absence of chestnut on the lower 
plumage. A considerable proportion of the birds, however, show traces of 
chestnut, and in one or two instances mentioned by Mr. Hume are in 
typical M. solitaria plumage. 
These two forms evidently interbreed ; and some of the hybrids visit 
Burmah. It is difiicult to know how to deal with such birds ; but I think 
that, having pointed out the state of things in Burmah, it is better to 
retain all under the name of the western form. 
The subject has been very fully discussed by Messrs. Sharpe and 
Dresser, Mr. Hume and Mr. Seebohm. 
The Blue Rock-Thrush is found abundantly over the whole of British 
Burmah during the cold season. It arrives in October, and leaves in 
March. 
It ranges through India and Persia to Southern Europe, and in the winter 
visits North Africa. To the east of Burmah it is replaced by M. solitaria. 
This Thrush is perhaps better known to residents in Burmah than any 
other. It frequents pagodas, monasteries, gardens and the neighbourhood 
of houses, frequently entering bungalows in a quiet unobtrusive manner, 
and sitting silently on a verandah-beam for some minutes ; it is frequently 
seen perched on old walls, and it feeds on the ground. 
It nests in the Himalayas in stone walls and lays four eggs, pale 
blue speckled with brown. 
