14 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMA.H. 
12. ERITHACUS CALLIOPE. 
THE RUBY-THROATED ROBIN. 
Motacilla calliope, Pall. Reise Russ. Reichs, iii. p. 697. Turdus camtschatkensis, 
Gm. St/st. Nat. i. p. 817. Calliope kamschatkensis, Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 150 ; 
Bl. B. Burm. p. 101 ; Dresser, Birds of Europe, ii. p. 341 ; Hume 8j- Dav. S. 
Featli. vi. p. 337 ; Anders. Yunan Exped. p. 615 ; Dav. et Oust. Ois. Clmie, 
p. 235 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 100 ; Gates, S. F. x. p. 213. Erithacus calliope, See- 
hohm, Cat. Birds B. Mus. v. p. 305. 
Description. — Male. The whole upper plumage olive-brown_, the head 
darker^ and all the feathers indistinctly edged paler ; a line from the fore- 
head over the eye white; lores and under the eye black ; a broad moustachial 
streak white ; throat and fore neck scarlet^ each feather margined at the 
tip with white^ and the whole patch bordered by black; upper breast 
brownish grey, paling and becoming buffy grey on the lower breast and 
sides of the body ; abdomen and under tail-coverts white ; tail brown, 
edged on the outer webs with olive- brown; wing-coverts and quills brown, 
edged with bright olive-brown ; axillaries buflP. 
l^he female differs from the male. The superciliary streak is buffy white; 
lores and in front of the eye dusky brown ; the bright scarlet of the throat 
and the surrounding black line are absent, and replaced by an impure 
white ; the moustachial streak is olive-brown. The other parts are as in 
the male. 
The young are clothed like the female at first, and the crimson throat- 
patch is assumed in the first winter without a moult. 
Bill light brown, white at the gape; mouth flesh-colour; iris brown; 
legs pale plumbeous ; claws horn-colour. 
Length 6 inches, tail 2*4, wing 2*9, tarsus 1*15, bill from gape '8. The 
female is the same size. 
The Ruby-throated Robin is recorded from Arrakan by Mr. Blyth. I 
found it abundant in Pegu every year, during November, December and 
January, near Kyeikpadein, and in the plain lying to the west of the canal 
up to Myitkyo. Mr. Davison found it rare in Tenasserim and procured 
it only in the northern portions of the division. Capt. Eeilden got one 
specimen at Thayetmyo, and Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay procured it in 
Karennee. 
It is a winter visitor to India and China, and comes as far down as the 
Philippine Islands. It summers in Siberia, ranging to high latitudes. 
This Robin is very common in Pegu wherever it occurs. It seeks 
shelter in the densest clumps of bushes and elephant-grass and is seldom 
seen. It keeps a good deal to the ground, where it seeks its food among 
dead leaves and herbage. It has a pretty song, which I occasionally heard. 
