16 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
This pretty Robin,, as far as I have observed it in Burmah, is confined 
to those tracts of land vrhich are covered with dense elephant-grass.. It 
keeps to the ground^ running swiftly and for short distances on cart-roads, 
bare places and dry nullahs. It has the habit of elevating its tail imme- 
diately it ceases to run, and of depressing it when running. 
Genus RUTICILLA, C. L. Brehm, 
14. RUTICILLA AUROREA. 
THE DAURIAN REDSTART. 
Motacilla aurorea, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 976. Ruticilla aurorea, Jerd. B. Ind. 
ii. p. 139 5 Wald. in Bl. B. Burm. p. 101 ; Hume, S. Feath. iii. p. 135 j Dav. et 
Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 170, pi. 26 ; Seebohtn, Cat. Birds B. Mus. v. p. 345. 
Description. — Male. A narrow line on the forehead, the lores, cheeks, 
ear-coverts, chin and throat black ; remainder of lower surface with the 
axillaries and under wing-coverts deep chestnut ; head, nape and upper 
back slaty grey, most of the feathers slightly tipped with brown ; back, 
scapulars and wing-coverts black, in many cases the feathers margined 
with grey ; rump and upper tail-coverts chestnut ; tail chestnut, except 
the central pair and the terminal half of the outer web of. the outer pair 
of feathers, which are black ; wing very dark brown, nearly black on the 
secondaries, which have a large white patch at the base of each feather. 
The female is very different to the male ; the whole nnderparts are light 
brown, tinged with rufous on the vent and under tail-coverts ; head, sides 
of head and neck, back and scapulars olive-brown ; rump and upper tail- 
coverts chestnut ; wings and wing- coverts brown, each feather margined 
paler, and the spot on the secondaries smaller than in the male ; tail chest- 
nut, with those parts brown which are black in the male. 
Bill and feet black. (Jerdon.) 
Length 5*75 inches, tail 2*5, wing 2*9, tarsus "9, culmen '6. 
The Daurian Redstart is a winter visitor to Burmah. Capt. Feilden 
procured only one specimen at Thayetmyo, and there is no further record 
of its occurrence in British Burmah. 
In the winter it also visits the South-eastern Himalayas, Bootan, Assam 
and Eastern Bengal. It has been found in the Malay peninsula, Java 
and Timor. 
It has its summer home in South-east Siberia, Mongolia, North China 
and Japan. 
Little or nothing is recorded of its habits. 
