THE WHITE-TAILED BLUE-CHAT. 23 
islands of Sumatra and Java. It is also found in China_,the Indo-Burmese 
countries and the whole of the peninsula of India with Ceylon. In the 
Andamans it is replaced by an affined species^ C. albiventris. 
This bird is a most charming songster, and its beautiful notes may be 
heard almost throughout the year. It frequents almost every description 
of jungle_, being more especially partial perhaps to bamboos. They feed 
principally on the ground and eat insects. They nest about April, and I 
have frequently found the eggs in Pegu. The nest is a mass of leaves thrown 
into a hole of a tree and lined on the top with grass, and the number of 
eggs is usually four. 
Genus MYIOMELA, Hodgs. 
22. MYIOMELA LEUCUEA. 
THE WHITE-TAILED BLUE-CHAT. 
Muscisylvia leucura, Hodgs. P. Z. S. 1845, p. 27. Myiomela leucura, Jerd. 
B. Ind. ii. p. 118 j Bl. 8f Wald. B. Burm. p. 100; Hume, S. F. v. p. 103; Hume 
8f Dav. S. F. vi. p. 334 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 99. Notodela leucura, Hume, 
Nests and Eggs, p. 306. 
Description. — Male. Forehead, over the eje and the lesser wing-coverts 
bright smalt-blue ; the whole plumage black, washed with blue ; the throat, 
breast and abdomen almost plain black ; the bases of some of the feathers 
on the side of the neck white, but barely showing unless the feathers are 
moved ; wings black, with indistinct bluish edges ; tail black, all the 
feathers except the outer and central pairs with a large patch of white 
on the outer webs near the base, increasing in size inwardly. 
The/em«/e is entirely of a dull rufous-brown, the wings edged brighter, 
and the throat, cheeks and forehead mottled with grey ; the tail has 
white patches like the male, disposed in the same manner. 
Bill, legs, feet and claws black ; irides deep brown. {Davison,) 
Length 7 inches, tail 3, wing 3'8, tarsus I'l, bill from gape '9. The 
female is rather smaller. 
M. montium, from Formosa, can hardly be separated from M. leucura. It 
has the lower plumage slightly more suffused with blue, but differs in no 
other respect. M. albifrons, from Java, has a patch of white on the fore- 
head, and the white on the tail is much reduced ; it does not otherwis 
differ from M. leucura. It appears to be the Notodela diana of Lesson, 
said to have been procured in Pegu but probably by an error. 
The White-tailed Blue-Chat has been procured on the higher slopes of 
