THE WHITE-BREASTED FORKTAIL. 25 
Genus HENICURUS, Temm. 
24. HENICURUS IMMACULATUS. 
THE WHITE-BREASTED FORKTAIL. 
Enicurus immaculatus, Hodgs. As. Res. xix. p. 190 5 Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 213 ; 
Hume, S. F. iii. p. 141. Henicurus immaculatus, Elwes, Ihis, 1872, 
p. 254 ; Bl. B. Burm. p. 97 ; Anders. Yimnan Exped. p. 610 ; Hume, S. F. 
vlii. p. 103. 
Description. — Male and female. Forehead and a narrow line over and 
behind the eye white ; the plumes at the base of the bill^ the lores^ face^ 
sides of neckj chin^ throaty summit of head and neck_, and the back deep 
black; rump^ upper tail-coverts and whole lower plumage white_, the 
feathers at the sides o£ the breast being tipped with black ; axillaries and 
under wing-coverts white ; primaries blacky the later ones with a white 
patch at the base of the outer webs ; secondaries and tertiaries blacky tipped 
white^ the basal third of each feather also white ; wing-coverts black_, the 
larger ones broadly tipped white ; the two outer pairs of rectrices white^ 
the others black_, broadly tipped with white^, and the bases of the feathers 
also white as far as the tips of the upper tail-coverts. 
The young have the head, neck, back and breast sooty blacky and there 
is no white on the forehead and about the eyes. 
Bill and inside of mouth black ; irides brown ; feet and claws pale yel- 
lowish white. 
Length 9*8 inches^ tail 5"3_, wing 4^ tarsus 1*2^ bill from gape "95. The 
female is smaller. 
The White-breasted Forktail is found over the whole of the Pegu hills on 
both sides of the ridge_, and is very abundant. It is also very common in 
Arrakan in all the mountain-streams. Mr. Blyth gives it from Tenasserim ; 
but Mr. Davison did not meet with it in that division. Probably the 
Sittang river is its eastern limit. 
It ranges through the Indo-Burmese countries to the hill-tracts of 
Eastern Bengal_, Sikhim and Nipal. 
The White-breasted Forktail frequents rocky hill-streams where there is 
water in pools. It walks on the edges of these pieces of water^ searching 
for insects and wagging its tail up and down incessantly. It has a low 
wavy flight and is a beautiful object when on the wing. 
It breeds in April placing its cup-shaped nest^ which is constructed en- 
tirely of moss bound together with earth_, on a bank of a stream either 
under a rock or among tree-roots^ or even on a log of wood which may 
have been caught in the stream during the past rains. The eggs are usually 
three in number and are pale greenish blotched with reddish brown. 
All the birds of this genus have the same habits. 
