26 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
25. HENICURUS GUTTATUS. 
GOULD^S SPOTTED FORKTAIL. 
Enicurus guttatus, Gould, P. Z. S. 1865, p. 664; Oates, S. F. iii. p. 342. 
Henicurus guttatus, Elwes, Ibis, 1872, p. 261 ; Bl. B. Burm. p. 97 ; Hume, 
S. F. vii. p. 399, viii. p. 103 ; Scully, S. F. viii. p. 311. 
Description. — Male and female. Forehead as far back as the eyes white; 
the chilly throat, breast, upper abdomen, lores, cheeks, ear-coverts, top of 
the head and sides of the neck deep black ; the back of the neck, the back 
and shoulders black, the feathers of the nape each with a large central drop 
of white and those of the back each with a small circular spot of white at 
the tip ; rump, upper tail-coverts, flanks, lower abdomen, vent and under 
tail-coverts pure white ; lesser wing-coverts black ; larger wing-coverts 
black, broadly tipped with white; quills black, all, except the first three, 
with a white patch at the base, and the tertiaries and later secondaricis 
tipped white ; under wing-coverts mixed white and black ; the four outer 
pairs of tail-feathers blacky tipped with white, the two outer pairs wholly 
white. 
The young are probably like the young of H. maculatus. The white on 
the forehead is absent and there are no spots on the back. Those parts 
which are black in the adult are in the young rufous-brown, the feathers 
of the lower parts being conspicuously pale-shafted and the parts adjacent 
to the shaft whitish. 
Bill black ; irides dark brown ; feet pale whitish fleshy. [Scully.) 
Length 9*5 inches, tail 5'2, wing 4, tarsus Tl, bill from gape '95. The 
female is about the same size. 
Gould^s Forktail has been observed in Arrakan only, whence Mr. Blyth 
records it. I procured it at Nyoungyo near the summit of the Arrakan 
hills, and I have no doubt it is common there. 
It has been observed in the Khasia hills, in Sikhim and in Nipal up to 
an elevation of about 7000 feet. It commences to nest about the middle of 
May. 
H. maculatus from the Himalayas is a closely allied species, but may be 
distinguished at once by the character of the spots on the back, which 
are squarish, whereas in H. guttatus they are quite round. 
