TICKELL^S BLUE REDBEEAST. 
289 
273. SIPHIA TICKELLI^. 
TICKELL^S BLUE BEDBREAST. 
Cyornis tickelliae, Bl. J. A. S. B. xii. p. 941 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 467 ; Humcj 
Nests and Eggs, p. 212 ; id. S. F. i. p. 436 ; Ball, S. F. ii. p. 405 Humej 
S. F. iii. p. 468. Cyornis banyumas {Horsf.}, Jerd. B. hid. i. p. 466. Cy- 
ornis tickelli, Wald. in Bl. B. Burm. p. 103 ; Anders. Yunnan Fxped. p. 620 ; 
Hume, S. F. viii. p. 92. Siphia tickelliae, Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. Mus. iv. 
p. 447 ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 421. 
Description. — Male. Similar to the male of S. rubeculoides, but with the 
rufous of the throat coming up into the angle of the chin_, leaving only the 
mere point of the chin dusky blue. Of larger size. 
The female is like the male in most respects ; the general colour of the 
plumage is paler and duller blue ; the lores are whitish ; the sides of the 
head are concolorous with the crown ; the forehead and eye-streak are 
more brilliant than the other parts ; the shafts of the ear-coverts are 
white ; the point of the chin is not dusky blue,, but of the same colour as 
the throat. 
The young, according to Capt. Legge^ have the head and hind neck 
brown^ with fulvous-yellow mesial lines ; back brown^ suffused with fulves- 
cent, and each feather with a terminal spot of the same ; wing-coverts with 
deep tips of a brighter hue than the markings of the back ; quills and tail 
as in the adult ; beneath^ the throat and chest fulvescent^ with a faint 
indication of a stripe along the edge of the lower mandible^ and the feathers 
of the chest edged dusky. 
Iris brown ; bill blackish ; legs and feet bluish brown^ dusky bluish or 
bluish grey ; the female has these parts paler. [Legge.) 
Length 5*8 inches^, tail 2*5^ wing 2*8, tarsus '7 , bill from gape '75. The 
female is of about the same size. 
TickelFs Blue Redbreast was procured by Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay in 
Karennee. I have examined the specimens there obtained^ and find them 
identical in all respects with Indian examples. 
Dr. Anderson found it in Upper Burmah^ and it is spread over the whole 
peninsula of India and Ceylon^ where it appears to be a permanent resident 
throughout the year. 
The nestj made of moss and dry leaves^ is placed in the hole of a tree or 
wall. The breeding-season in Central India appears to be May and June, 
The eggs are greyish white speckled with dull reddish brown. 
VOL. I. 
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