THE HUFOUS-BELLIED FAIRY BLUE-CHAT. 
295 
Genus NILTAVA, Ilodcjs, 
279. NILTAVA SUNDAUA. 
THE RUFOUS-BELLIED FAIRY BLUE-CHAT. 
Niltava snndara, Hodgs. Ind. Rev. i. p. OoO ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 473 ; IIu7ne, Nests 
and E(j(js, p. 213 ; Bl. B. Bunn. p. 102 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi. p. 231 ; David 
et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 117 j Hume, S. F. viii. p. 93 ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. 
Mus. iv. p. 4G3 5 Hume, S. F. ix. p. 234. 
Description. — Male, Foreliead_, lores^ sides of the head^, cliin and throat 
deep black ; crown of the head_, nape_, rump, upper tail-coverts and a spot 
on either side of the neck glistening blue ; lesser wing-coverts the same ; 
median and greater coverts and quills dark brown_, edged with purplish 
blue ; back and scapulars purplish black ; tail black_, the outer webs tinged 
with bright blue ; lower plumage and under wing-coverts chestnut. 
The female has the upper plumage olive-brown, tinged with fulvous ; the 
tail is rufous ; the forehead and sides of the head are mingled buff and ashy 
brown; the ear-coverts with the shafts paler; a small spot on the side of 
the neck blue ; the lower plumage is ashy brown, turning to whitish on the 
abdomen, and there is a patch of white on the front of the neck. 
Young birds are dark brown, streaked above and below with fulvous ; 
the outer webs of the wings and tail are tinged with blue from the first, 
but there is no trace of the blue neck-spot in very young birds. A change 
takes place first in the abdomen, which turns to the colour of that of the 
adult j and in males a few blue feathers soon make their appearance on 
the head and back. 
Bill black ; legs brown ; irides dark brown. [Jerclon.) 
Length 6 inches, tail 2-7, wing 3-2, tarsus '85. 
The Rufous-bellied Fairy Blue-Chat has been recorded from Arrakan 
and Tenasserim by Mr. Blyth. Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay procured it in 
Karennee at 4000 feet elevation. I have examined his specimens and find 
them agree with Indian examples. 
It extends into China and is found in the hills of Eastern Bengal and the 
Himalayas, where it breeds. 
Dr. Jerdon says : — It frequents thick bushy ground, often near water^ 
is shy and wary, seldom showing itself; but now and then I have seen it 
seated on a fallen tree or stump, or even a paling by the wayside. It feeds 
chiefly on insects which it procures on the ground, generally returning to 
the same perch whence it came ; but it also picks insects off the leaves and 
branches. It is seldom seen high up on trees.''^ 
The nest is generally placed in some rocky ledge or crevice or in a 
decayed stump and is made of moss. The eggs, usually four in number, 
are, according to Mr. Flume, pale reddish buff, freckled with dingy pink. 
