296 
BIRDS OF BEITTSH BURMAH. 
280. NILTAVA VIVIDA. 
SWINHOE^S RUFOUS-BELLIED BLUE-CHAT. 
Cyornis vivida, SivinJi. Ibis, 1864, p. 363 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 117 ; 
Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi. p. 229 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 92. Niltava vivida, 
Shaiye, Cat. Birds B. Mus. iv. p. 463. 
Description. — Male. The wliole upper plumage^ the lesser wing-coverts 
and the sides of the neck deep purplish blue^ turning to ultramarine on 
the head^ rump and upper tail-coverts ; the lores^ feathers at the base o£ 
the upper mandible and in front of the eye black ; cheeks and ear-coverts 
black tinged with blue ; chin and throat bluish black ; remainder of lower 
plumage chestnut ; central tail-feathers blue, the others black broadly 
edged externally with blue ; lesser and median coverts black washed 
with blue; quills dark brown, with a narrow external edging of dull 
blue. 
The female (Swinhoe^s type) has the lores_, the feathers at the base of 
the upper mandible and in front and round the eye mixed ferruginous 
and grey ; the crown is olive-brown washed with blue ; the remaining 
upper plumage and lesser wing- coverts olive-brown^ washed in places with 
a trace of blue. The median and greater coverts and the quills are brown, 
edged externally with a lighter shade of the same ; the tail is brown, washed 
with ferruginous at the edges of the feathers ; the chin and throat are 
buff, more or less brown at the bases of the feathers ; the ear-coverts are 
like the back, but with no blue tinge ; the lower j^lumage is ashy olive 
tinged with ochraceous, especially on the centre of the abdomen ; the 
region of the vent is albescent ; the under wing-coverts, the axillaries and 
the under tail-coverts are pure, rather deep, buff. 
An immature male has the feathers of the crown, nape and sides of the 
neck tipped with white. 
The legs and feet are dark brown, purplish brown, purplish plumbeous ; 
bill black ; irides deep brown. {Davison.) 
The following are the dimensions of Chinese examples in the Swinhoe 
collection : — Length about 6 inches, tail 3, wing 3 '5, tarsus '7, bill from 
gape -8. Tenasserim birds, according to Mr. Hume, measure : — Length 
7 to 8-1 inches, tail 3 to 3-5, wing 375 to 4-05. 
Had not Mr. Hume assured us that he has compared his Tenasserim 
specimens with some of Mr. Swinhoe's birds from China, I should have 
hesitated to unite the two. The disparity in the measurements is very 
great, greater than is usually the case in birds of this family. I have been 
unable to examine Tenasserim birds. 
Svvinhoe's Rufous -bellied Blue-Chat was procured by Mr. Davison on 
Mooleyit mountain in Tenasserim, where, he states, it was very common. 
