SIPHIA RUBECULOIDES. 
(THE BLUE-THROATED REDBREAST.) 
PJicenicura rubeculoides. Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 36 ; Gould, Cent. Him. Birds, pi. 25. fig. 1 
(1832). 
Muscicapa rubecula, Swains. Monogr. Plyc. p. 221, pi. 27. 
Cyornis rubeculoides, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1843, xii. p. 941 ; id. Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 173 
(1849) ; Layard, Ann. «& Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiii. p. 125 ; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. 
Mus. E. I. Co. ii. p. 289 (1854) ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 466 (1862) ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 
1872, p. 442 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, 1873, p. 211 ; id. Str. Feath. 1875, p. 104 ; Brooks, 
t. c. p. 235 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1878, p. 227. 
Niltava rubeculoides. Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 264. 
Siphia rubeculoides, Sharpe, Cat. B. iv. p. 445 (1879). 
ChafJd, Beng. ; Manzhil-pho, Lepchas (Jerdon). 
Adult male. Length 5‘6 to 5-8 inches ; wing 2-7 to 2-8 ,: tail 2-0 to 2-2 ; tarsus 0-7 ; mid toe and claw 0-6 ; bill to 
gape 0-7. 
Female. Length 5-3 to 5-5 inches ; wing 2-7 to 2-8. 
Male. Iris deep brown ; bill black ; legs and feet dusky bluish, claw's dusky. 
Head, hind neck, back, and wing-coverts dark shining blue ; forehead and point of wing glistening ceerulean blue, 
extending more above the eyes than in the last species ; inner webs of the quills and tail-feathers blackish browm, 
the outer webs margined with blue, much brighter on the tail than the wing ; upper tail-coverts brighter bine 
than the back ; the lores, ear-coverts, and the extreme point of the chin black ; throat and sides of chest deep 
obscure indigo-blue, descending further down to the chest in some specimens than in others ; chest and upper 
part of the breast rich rufous, fading into white on the low-er breast, abdomen, lov^ er flanks, and under tail-coverts ; 
under w'ing-coverts white. 
The coloration of the throat is variable; in the majority of specimens from Ceylon the dark blue colour ends in a line 
across the lower part of the throat ; but in some it extends considerably upon the sides of the chest, confining 
the rufous of the chest to a smaller space, w'hile in others the rufous runs up in a point towards the chin, dividing 
the blue of the throat. This exists in an example in my collection, and Mr. Holdsworth noticed it in specimens 
from Ceylon in the late Lord Tweeddale’s collection. 
Female. Bill dark brown ; legs and feet greyish blue. 
Above uniform brownish olive, with the margins of the quills pale, and the upper tail-coverts and tail suffused with 
rusty brown ; lores pale ; orbital fringe rufescent ; ear-coverts w'ith pale strise ; throat and chest dull rufous, paling 
on the flanks ; the breast, abdomen, and under tad-coverts pure white ; wing-lining yelloNUsh buff. 
Yotmg male. Iris light brown ; bill blackish, pale at the base ; legs and feet bluish. 
Above bluish, with fulvous tips to the feathers of the head and neck, and terminal spots of the same on the w'ing-coverts ; 
chin, throat, and breast rufescent buff, darkest on the chest, and changing into white on the lower parts. The 
above is the plumage in which I shot a Elycatcher changing from nest-plumage to the blue dress, in January 1875, 
in the forests near Kanthelai tank. There is an indication of a dark line across the throat, just where the lower 
border of the blue would be in the adult. It was in company with what appeared to be, as well as I could gather 
at a momentary glance in the thick jungle, an adult C, rubeculoides ; and near at hand I obtained a glimpse of 
what I took for a brown Gyornis, which would be the colour of the female parent, provided my identification were 
correct. 
Obs. I observe, on examining a continental series of this bird, the same variation in the marking of the throat 
