COPSYCHUS SAULAEIS. 
(THE MAGPIE ROBIN.) 
Gmcula saularis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 165 (1766). 
Copsychus saularis, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 166 (1849); Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. 
p. 120 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 263 ; Horsf. & Mopre, Cat. 
B. Mus. E. I. Co. i. p. 275 (1854); Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 114 (1863); Blyth, Ibis, 
1867, p. 11 ; Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 359; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 453; Walden, 
Ibis, 1873, p. 307; Hume, Nests and Eggs, ii. p. 303 (1874); id. Str. Feath. 1874, 
p. 230; Ball, t. c. p. 412; Hume, ibid. 1875, p. 133; Hume & Armstrong, ibid. 1876, 
p. 327 ; Hume, t. c. p. 458 ; Oates, ibid. 1877, p. 157 ; Butler, t. c. p. 322 ; Fairbank, 
t. c. p. 406. 
Turdus saularis, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 87. 
Copsychus ceylonensis, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1861, p. 186 ; Legge, J. A. S. (Ceylon Branch) p. 44 
(1870-n). 
The Bial-hvrd, Latham; Byal-bird in India; Dayal in Bengal ; Dayyur, Hind. (Jerdon); 
Thaheitgyee, in Arracan ; Pedda nalanchi, Telugu ; 8a-Jca, Siam. 
Pollichcha, Sinhalese ; Pega, Portuguese in Ceylon ; Karavi-Jcuruvi, lit. “ Charcoal-bird,” 
Tarauls in Ceylon, also Manatliee in Jaffna district (Layard). 
Adult male. Length 8‘0 to 8‘5 inches ; wing 4‘0 to 4-1 ; tail 3‘5 ; tarsus 1'15 to 1‘2 ; mid toe and claw 1‘0 ; bill to 
gape 1'15. 
Iris dark brown ; eyelid neutral brown ; bill black ; legs and feet plumbeous brown or blackish leaden, claws black. 
Head, neck, chest, and upper surface with the scapulars glossy blue-black ; quills and tail black ; secondary wing- 
coverts, outer webs of tertials, under surface from the chest, under wing-coverts, three outer tail-feathers entirely 
and the next pair, except on the inner margin, pure white ; thighs white, black posteriorly. The white wing-coverts 
and outer webs of the tertials form a broad longitudinal band on the wing when closed. 
Female. Length 7‘8 to 8-2 inches ; wing 3'8. BiU not so deep a black, and paling slightly at the base ; legs and feet 
neutral brown. 
Above blue-black, but pervaded with a greyish hue about the hind neck, and blending on the sides of the neck into the 
slate-colour of the throat, fore neck, and chest ; the white of the wings, underparts, and external tail-feathers as 
in the male ; posterior part of thighs blackish. 
Young male. Bill blackish brown ; legs and feet dark plumbeous. Head and back brownish black, the feathers of the 
rump edged rufous-brown ; wngs blackish, the feathers edged with rufous ; the margins of the outer primaries 
paler than the rest, least and median wdng-coverts with terminal rufescent spots ; throat greyish white, the cheek- 
feathers tipped with fulvous ; the lower neck and chest ochraceous, the feathers with dark edges, and those at the 
lower part next the white breast dark slaty ; the white feathers of the breast finely edged with slaty. 
This is a description of a single example ; but the 3mung vary somewhat in the extent and depth of the fulvous 
markings ; females are slaty on the hind neck and back, and they have the chest paler. 
Ohs. The females of this species in Ceylon have, as a rule, the back of a darker shade than those from Iv orth India ; 
hence the separation by Dr. Sclater of the Ceylonese from the continental race. Examples from South India, 
however, correspond in this respect with om-s ; and I have examined a Kattiawar example quite as pa e as any 
Ceylonese one. The pale back is a character which increases as this species ranges northwar s, w ere it exists 
also in the male bird. The white of the outer tail-feathers varies with age. In very birds from Ceylon 
there is, as far as I have examined them, always a certain amount of black at the inner edge o e feather 
from the side, but it varies sometimes in the same individual as regards the two sides of the tai , for instance, a 
specimen before me has this feather on one side with a black inner margin near the base, on the other with a broad 
