MONTICOLA CYANA. 
(THE BLUE ROCK-THRUSH.) 
Turdus cyanus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 291 (1776). 
Monticola cyanus (L.), Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 552; Shelley, B. of Egypt, p. 70 (1872). 
Petrocossyphus cyanus (L.), Boie, Isis, 1828, p. 319; Jerd. B. of Ind. i. p. 511 (1862); 
Sharpe & Dresser, B. of Eur. pt. 8 (1871); Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 179; Howard 
Irby, B. of Gibraltar, p. 74 (1875); Legge, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 249 (first record from 
Ceylon); Whyte, ibid. 1877, p. 203. 
Petrocincla pandoo, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 87. 
Petrocincla cyanus (L.), Jerdon, 111. Ind. Orn. pi. 20 (1847) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S B 
p. 164 (1849). 
Cyanocincla cyanus (L.), Hume, Nests and Eggs, 1873, p. 226. 
Cyanodncla cyana (L.), Ball, Str. Feath. 1874, p. 407 ; Butler, ibid. 1875, p. 470 ; Bour- 
dillon, ibid. 1876, p. 398 ; Hume & Davison, ibid. 1878, p. 247. 
Blaumerle, German ; Solitario, Portuguese. Shdma, Hind. South of India ; Pandu (male), 
Maal (female), Mahrattas ; Podda Jcaclupitta, Tel. (Jerdon) ; Tchau-tchau zeraJc, Moorish 
(Howard Irby). 
Adult male and female. Length 6-3 to 9-0 inches : wing 4-5 to 4-8 ; tail 3-25 to 3-8 ; tarsus I'l ; bill to gape 1-2 to 1-3. 
These measurements ai'e from a series of specimens from widely spread localities. 
Iris brown ; bill, legs, and feet black. 
Adult male (spring plumage, Mus. -vSeebohm). Upper and under surface dull blue, brightening into silvery blue on the 
forehead and crown ; the face and throat the same, but less bright ; lores and a fringe round the eye "black ; wings 
dark brown, the outer webs of the primaries and secondaries edged with dull blue ; the primary-coverts and outer 
feathers of the median series with fine light edgings ; quills faintly tipped light ; tail slightly darker than the 
wings, the feathers margined with blue ; breast and beUy a duller blue than the breast, and with a few light tippings 
to the abdominal feathers. “ 
In winter the adult male has the feathers edged with brown, and the blue is not so bright. 
Adult female (normal dress). Above greyish brown, the feathers of the head with faintly indicated pale edgings, and 
the same on the rump ; lores fulvous-grey ; throat and fore neck fulvous, each feather with a dark brown edging ; 
on the chest the feathers change into greyish brown, ndth the fulvous hue gradually reduced, and the dark edgings 
change into terminal bars on each feather, preceded by a fulvous patch ; the under tail-coverts aro geucrallv of a 
richer hue than the rest — that is, rufescent fulvous, boldly barred with blackish. Messrs. Sharpe and Dresser 
contend, in their long and able review of the plumage of this species, that the female eventually assumes the blue 
dress of the male, in support of which theory they examined correctly identified specimens from various parts of 
Europe. It would appear, however, that the majority of female birds are shot in the brown dress Mr Hume 
having acquired a very large series from all parts of India, out of which only three were in the blue hvery’ which 
IS, perhaps, merely the result of advanced age or barrenness, in which latter stage not a few species put’ on the 
plumage of the male. 
Young. The nestlings of both sexes are alike, being brown, with dusky bars and light spottings ; this di-ess is doffed 
by the male at his first autumn moult. Messrs. Sharpe and Dresser instance an example, shot in Macedonia in 
August, which was in a “ state of change,” moulting from the downy mottled white feathers to the blue immature 
ress, in which the upper feathers have white tips preceded by a black line ; most of the feathers were shaded with 
brownish, as in the winter plumage of the adult. 
