Genus MYIOPHONUS*. 
Bill rather broad at the base, the tip somewhat lengthened and much decurved ; rictal 
bristles much developed. Wings rounded, the 1st quill considerably lengthened, exceeding the 
shortest secondary; the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graduated, and the 5th the longest. Tail-feathers lax. 
Tarsus long. Toes rather short. 
MYIOPHONUS BLIGHI. 
(BLIGH’S WHISTLING THRUSH.) 
(Peculiar to Ceylon.) 
Arrenga Uiglii, Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 444, pi. xix. 
Ad. sordkle cyanescenti-niger, uropygio et supracaudalibus rufescenti-brunneo lavatis : alls caudaque nigris, peunis 
omnibus dorsi colore extus margiuatis : tectricibus alarum minimis Itetius cyaneis, plagam conspicuam exhibentibus : 
pileo toto, capitis lateribus et gutture toto nigerrimis : corpore reliquo subtus dorso concolori, crisso et subcau- 
dalibus rufescenti-brunneo lavatis : subalaidbus pectori concoloribus : rostro et pedibus nigris : iride brunnea. 
Juv. brunneus, supra saturatior brunneus, subtus rufescentior : frontis, gutturis et pectoris plumis flavescenti-brunneo 
medialiter notatis : plagS cyanefl. alari vix indicata. 
Adult male and female. Length 8'0 to 8‘5 inches ; wing 4-2 to 4'4 ; tail 3'1 to 3'5 ; tarsus 1'4 to 1'5 ; mid toe and 
claw 1‘25 ; bill to gape 1-25. 
Iris brown ; bill, legs, and feet black. 
Entire head, throat, and hind neck coal-black (the feathers of the chin with spinous shafts), changing into dark cairuleau 
blue on the interscapulars, back, scapulars, wing-coverts, chest, and breast, the basal portion of the feathers of 
these pai-ts black ; least wing-coverts and point of wing bright smalt-blue ; wings and tail brownish black ; quills 
obscurely edged with blue ; upper tail-coverts and basal portion of rectrices edged chocolate-brownish ; belly, 
lower flanks, and under tail-coverts edged with a lighter shade of the same, the basal portions of the feathers 
brown. 
Female. The only example of this sex which has as yet been obtained was, Mr. BHgh informs me, similar to the male, 
but had the wing-spot lighter in colour, but at the same time of a brighter tint than in the male. 
Young. An immature bird, figured in P. Z. S. 1872, pi. xix. fig. 2, is, writes Mr. lloldsworth, “ brown, darker 
on the upper surface and more rufous below, the feathers of the forehead, throat, and breast centred with yellow- 
brown, and there is an indication of blue on the carpal joint.” 
Ohs. This interesting Thrush is allied to M. eyaneus of Java, and forms one of the most noteworthy instances of the 
connexion, as regards some families, of the Ceylonese with the Javan avifauna. The South-Indian species 
{M. horsjicddi) has not nearly so much affinity with ours as the Javan bird. Blyth, with his wonted perspicuity^ 
suggested, in his paper on Ceylonese birds (Ibis, 1867, p. 312), that M. horsjieldi, or a specialized representative of 
it, ought some day to be found in the island ; and the value of his prophecy has been realized in the discovery of 
our handsome Whistling Thrush. 
M. eyaneus is a larger bird than the present species. An adult male in the British Museum measures 5-8 and a female 
5-4 inches in the wing; tail 3-0, tarsus 1-G, bill to gape 1-4. 
* This genus, on account of its rounded wing and lengthened 1st primary, almost merits being placed in a separate 
subfamily. Jerdon, indeed, places it in the Myiotherince, among which, however, he includes the Wrens and the Pittas, 
the latter not appertaining at all to the Thrushes. It will suffice, therefore, for the purposes of this work to keep 
Myiophonus among the Thrushes, particularly as Mr. Seebohm is now studying this group of birds with a view to giving 
the world a new classification of them in the 5th volume of the ‘ Catalogue of Birds.’ 
