RUTICILLA ERYTHROGASTRA.
Great White-capped Redstart.
Motadtta erythrogastra, Gad . Nov. Comm. Petr. 1785, tom. xix. p. 469, tabs. xvi. & xvii.—Gmel. Bat. Linn. Syst.
Nat., tom. i. p. 975.
Sglma erythfcfyastra, Lath. Ind. Om., vol. ii. p. 503. ...¿"¡r. -
Chestnut-bellied WarlUr, Lath. Gen. Syn., vol. iv. p. 424.vdjhaw, Gen. f t i f c v o t x. p. 672.—Lath. Gen. Hist.,
vol. vii. p. 27.
Motadtta ceraunia, Pall. Zoog., tom. i. p. 478.
Rutidtta grandis, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc. 1849, p. 112.
:— erythrogastra, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 296.
— tricolor, lb., p. 296.
T h e bird here represented is in every respect a typical Butidlla, and is, moreover, so much finer than any
other member o f the genus, that I was induced to consider it to be new to .science, and to characterize it as
such in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society'for 1849, under the name of Butidlla grandis (not
tricolor as' quoted by the Prince o f Canino); more recent research has, however, informed me that it was
long since described by M. Guldenstaedt with the appellation of U a ic iO t erythrogastra, under which title
it will be found in the works o f Latham, Shaw and oth ers; it affords me much pleasure therefore to correct
the error into which I had fallen, and into which I had been led by finding a fine specimen in the Museum
at Berlin, labelled » o r e a of Pallas, which I knew to be a very different bird.
The B utidlla erythrogastra is still extremely rare in all our collections ; the specimens in my possession
were obtained in the valley of Cashmere, in which locality it was frequently seen, and examples were also
procured by Mr. Vigne. M. Guldenstaedt informs us that it frequents the gravelly h o llta fiW the Caucasian
Torrents during the whole of the summer, and migrates southward in search of food on the approach of
win ter; that it runs along the banks of rivers ; is restless, but not fearful; often moves its tail while sitting
on the low sh ru b s; and makes its nest among the branches o f the sea buckthorn, of the berries o f which
it is very fond. _
Crown of the head and the basal portion of the primaries and secondaries w hite; forehead, cheeks, chin,
throat, back, wing-coverts, and the apical portion of the primaries and secondaries black ; abdomen, lower
p art of the back, upper and under taihcoverts and tail rich rufous ; bill and fget black.
The Plate represents a male and a female, or young male o f the natural size.