ACCENTOR KMMACmiATlUS,,A<^
JG ciM raii/JtC JtiJifa: r id e l la b J/u&nwuHd & ll'/rdfo/u
ACCENTOR IMMACULATUS, Hodgs.
Blue-shouldered Accentor.
Accentor immaculatus, Hodgs. in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xiii. p. 34.—Gray, Cat. of Spec, and Draw, of Mamm.
and Birds presented to Brit. Mus. by B. H. Hodgson, Esq., p. 71, and App. p. 153.
mollis, Blyth, Joum. Asiat. Soc. Beng., vol. xiv. p. 581.—lb. Cat. of Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta,
p. 131.—Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. iii. App. p. 8, App. to p. 187.—Bonap. Consp. Gen.
Av., p. 306.
A c a r e f u l examination of the figure of this bird, comprised in Mr. Hodgson’s original and named drawings,
now at the British Museum, as well as of the numerous specimens in the national collection, and in the
Museum o f the East India Company, has convinced me that the Accentor mollis of Mr. Blyth is identical
with the A . immaculatus of Mr. Hodgson ; I am therefore obliged to reduce Mr. Blyth’s name to the rank
of a synonym. Mr. Blyth considers this species to be the beauty of the genus, and I coincide in this opinion,
since it really is one o f the most pleasingly coloured members of the genus yet discovered. As regards its
structure and contour, it more nearly assimilates to our Hedge Accentor than to any o th e r ; and if we may judge
from its thick clothing and the silky feel of its plumage, forest lands, thick underwood, and humid places
are the situations it frequents ; but, on this point, nothing has as yet been recorded. I believe that all the
specimens sent to our museums have been collected in Nepaul, a country the natural productions of which
are rich in the extreme.
Head and back o f the neck dark slate-grey, the feathers of the forehead narrowly fringed with silvery-
grey ; lores black; wing-coverts pale g rey ; back chestnut-brown, gradually blending with the grey o f the
back of the neck, and becoming o f a paler hue on the upper tail-coverts; spurious wing b lack ; primaries
brown, narrowly edged with silvery-grey; secondaries and tertiaries more chestnut externally, internally
brown; tail slaty-brown; chin, throat, chest and upper p art of the abdomen pale slate-grey; lower portion
o f the flanks, vent, and under tail-coverts dark rusty-red; bill black; feet fleshy-brown.
In other specimens, supposed to be females, a similar style of colouring prevails, but the tints are more
blended and of a lighter hue. The plant is a; species of Gentiana.