4000 feet in the Knuckles ranges, Kotmalie, Dickoya, Uda Pusselawa, Uva, and Haputale. In some
years it occurs in considerable numbers between the Elephant Plains and Kandapolla, Mr. Watson
informing me that he has seen it in flocks in the patna-woods near Ragalla. In November and
December it has been several times seen in Hakgala Gardens, to which it is attracted, with many
other species, in search of the insectivorous food harboured in the bare soil beneath the conifers and
other choice trees with which this beautiful spot abounds. I have no doubt that it finds its way, in
small numbers, into all the forests of the main range.” The species appears to stay in Ceylon as
late as May, as the type of 0. pectoralis of Legge was obtained on the 18th of that month. The
voice of this bird, as described by Mr. W. E. Brooks, during the nesting-season is “ a strange one
of two notes and quite unmusical.” Very little has been written about its habits, but the following
account is given by Colonel Vincent Legge in his ‘ Birds of Ceylon ’ (p. 454):—“ This species frequents
the outskirts of forest, patna-jungle, detached woods, and frequently visits therefrom the gardens of
the planters, in which its frugivorous habits cause it to do a considerable amount of mischief. It is
very partial to mulberries, and, in fact, does not seem to turn aside from any fruit grown in the hills
of Ceylon. Mr. Bligh, who has seen it frequently in Kotmalie and Haputale, tells me that it collects
in scattered flocks to feed on the fruit of the guava and wild fig, uttering a chirping note while so
doing. Young males, which Mr. Thwaites observed in the Hakgala Gardens, were very-shy, flying
up from the ground, when flushed by him, into low trees, and then escaping into the surrounding
jungle; they frequented the manure-heaps near his bungalow, and had a low cry like that of a
young Blackbird.”
The nest is placed in the fork of a tree, on a foundation of dead leaves and mud, and is chiefly
composed of moss, lined with thin roots. Externally the nest is. about 6 inches in diameter by 2|-
inches in height; the internal measurements are 3 to 3^inches in width and If- to 2 inches in depth.
The eggs are usually four in number, pale bluish-green, blotched, spotted, and streaked with brownish-
red, principally at the larger end. The underlying markings are pale purple. They measure from
T06 to 6*99 inch in length by 0-76 to 0'70 inch in breadth (Oates’s ed. Hume’s Nests and Eggs of
Indian Birds, ii. p. 97).
Geocichla wardi is most nearly allied to G. sibirica. The males are, of course, very different in
colour, but they both have much white on the tail, and—a much more important character—they
both have the brilliant white eye-stripe. The females of these two species, on the other hand, are
so much alike that it requires close examination to distinguish between them. This may, however,
be easily done by noting the spots on the wings and upper tail-coverts : those on the latter are never
found in the Siberian species, and those on the former are confined to immature, examples. The male
of G. schistacea resembles that of G. wardi in its black throat and breast and in its white eye-stripe,
but as the female is unknown it is impossible to speak confidently o f the relationship of these two species.
In the adult male the general colour of the upper parts is black, with white tips to the feathers
of the rump and the upper tail-coverts; lores black; eye-stripe white, broad, and extending nearly
from the nostrils to the nape; lesser wing-coverts black, tipped with white; median and greater
wing-coverts black, with white terminal fan-shaped spots ; primary-coverts black, with a broad white
patch on the outer webs; tertials black, with white terminal fan-shaped spots; secondaries black,
with white tips to the outer webs; primaries nearly black, with white margins on the central portion
of the outer webs of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th ; tail nearly black, with more or less white at the end
of the inner webs of all except the central pair, and at the base of the outer webs of one or two of
the lateral pairs; ear-coverts black; underparts above the centre of the breast black, below white,
excepting the flank-feathers, which are black with white margins and shafts; axillaries black, with
white bases and narrow white margins ; lower primary-coverts dark brown; lower secondary-coverts
white, with black bases.
Geocichline markings on inner webs of quills, white, slightly suffused with buff; second primary
intermediate in length between the fifth and sixth.
Bill ochre-yellow, the tip of the upper mandible black; legs, feet, and claws fleshy-ochre;
iris brown (A. 0 . Hume).
Outer tail-feathers 0T5 inch shorter than the longest.
Length of wing 4*6 to 4*4 inches, tail 3:3 to 3T inches,, culmen IT to 0;92 inch, tarsus 1*1
to 1-0 in ch ; bastard-primary shorter than the primary-coverts, its exposed portion measuring 0*8
to O’7 inch.
The female is very different from the male. The general colour of the upper parts is olive-brown,
and there are no white tips to the feathers of the rump, but only to the upper tail-coverts ; lores dark
brown; eye-stripe buff, mottled with brown, and narrow; wing-coverts olive-brown, and the spots
buff. The black of the quills is replaced by olive-brown, and the white markings by buff. The black
of the tail is replaced by olive-brown, and the white at the base of the lateral feathers is absent.
The general colour of the underparts is white, suffused with buff above the centre of the breast; the
feathers on the cheeks and throat, and the ear-coverts, are tipped with brown, and those on the upper
breast are squamated or margined with brown; the lower breast and flanks are covered with dark
brown crescentic spots, and under tail-coverts are margined at the sides with brown. The bill is
brown.
Young after the first moult resemble the adult female, but have white or buff tips to the scapulars,
inner secondaries, and wing-coverts, as well as the upper tail-coverts. A young bird, procured at
Simla in July by Capt. Beavan, has the throat and fore-neck blackish, with broad whitish mesial
streaks on the feathers. It is marked a female, but seems to me to be a young male.
The Plate represents an adult male obtained on the 17th of May, 1875, at Khati in North
Kumaon; and an adult female obtained on the 3rd of January, 1883, at Kamboda in Ceylon. Both
examples are in my collection and are figured life-size.
The type, a male, was indifferently figured, half the size of life, as long ago as 1847 (Jerdon,
Illustrations of Indian Ornithology, plate viii.).