with rain impending* The song is like that of the English Thrush (Turdus musicus) , but less full
and varied.
Mr. J. Davidson writes :—“ We obtained numbers of nests about Gaudarbal in Kashmir in May,
and there were fresh eggs in others at Srinuggar in the end of June. The nests were at various
heights in large trees or on low bushes, and contained from three to five eggs.”
From Masuri, Captain Hutton writes S “ This bird arrives in the hills up to 7000 feet, and
probably higher, about the end of March, the first being heard on the 26th of that month, at
5000 feet. Every morning and evening it may be heard far and near, pouring forth a short but
pleasing song from the very summits of the forest trees. I t is a summer visitor only, returning to the
plains in early autumn. I t breeds in May and June, laying three or four eggs of a dull greenish
white-freckled colour, blotched and spotted with rufous, sometimes closely, sometimes widely
distributed.
“ The nest is neatly made of green moss and roots, lined with finer roots, and usually placed
against the trunk of a tree at a place whence spring one or two twigs ; sometimes it is placed upon
the broad surface of a thick horizontal branch or on a projecting knob.”
General G. F. L. Marshall says that a nest taken by him at Naini Tal was in a small shrubby
free, about 7 feet from the ground. “ I t was made of moss with a few roots intertwined, small,
cup-shaped, and only concealed by its likeness to a slight swelling at the fork. It was rather a
disreputable Structure and difficult to take out, as it consisted chiefly of materials placed in the
spaces between the three branches, the cavity being lined with moss,”
Mr. A. O. Hume describes the eggs as follows : - S They vary much in shape. Some are very
round; others are of a rather elongated oval, but generally there is a tendency to a pyriform shape,
there being a slight compression near the small end. The ground-colour is greenish- or greyish-white,
and the whole surface is more or less thickly streaked, or irregularly blotched, with dull brownish-red.
In some cases the markings are comparatively few and far between, the ground-colour greatly
predominating, except at the larger end ; while in others the markings are so densely crowded that
the ground-colour only shows through here and there, as a pale mottling on a red ground. In all,
however, the markings are densest at the large end. The eggs are a shade longer, but even less
glossy, than those of Geociehla citrina.
“ In some eggs the red is brighter and more purple, and some exhibit a very conspicuous zone
round the large end. In others the markings, with the exception of the zone at the large end,' are
very fine frecklings, almost speckly in their character.
“ In length the eggs vary from 092 to 1T7 inch, and in breadth from 0’7 to 0-83 inch ; but the
average of twenty eggs is T06 by 0'78 inch.”
Adult male. General colour above clear slaty-grey, the wing-coverts like the back; bastard-wing,
primary-coverts, and quills dusky brown, externally slaty-grey, the inner secondaries like the back ;
tail-feathers dusky brown, externally slaty-grey ; sides of face and sides of neck clear slaty-grey, a
little more dusky on the lores and under the eye ; throat, breast, and sides of the body light
slaty-grey; the lower breast, abdomen, and under tail-coveris white, the latter with dusky margins;
thighs pale ashy ; axillaries grey, with a faint orange-buff tinge on their edges ; under wing-coverts
bright orange-buff, with grey bases ; quills dusky below, ashy along the inner webs : “ bill yellow ;
levs and feet light brownish; iris reddish” (A. 0. Hume). Total length 9 inches, culmen 0-8,
wing 4'7, tail 2-9, tarsus T06.
A dult female. General colour above olive-brown, inclining to slaty-grey on the lower back, rump,
and upper tail-coverts ; the wing-coverts lik e 'th e back; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills
brown, externally olive, lighter on the primaries, the inner secondaries like the back ; tail-feathers
like the back, but with a greyish tinge; head like the back, the sides of the face sometimes lighter
grey, with obsolete whitish shaft-stripes to the ear-coverts ; lores dusky grey, with a slightly indicated
paler line above, reaching beyond the eye; cheeks and throat white, with a distinct malar line of
black spots; fore-neck and chest ashy-brown, tinged with pale orange-buff, and having a few
scattered triangular spots of black; breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts white, the latter with
narrow dusky margins ;_sides of body, flanks, and thighs brown, with a slight tinge of orange-buff;
under wing-coverts and axillaries orange-mfous : “ bill yellow, with a few dusky cloudings; feet
vivid orange-yellow; claws yellowish homy; iris brown; eyelid greenish-yellow ” (J. Scully).
Total length 8 inches, culmen 0'85, wing 4*75, tail 3*0, tarsus TO.'
Yoimg. Father darker brown than the adult female, and with ochraceous shaft-lines to the
feathers of the upper surface, these streaks broader on the wing-coverts, the greater series of which
have a triangular ochreous tip ; the sides of the throat, breast, and flanks are more plentifully spotted
with black than in the adult female.
The specimens described are in the Hume Collection, the male' from Eaipur and the female
from Kashmir. The pair figured in the Plate are in the Seebohm Collection, the male from
u India ” and the female from Eahun near Etawah. [F. B. S.]