660. Callene frontalis

660. Callene frontalis.

The Blue-fronted Callene.

Cinclidium frontale, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xi, p. 181 (1842). Callene frontalis (Blyth), Blyth, Cat. p. 178; Horsf. & M. Cat. i, p. 396; Jerd. B. I. i, p. 496; Hume, N. & E. p. 220; id. Cat. no. 340 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. vii, p. 15; Oates in Hume's N. & E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 71.

The Blue-fronted Short-winy, Jerd.

Coloration. Male. Lores and a frontal band black; forehead and a short eyebrow cobalt-blue; with the exception of the abdomen, which is dark brown, and the under tail-coverts brown fringed with white, the whole plumage is slaty-blue with the edges of the feathers brighter; wings and tail dark brown, the outer webs suffused with blue; a portion of the under wing-coverts white ; the lesser upper wing-coverts bright cobalt-blue.

Female. The whole plumage rufescent brown, and the visible portions of the closed wings and tail bright ferruginous ; tail brown; the feathers of the chin, throat, lores, and sides of the head with paler shafts ; a ferruginous ring round the eye; a portion of the under wing-coverts white.

The young are dusky brown, with pale mesial streaks on the feathers of the scapulars and the lower plumage. The young male assumes the adult plumage at the commencement of its first year.

Bill black ; legs brown.

Length about 8 ; tail 3.7; wing 3.6; tarsus 1.5; bill from gape .8.

This bird, though structurally very different from Notodela leucura, resembles it closely in coloration.

Distribution. Sikhim only. There is no evidence that Hodgson met with this bird in Nepal; on the contrary, his drawing appears to have been taken from a Sikhim specimen. There is nothing known of the habits of this species.