(618) Cochoa viridis.
The Green Thrush.
Cochoa viridis Hodgs., J. A. S, B., v, p. 359 (1836) (Nepal); Blanf. & Oates, ii, p. 160.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description.— Adult male. .Crown, nape and hind-neck brilliant cobalt-blue; lores and short supercilium black; ear-coverts indigo-blue; upper plumage deep rich green, often suffused with bronze; central tail-feathers blue, tipped with black, next four pairs black on the inner web, blue on all but the tip of the outer web, the outermost pair all black; lesser wing-coverts green with broad black tips; other coverts pale blue with broad black tips; quills black with a broad band of pale blue on the bases of the outer webs of all but the first two; whole lower plumage green; bluish on the abdomen and often much suffused with bronze.
The amount of the bronze shown varies greatly, both above and below.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brownish orange to deep crimson or maroon-brown ; bill black, the gape and orbital skin pink ; legs fleshy-brown to horny-brown.
Measurements. Total length about 290 to 300 mm.: wing 135 to 145 mm.; tail 98 to 117 nun.; tarsus 25 to 26 mm.; culmen 12.5 to 13.5 mm.
Female differs from the male only in having the greater coverts and secondaries marked with yellowish brown instead of blue, the colour being confined to the edges of the coverts and tips of the secondaries.
Colours of soft parts and Measurements as in the male but the iris duller.
Young birds have the wings and tail like the adults from the first; the crown appears to be bluish white with dark bars; the sides of the head much marked with white; the upper and lower plumage buff, the feathers above with broad black borders all round, those below with terminal black bars, broadest on the breast.
The Nestling is barred and squamated all over, black bars on buff ground.
Distribution. Himalayas from Kumaon and Garhwal to Eastern Assam, Manipur and the hills of Burma to Tenasserim. It extends through the Indo-Chinese countries into Western China.
Nidification. Exactly the same as in the Purple Thrush in every respect, nest, eggs, breeding-season and site but it breeds a little earlier, from the end of April to the beginning of June, rarely in the end of that month. Whymper, however, found it breeding in July near Naini-Tal and he describes the lining of the nest as being composed chiefly of lichen. Thirty eggs average 32.3 x 21.5 mm.: maxima 33.1 X 21.2 and 32.1 x 22.5 mm.; minima 29.2 X21.1 and 32.1 x 20.9 mm. A clutch of very small eggs taken by Hopwood in Taunghoo measure only 27.3 x 20.0 mm.
Habits. Those of the preceding bird.
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