AVIS-IBIS

Birds of Indian Subcontinent

1217. Myiophoneus temmincki

1217. HIMALAYAN WHISTLING THRUSH.
MYIOPHONEUS TEMMINCKI.
Myiophoneus temmincki, Vigors, P.Z.S. 1831, p. 171 ; Gould. Cent. Himal. B. pl. 21 ; Severtz. Turk. Jevot, p. 65 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vii. p. 8 ; Oates, F. Brit. Ind. Birds, i. p. 178 , M. coeruleus, Horsf, and Moore, Cat. i. p. 199 (nec. Scop.).
Kashira, in the N.W. Himalayas.
Male ad. (Himalayas). Plumage generally blackish blue, the feathers tipped with silvery blue ; lores and base of forehead black, the forehead above cobalt-blue ; wings and tail cobalt-blue on the outer webs ; lesser wing-coverts broadly margined with cobalt-blue ; median wing-coverts with whitish tips ; bill yellow, the culmen and base of upper mandible blackish ; legs black ; iris brown Culmen 1.45, wing 7.0, tail 5.7, tarsus 2.0 inch. Sexes alike. The young bird lacks the silvery blue tips to the feathers, and has the underparts dull black.
Hab. The Himalayas from the Hazara country and Gilgit to Assam ; Arrakan and probably the whole country west of the Irrawady river ; Karennee and the Karen hills ; Turkestan and Afghanistan.
Frequents hill-streams and torrents, in summer up to 11,000 feet, and perches on rocks and crags ; its food consists largely of snails, and its note is a loud and pleasing whistle. It breeds from April to June, and places its massive cup-shaped nest, which is constructed of roots and moss, in a crevice of a rock, or in the root of some upturned tree in the river¬bed near or under a waterfall, and Lays 3 to 5 eggs, which are pale greenish grey or greyish white minutely speckled with pink, pale purplish-pink, or pinkish-brown dots. Examples in my collection are almost uniform greyish white, the dots being scarcely visible, and in size vary from 1.57 to 1.87 in length and from 0.95 to 1.0 in breadth.

BookTitle: 
A Manual Of Palaearctic Birds
Reference: 
Dresser, Henry Eeles. A Manual of Palaearctic Birds. Vol. 2. 1903.
Title in Book: 
1217. Myiophoneus temmincki
Book Author: 
H. E. Dresser
CatNo: 
1217
Year: 
1903
Page No: 
883
Common name: 
Himalayan Whistling Thrush
M_ID: 
28222
M_SN: 
Myophonus caeruleus temminckii
Volume: 
Vol. 2
id: 
10358

Add new comment

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.
Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith