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476. :- Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 116; Butler, Deccan; Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 404.

The Shama.

Shama, Hin.
 

Length, 12; wing, 3.75; tail, 7.9; tarsus, 1; bill at front, 0.75.

Head, neck, back, wing-coverts, breast, and tail, glossy-black ; rump white; wings dull-black, outer tail-feathers broadly tipped with white; breast, belly, and under tail-coverts deep chesnut.

The female has the colors less pure and duller than the male.

This splendid songster is only found within our limits on the Sahyadri Range, and in the adjoining forests as far north as Khandalla. It is a permanent resident.

The Shama.

Turdus macrourus, Gmel. Syst, Nat. i, p. 820 (1788). Kittacincla macroura (Gm.), Blyth, Cat. p. 165; Horsf. & M. Cat. i, p. 279; Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 116; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 197. Cittocincla macrura (Gm.), Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 437 ; Oates, B. B. i, p. 22; id. in Hume's N. & E. 2nd ed. ii. p. 86. Cercotrichas macrurus (Gm.), Hume, N. & E. p. 306; id. & Dav. S. F. vi, p. 333 ; Hume, Cat. no. 470. Cittocincla tricolor ( Vieill.), apud Sharpe, Cat. B. M. vii, p. 85.

Shama, Hind.; Poda nalanchi, Tonka nalanchi, Tel.
 

Coloration. Male. Head and neck all round, breast, back, scapulars, and wing-coverts glossy black; rump and upper tail-coverts white; the median four tail-feathers entirely black, the others black at the base and then white ; quills, winglet, and primary-coverts dull black, with a slight gloss on the outer webs only; abdomen, vent, and under tail-coverts bright chestnut; thighs white.

Female. In the female, which resembles the male in the distribution of colours, all those parts are slaty brown which are black in the male; the bright chestnut parts of the male are pale rufous in the female, and the quills and wing-coverts are narrowly edged with rufous. In other respects the sexes are alike.

The young vary a good deal. The general colour of the upper plumage is dark brown, the wing-coverts and some of the feathers of the back tipped with rufous ; the quills margined with rufous; the lower plumage is chiefly pale rufous, mottled with brown on the throat and breast. Young birds assume the adult plumage very soon after they are fully fledged.

The coloration of this bird is very constant to type throughout the large area of its distribution, the only variation apparent being in the darker coloration of some of the females in Tenasserim.

Bill black; legs pale flesh-colour; claws light horn-colour; mouth flesh-colour ; eyelids plumbeous ; iris dark brown.

Length about 11; tail about 6 ; wing 3.7; tarsus 1.1; bill from gape .95 ; the female has the tail about one inch shorter than the male.

Distribution. Ceylon ; the hills along the western coast of India from Cape Comorin to Khandala ; the Eastern Ghats, according to Jerdon; Orissa ; the Central Provinces; Chutia Nagpur; Western Bengal; the lower ranges of the Himalayas, from Nepal to Dibrugarh in Assam; the Khasi hills; Cachar; Tipperah ; Manipur; universally distributed over the whole of Burma and Karennee. The range of this common species is not well exhibited by the series in the Hume Collection, and it may be more widely spread over India proper than the above localities indicate. This bird is a permanent resident, and does not ascend the hills to any great height.

Habits, &c. Frequents thick jungle and is very shy ; a most excellent songster; breeds from April to June, constructing a nest of leaves and grass &c. in a hole of a tree at no great height from the ground, and laying four eggs, which are very similar in colour to those of Copsychus saularis, and measure about .85 by .62.

Sharpe, Ann and Mag. Nat. Hist. (5) x. p. 49 ; id. Cat. B. Br. Mus. vii. p. 85, Turdus tricolor, Vieill, N. Did, d' Hist. Nat, pt. xx, p. 291. .Copsychus macrurus, Wag I. Syst. Av. Art. Copsychus, Sp. Cercotrichas macrurus, Boie, Isis, 1831, p. 542 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 306; Ball, Str, F. 1874, p. 412 ; Hume I. c. p. 477; Hume and Oates, Str. F. 1875, p. 13; Ball, t. c. p. 293 ; Fairbk. Str. F. 1876, p. 259; Inglis, Str. F. 1877, p. 36; Oates, t. c. p. 157; Hume and Davison, Str. F. 1878, i. p. 333; Ball, Str. F. 1878, p. 216; Hume, Str. F. 1879, pp. 64, 99; Butler, Cat. B. Bom. Pres. p. 47; Vidal, Str. F. 1880, p. 66. Kittacincla macrura, Gould, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 7 ; Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 139; Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 116, No, 476; Walden, P. Z. S. 1866, p. 55O; Godwin-Aust, J. A. S. B. xii. p. 142. Cittocincla macrura, Sclater, Ibis, 1886, p. 109; Beavan, Ibis, 1867, p. 445 ; Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 396; id. B. Ceylon, p. 437 ; Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 22. -

The SHAMA.

Head, neck, upper breast, back, scapulars, wing coverts and tertiaries glossy black ; rump and upper tail coverts white; lower breast, abdomen, sides, flanks, and undertail coverts, also the under wing coverts, chestnut j thighs white; edge of the wing black ; also the primaries, their coverts, and secondaries; central pair of tail feathers black, the others black with broad white tips.

The female is olive brown, where the male is black ; the wing coverts and quills are edged with ferruginous, and the lower surface is dull chestnut, whitish on the abdomen ; tail much shorter. Bill black ; legs and feet fleshy white ; irides dark brown,

Length - Male - 11 to11.8 inches; wing 3.45 to 3.65 ; tail 7 to 7.4; tarsus 1.05 ; culmen 0.7.

Length - Female - 7 to 7.2 inches; tail 4.4 to 4.6:

Hab. - Southern and Central India; sub-Himalayan region, westward from the Ganges to Assam, through the Burmese countries to Siam, Cochin China, and Hainan, down the Malayan Peninsula to Java. According to Jerdon, it is common in the dense and lofty jungles of Malabar, especially in the upland districts, also in the Wynaad ; more rare in the Eastern Ghauts. It extends to the hill tracts of Assam, Sylhet, Burmah and Malacca, and also to Ceylon. In British Burmah it is spread abundantly wherever there is thick jungle. It is said to be almost always solitary, to perch low on branches, and to secure prey from off the ground. It is a charming songster, and its song, according to Jerdon, is chiefly heard in the evening, just before and after sunset. He says it is a most gushing melody of great power, surpassed by no Indian bird. It is caught and caged, and in confinement imitates the song of other birds. The Shama breeds in April and May. Mr. Hume gives an account of Mr. Davison's finds of two nests in April and May at Shymootee, and on the road to Meeta Myo in Tenasserim The nests were found in holes of old stumps of trees. The eggs, four in number, are said to be moderately broad ovals, a good deal compressed towards the small end, and exhibiting a slight pyriform tendency j the shell is fine and compact, and has a slight gloss, The ground colour is a dull greenish stone colour, everywhere densely freckled with a rich raw sienna brown and dull purplish markings, Size 0.87 to 0.89 x 0.6 to 0.62.

Kittacincla macroura indica Stuart Baker, Fauna Brit. Ind., Birds, vol. ii, 2nd ed., p. 118, Apl. 1924 : Bhutan Duars.

Kittacincla malabarica malabarica Scopoli.

 

Muscicapa malabarica Scopoli, Del. Flor. et Faun. Insub., vol, ii,. p. 96, 1786. Malabar in mwe=Pulo Condore.

Turdus macrourus Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. i, pt. ii, p. 820, 1789.

Turdus tricolor Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. d'Hist. Nat., nouv, ed., vol. xx, p. 294, 1818.

Kittacincla macroura minor Swinhoe, Ibis, 1870, p. 344,

Copsychus s. erimelas (Kaukarit), C. s. haliblectus (Mergui Archp.,) C. lamprogyna (Mergui) Oberholser, Smith, Misc. Coll., vol. lxxviii, (6) 1923, seem to be all referable to this form.