343. Myiophonus Temminckii, Vigors.

P. Z. S., 1831 - Gould, Cent. Him. Birds, pi. 21; Blytii, Cat. 926 - Horsf., Cat. 281. Kastura of the hills, (Royle)-Kaljit, of the Doon, (Hutton) -  Chamong-pho, Lepch.  - Tetiman, Bhot.

The Yellow-billed Whistling Thrush.

Descr. - General hue black, richly overlaid with cobalt or smalt- blue on the wings and tail; and the feathers of the whole head and neck, back, breast, and abdomen, centred with glistening cobalt- blue ; shoulder of the wing, deep glistening blue, and the wing- coverts with some white specks on their tips.

Bill pale yellow, dusky on the culmen ; legs dark brown ; irides dark brown. Length 13 inches; wing 7 1/4 tail 5 1/2; bill at front 1 1/4; tarsus 2.

This Yellow-billed Whistling Thrush is found throughout the Himalayas from Bootan  to Simla, and still further west to Afghanistan; also eastward, in the Khasia hills, in Arrakan, and Tenasserim.

It is common at Darjeeling, and is found from the lowest valleys to at least 8,000 feet of elevation; Hutton states that it extends up to the snows at Simla. Like the last species, it is fond of frequenting the beds of streams, and may generally be seen on a rock in the midst of some roaring torrent, where it feeds on the larvae of Libellulae, and some other water-insects, and may often be seen on an adjacent rock to its near ally, the Water-dipper {Hydrobata asiatica). Hutton remarks that it " is as often found in open rocky spots, on the skirts of forests, or among the woods, loving to jump upon stones or rocky pinnacles, from whence he sends forth a sort of choking chattering song, if such it can be called, or, with an up-jerk of the tail, hops away with a loud musical whistle, very much after the manner of the Blackbird." Vigne says that "its musical whistle is the sweetest note heard in the hills." It is not at all like the whistling of a man, as that of its Malabar congener ; but is a pretty, slow measured, song.


I have had its nest and eggs brought me; the nest is a solid mass of moss, mixed with earth and roots, of large size, and placed (as I was informed) under an overhanging rock, near a mountain stream. The eggs were three in number, and dull green, thickly overlaid with reddish specks. Hutton describes them as " greenish ashy, speckled with roseate specks, confluent at the larger end;" further, he says, "it selects some high, towering, and almost inaccessible rock, forming the side of a deep glen, on the projecting edges of which it constructs its nest." It is known both at Darjeeling and Simla as the Hill Blackbird; the real Blackbird, Merula boulboul, being ignored as such.

Horsfield states that the food of Myiophonus cyaneus of Java consists almost  exclusively of berries. This is quite inconsistent with the habits of the two Indian species of the genus, and is probably a mistake. Nearly allied is the Black-billed M. caeruleus, Scopoli, from China; and M. flavirostris, Horsf., from Java.

The next group consists of a remarkable series of birds, of bright and gorgeous plumage, more so perhaps than any other of the Dentirostres; being mostly variegated with green, blue, and red. They are all very similar in form, being long-legged and short-tailed Thrushes, not very elegantly shaped; and feeding on the ground on Coleoptera, ants, and other insects. They composed the genus Pitta of Vieillot and other authors, of which the following are the characteristics: -

Bill moderately long, strong, compressed, wider at the base ; tips slightly hooked, and with a distinct notch ; culmen keeled, gently curved; nostrils lateral, placed in a fossa, half-covered by a membrane; no rictal bristles; wings moderate, short; tail very short, even; tarsus long, slender, almost entire, obscurely scutellated posteriorly; feet moderate, middle toe long, laterals unequal, hind toe short; claws moderate and slightly curved.

The birds of this genus take wing but seldom, and their flight is weak and irregular. Three species are found within our limits ; but as we go further eastward, through Burmah and the Malayan peninsula to the eastern islands, they increase both in  number of species and in brilliancy of plumage. They extend to Australia, three species being found there. Several genera have been, of late, founded out of the old genus, Pitta.