PTERUTHIUS ARALATUS, Tickeil.

Grey-breasted Pteruthius.

Pteruthius eralatus, Tickell, J. A. S. B. 1855, p. 267.—Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 32.—Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 314
(1869).—Blyth & Wald., B. Burm. p. 109 (1875).
Allotrius eralatus, Hume, Str. F. 1874, p. 479.

 

Four species of true Pteruthius are now known to naturalists; and of these the bird here figured is much
the rarest in collections. It is nearly allied to P. erythropterus, but is distinguished at once by the yellow
bases of the secondary quills, and by the throat and cheeks being grey as well as the breast. In P.
erythropterus the cheeks and throat are pure white like the rest of the under surface, and the inner
secondaries are uniform light chestnut.

The species was first discovered by Colonel Tickell, who met with it in the Tenasserim mountains ; and
it has also been obtained in Burmah by Lieutenant Wardlaw Ramsay, in the hills of Karen-nee, from 4000 to
5000 ft., as we learn from Lord Walden. A female specimen in Lieutenant Ramsay’s collection had the
soft parts as follows :—“ Iris deep lavender ; bill above black, below lavender; legs dull white; claws dark
brown.” Dr. Anderson obtained two specimens durmg the Yunnan expedition in the Kakhyen hills.

Adult male.—General colour above grey, with concealed spots of white near the base of the feathers ;
the upper tail-coverts with a greenish black barat the tip; head glossy greenish black ; from above the eye
to the sides of the nape a broad white streak ; lores and ear-coverts greyish black ; cheeks and throat grey,
becoming paler on the breast and sides of the body; centre of abdomen and under tail-coverts white ;
the sides of the abdomen pale rose-colour ; under wing-coverts pure white—except the outermost of the
lower series, which are black and form a spot near the edge of the wing ; wing-coverts above grey, inclining
to greenish black on their outer webs; the greater series black, the outer webs greenish black, as also
the quills—which are black, externally glossed with greenish black, and distinctly tipped with white at the
extremity of the inner web of the primaries ; inner secondaries chestnut, inclining to yellow near their
bases, this colour occupying the greater part of the innermost, which are chestnut only on the inner web;
on all of these chestnut secondaries there is a narrow tip or external margin of greenish black, the black
secondaries (next following) showing more or less chestnut near the base of the outer web ; all the quills
white for the greater part of the inner web. Total length 6°6 inches, culmen 0°65, wing 3:3, tail 2°65,

tarsus 1-1.
The description and figures have been taken from a specimen kindly lent to me by Dr. Anderson; and
the birds are represented in the Plate of the natural size.