Fig. 111.–Mistletoe Thrush. Turdus viscivorus. × 7⁄11.
In Saxicola (Wheatear) the rump-region is white, except in some seven species, where it is entirely or partly chestnut or buff; the plumage exhibits various combinations of jet black, chestnut, brown, grey, and white, the black shewing especially upon the breast, quill-feathers, throat, lores, or ear-coverts. The females may be similar to the males or browner. Pratincola rubetra, our Whinchat, is mottled with brown and buff above and is buff below, having a superciliary streak and wing-bar of whitish; P. rubicola, the Stonechat, is blacker on the back, and has the head and throat black, but the breast rufous, while the hen lacks the black head. Other species have white rumps or tails, and the breast or even most of the plumage black. Oreicola has three black members with white under parts; Myrmecocichla eight, which are grey or brown, relieved by black, white, and buff. The Australian and Pacific Robins (Petroeca), of very doubtful affinity, are blackish or greyish, with scarlet or pink breasts, and some white above; one having a red head. Our Redstart, Ruticilla phoenicurus, is grey, with brown wings, chestnut breast, rump, and lateral rectrices, black face and throat; the hen being brownish above and buff below, with less brilliant chestnut tints. The Black Redstart is dark grey, with brighter rufous rump and tail, black lower parts, and a white wing-patch; brown replacing the grey and black in the female. Some species are blacker above, one has a chestnut back and no black throat, another has both rump and tail black, and three have blue on the forehead and crown, one of these again having a white gular mark. R. moussieri, linking the Redstarts to the Chats, is black, with orange-rufous rump, tail, and lower surface, a white alar spot, and white extending from the forehead to the face. The Robin,[[284]] Erithacus rubecula, needs no description; the Persian E. hyrcanus hardly differs; the similar Japanese Robin, E. akahige, has a grey belly; the Corean E. komadori is orange-chestnut above, black and white beneath. The Blue-throat, Cyanecula suecica, is brown, except for a white superciliary streak, bay tail-coverts, and a bright blue throat with a central rufous spot, to which succeed black, white, and rusty bands, and a whitish belly. C. wolfi lacks the gular spot, C. leucocyana has it white. Calliope camtschatcensis, C. pectoralis, and C. tschebaiewi, are brown or dark grey, with grey or black breasts, white abdomens, some black and white on the face, and glossy scarlet throats. Daulias luscinia, our summer visitor the Nightingale, and the larger eastern D. philomela are russet-brown in both sexes, with redder rump and tail, and whitish lower parts. D. hafizi of Persia is intermediate (cf. p. [506]).
Fig. 112.–Redstart. Ruticilla phoenicurus. × ½.
Our Hedge-sparrow, Accentor modularis, is brown streaked with blackish, and shews bluish-grey on the head, throat, and breast; but the Alpine Accentor, A. collaris, which rarely visits Britain, has a white throat spotted with black, and flanks mottled with chestnut; while their congeners exhibit rufous lower parts or pectoral bands, black throats, or whiter wings and tails. Ephthianura is grey, brown, black and white above, with the crown, rump, and breast crimson in one species and yellow in two; of the latter one has a black mark on the breast, as has a fourth form with a white lower surface.
In the Thamnobiae the sexes are alike, or the females duller. The colour, as in Callene and Copsychus, may be dull blue and cobalt, purplish- or bluish-black, or bluish-grey, often with white rump; or, as in Cossypha and Thamnobia, grey, brown or blackish, with orange-chestnut or rufous rump, tail, and abdomen. Stripes of black and white often adorn the face, the ruddy hue occasionally tinges the breast, nape, or wing, while a blue alar patch or a white head occur exceptionally. Cittocincla is intermediate in coloration; Alethe is chiefly chestnut or rufescent-olive above, but grey and white or creamy buff below, with orange crown in two cases. Turnagra has brown upper parts with reddish tail, and the lower surface either grey with white throat, or whitish with dusky stripes; Cichladusa is similar, or has buff under parts, with black spots and gular crescent. All the above frequently exhibit white on the wings or tail. Lamprolia is velvety-black, with blue spangles on the head and neck, and white rump-region; Tarsiger is either blue above, varied with black, white, olive, or yellow, and with more or less orange below, or lacks the blue entirely. Aedonopsis and Phaeornis are brown, with grey and white under parts.
In the Turdinae the young are constantly spotted, as opposed to the Sylviinae.
Sub-fam. 2. Myiodectinae.–These birds differ from the Turdinae in their short, somewhat depressed bills, and strong rictal bristles. Myiodectes and Cichlopsis are in both sexes fairly uniform brown, grey, or blackish, with a grey lower surface, and occasionally chestnut or orange throat and belly; one species of the former, however, is cinnamon, with black head and under parts, and a white band across the cheeks.
Sub-fam. 3. Sylviinae.–Besides the typical Warblers are here included most of Dr. Sharpe's groups Bradypteri and Cisticolae,[[285]] but not, of course, the American "Warblers" (Mniotiltidae). They differ from the Turdinae in being smaller, with the bill usually weak and slender, though it is very stout in Rhopophilus and Arundinax; a few genera shew strong rictal hairs; while Regulus has the nostrils covered by one or more peculiar bristly feathers. The metatarsus is sometimes scutellated anteriorly; the wings are comparatively short and broad. The tail, which in some twenty genera contains but ten feathers, varies from square to rounded, being rarely emarginated, but not uncommonly graduated, as in Locustella, Cisticola, and elsewhere; it is much lengthened and widened in Laticilla, broad and soft in Bradypterus, and so forth. In Sphenoeacus, Dromaeocercus, and the still longer-tailed Stipiturus the rectrices are spiny with curiously decomposed webs; in Orthotomus the median pair are elongated during summer in the male; in Sylviella the rump-feathers nearly hide the tail itself.
The usual coloration in both sexes is plain greyish or brown, with rufous, buff, white, or yellowish lower parts, and frequently spots, stripes, and streaks. Many forms, however, shew more or less black or red hues, often in the form of a cap; others, as Cryptolopha, Habrornis, Tickellia, and Phyllergates exhibit brilliant yellows and greens, relieved by grey, black, chestnut, and white; Orthotomus and some species of Prinia, Hapalis, and Euprinodes are hardly duller; while Phylloscopus, Acanthopneuste, Regulus, Hypolais, Neornis, and Acanthiza vary from yellow-green to brown and buff above. Regulus, Phyllergates, and certain members of Cisticola, have red, orange, or yellow crowns; Acanthiza has scaly frontal feathers; the male of Stipiturus a blue throat; Myiomoira is black and white, with a yellow and orange breast in one case; Stiphrornis has an orange throat in two; Leptopoecile shews a blue wash on the rump and lower surface.