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Show 1867.J MR. W. T. BLANFORD ON A N E W CALLENE. 833 to its large European population and the number of energetic naturalists who have devoted themselves to the investigation of its zoology, has been very fairly made known; that of the Nilghiris has also been pretty well ascertained, the Reptilia especially having been very thoroughly worked out by Dr. Jerdon and Captain Beddome ; and the Reptilia and Mollusca of a small portion of the southern range have been collected by Captain Beddome, almost the only naturalist who has ever penetrated the Anamallay hills (which adjoin the Pulneys); but of the fauna of the great range I have just described in general, less is known than of that of Bhotan or of the hills of Arakan. It is therefore not surprising that the first ornithological novelty which has been obtained from Southern India since the publication of Dr. Jerdon's list of the birds in the years 1839-44 in the ' Madras Journal of Literature and Science ' should have been procured from the Pulney hills, a group 7000 feet in height, forming the northeastern corner of the mountainous tract above described. It is very interesting, however, to obtain from these hills a third representative form of the genus Callene (formerly Cinclidium) of Blyth, proposed first for a species inhabiting the Eastern Himalayas (C. frontalis, Blyth), and made by Jerdon, undoubtedly with justice, to include a Nilghiri bird first discovered by himself (C. rufiventris, Blyth). This distribution illustrates one of the most remarkable peculiarities in the fauna of Peninsular India, a peculiarity to which I will refer after first giving the description of the new species. CALLENE ALBIVENTRIS, Fairbank. (Pl. XXXIX.) Fusco-cyanea, mento lorisque holosericeo-nigris, fascia frontali albescenti-ceerulea, rectricibus remigibusque fuscis ceerulescente marginatis, abdomine medio albo, lateribus cinerascentibus; rostro nigro, pedibus fuscis, iridibus brunneis. Long, tota 6, alse 3*1, caudse 2*6, rostri a fronte 0*5, a rictu 0*75, tarsi 1 * 1 poll. Angl. et dec. Hab. Montes Pulney dictos Indise meridionalis, ad alt. circa 6000-7000 ped. Angl. in dumetis et sylvis. C. albiventris is similar in form to the Nilghiri C. rufiventris, Blyth; but it is rather smaller and differs widely in colour, being much bluer above, with a distinct light-blue, almost whitish, frontal band, instead of the faint indication which alone exists in C. rufiventris. There is no trace of the ferruginous abdomen of that species ; and the white in the new species is not, like the rufous colour in C. rufiventris, spread over the whole lower parts from the breast downwards, but is almost confined to the centre of the abdomen and the lower tail-coverts, shading gradually into slaty on the flanks. C. frontalis, Blyth, of the Sikkim and Nipal Himalayas, is a still larger bird than C. rufiventris, with a longer tail. The frontal band is of a darker and richer blue than in C. albiventris, and the abdomen is grey. The blue of C. albiventris is purer and less dusky than that of either of the two other species, and, so far as can be judged by the somewhat faded specimens in the Asiatic Society's |
