Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/19

Rh Himalayas appears to be Simla, where it has been obtained in September.

This Flycatcher has an extensive range, being found, according to season, over the greater part of Europe, Africa, and South-western Asia. Habits, &c.This bird 'breeds in Gilgit, but nothing beyond this is on record about its nidification in India. In Europe it makes its nest on a branch of a tree near the trunk, in a shallow hole in a tree, or on a branch of a fruit-tree or creeper trained against a wall. The eggs are pale bluish or greenish, marked with reddish brown, and measure about '75 by '57.

The genus Hemichelidon contains two species of Flycatchers which are permanent residents in the Himalayas, a considerable number descending to the lower ranges and plains in the winter. In Hemichelidon the bill viewed from above is almost an equilateral triangle, sharp-pointed, pinched in towards the tip, and very depressed ; the rictal bristles are moderate ; the wing is long, reaching nearly to the end of the tail, the first primary very minute and the second equal to the fifth ; the tail is square. In this genus the sexes are alike, and the plumage brown or ferruginous.

a. General colour of plumage brown. . . . . . . . H. sibirica, p. 5.

b. General colour of plumage ferruginous. . . H.ferruginea, p. 6.

Muscicapa sibirica, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 936 (1788). p. 75 ; Hume fy Henders. Lah. to York. p. 184, pi. iv. Hemichelidon sibirica (Gm.), Hume, N. 8f E. p. 206; id. Cat. no. 296 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iv, p. 120 ; Oates, B. B. i, p. 275 ; id. in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 1. Dang-chim-pa-pho, Lepch.

Fig. 3. Bill of H. sibiricu.

Coloration. Upper plumage brown, the feathers of the head ith darker centres and those of the wings more or less edged paler ;