Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/21

Rh shvakrd with fulvous; the upper plumage chestnut, mottled with black ; wings and tail more rufous than in the adult ; chin and throat white ; lower plumage uniform pale chestnut.

Bill dusky, fleshy-yellow at the base beneath ; legs pale whitish-fleshy ; iris dark brown (Jerdoii).

Length about 5 ; tail 2 ; wing 2' 7 ; tarsus '5 ; bill from gape -65.

Distribution. A permanent resident in the Himalayas from. Nepal to the extreme east of Assam, from about 4000 to 8000 feet. This species has been procured in winter at Shillong, in the Khasi hills ; in Pegu and in Tenasserim. Hume obtained it in April in Manipur, where he is of opinion that it breeds. This Flycatcher extends to China.

Habits, $c. Hodgson figures the nest, made of moss and lichens and placed upon the surface of an old stump of a tree. The eggs of this bird appear to be buff freckled with reddish, and to measure -69 by -5.

The genus Sipliia contains four Indian birds, one of which is the type of the genus, and the other three are closely allied species, which have been placed by various ornithologists in Muscicapa^ Sipliia, or Erytlirosterna. I consider the four species now noticed to be absolutely congeneric both in structure and in style of coloration. They have no close relationship with Muscicapa, in which the sexes are alike and the wing very lengthened, and I prefer to associate them together in the genus Sipliia, which is equal to Erytlirosterna but of older date.

In Siphia the sexes are differently coloured, the base of the tail in both sexes is white, the upper tail-coverts black, and the back brown or rufous. The bill is small, and the rictal bristles moderate ; the wing is of moderate length, but sharply pointed, and the first primary is shorter than half the second; the tail is square.

The male nestlings soon lose their spotted plumage, and assume the plumage of the adult female in September. It is not, however, till towards the end of the winter that they commence to put on the characteristic red colouring of the adult male, and consequently the mass of birds which visit India are in the garb of the female till near the time for their departure to summer-quarters.

a. Throat chestnut, not extending to the chin or breast .......................... S. strophiata, p. 8. b. Chin, throat, and breast chestnut ; crown of different shade to back ............ S. parva tf, p. 9. c. Chin and throat chestnut, breast ashy; crown and back of the same shade .... & albicilla cT, p. 10. d. Chin, throat, breast, and upper abdomen chestnut, surrounded by a black band. . S. hyperythra $, p. 10. I S. parva ) O e t rf e. No chestnut on lower plumage .......... v s - Sneilla S.hyperytha J UV '