Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/25

Rh Ervthrosterna hyperythra (Cab.), Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 442, pi. 17; Hume, N. $ E. p. 217; Brooks, 6'. F. iii, p. 236; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 376 ; id. Cat. no. 323 ter.

Muscicapa hyperythra (Cab.}, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iv. p. 163; Leyye, Birds Ceyl p. 428.

Coloration. Male. The whole upper plumage dark ashy brown ; the tail -coverts black; wings and coverts dark brown, edged with the colour of the back ; tail black, with the same distribution of while as in S. parva and S. albicilla-, sides of the head dark ashy brown like the crown ; chin, throat, breast, and upper part of the abdomen rich chestnut, separated from the head and neck by a broad black band produced down the sides of the breast; remainder of the lower plumage white, tinged with rufous on the flanks and under tail-coverts. Female. Very similar to the females of S. parva and S. albicilla, but darker above.

Some young males in May are acquiring the black pectoral band and show indications of rufous on the throat and breast.

Iris hazel-brown ; bill above brown, pale next the forehead ; gape and lower mandible fleshy yellow, with the tip dusky ; inside of mouth yellow ; legs and feet deep brown ; soles yellowish (Legge).

Length about 5 ; tail 2 ; wing 2*7 ; tarsus *75 ; bill from gape -6.

Distribution. Summers in Kashmir and winters in Ceylon. This species has not yet been procured in the intervening countries during the periods of migration.

Habits, fyc. Brooks remarks that this Flycatcher breeds in Kashmir between 6000 and 7000 feet elevation, but he failed to find the nest.

I place in the genus Cijornis fourteen species of Flycatchers in which the sexes are different, and which appear to be congeneric in structure, habits, and style of coloration.

The females of some of the species of this genus are amongst the most difficult of birds to discriminate, and they remained in givat confusion till Sharpe brought them into order with the aid of Hodgson's types and drawings.

In Cyornis the bill is about half the length of the head, depressed, and rather broad at the base; the rictal bristles are moderate ; the wing in most of the species is sharply pointed, and the first primary generally small; the tail is square or nearly so.

In this genus all the males are blue or black on the upper plumage, and the females brown or rufescent. All the species are true Flycatchers, catching their prey on the wing or by running along branches.