Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/52

38 of the head, and the whole wing black, some of the coverts and inner quills very narrowly tipped with orange ; remainder of the plumage rich orange, somewhat paler on the abdomen.

Female. Resembles the male, but the black is replaced by greenish brown, and the orange-coloured parts of the plumage are paler ; the lores and a large space round the eye are rufous speckled with dusky, and the wings are dark brown.

I have not been able to examine a young bird of this species.

Bill black ; iris dark brown ; legs and feet dark plumbeous fleshy (Davison}.

Length about 5 ; tail 2 ; wing 2'5 ; tarsus *8 ; bill from gape '6.

Distribution. The Hill-ranges of Southern India from the Wynaad to Cape Comorin at 2500 feet and upwards. This species appears to be common on the Kilgiri, the Palni, and the Assambu hills. Its occurrence in Ceylon is doubtful. Colonel McMaster is of opinion that he observed this bird at Chikalda in Berar.

Habits, fyc. Breeds from April to June, constructing a large globular nest of coarse grass and fern-leaves in a clump of reeds or on the summit of a stump of a tree. The eggs, two or three in number, are greyish white marked with brownish red, and measure about -7 by -53.

Genus CULICICAPA, Swinhoe, 1871.

The genus Culicicapa contains one species of very wide distri- bution over the Empire, migratory in the plains, but resident in the Himalayas and many of the hill-ranges.

Fig. 16. Bill of C. ceylonensis.

In this genus the sexes are alike and the plumage is grey and yellow. The bill is very much depressed, and viewed from above forms an equilateral triangle; the rictals are extremely numerous and long; the first primary is short and the tail is square.

592. Culicicapa ceylonensis. The Grey-headed Flycatcher.

Platyrhynchus ceylonensis, Sivains. Zool III ser. 1, i, pi. 13 (1820-21)

Cryptolopha cinereocapilla ( Vieill. Bhjth, Cat. p. 205 : Horsf. & M. Cat. i, p. 147 j Jerd. B. 1. i, p. 455.

Myialestes cinereocapilla ( Vieill.), Hume, N. $ E. p. 205.

Culicicapa ceylonensis (Swains.}, Hume, Cat. no. 295 : Scully. 8 F. vm p.275; Sharps, Cat. B. M. iv, p. 369 ; Legge, Birds On/I.- p. 410 ; Oatcs, B. B. i, p. 274 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 162 ; Ocites in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 16.

Zird phutki, Beug.