Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/66

52 Genus RHIPIDURA, Vigors & Horsf., 1826.

The genus Rhipidura is a very extensive one, and contains four Indian Flycatchers. In these birds the bill is large, about twice as long as broad, and the rictal bristles are very numerous and long. The tail is very ample and rounded. The sexes are alike or nearly so.

These Flycatchers are abundant everywhere and are resident. They are very lively, constantly on the move, and frequently seen with outspread tail d-incing from branch to branch. They make small and very beautiful nests covered with cobwebs.

Key to the Species.

a. Forehead and sides of the crown broadly white, R. a^bifrontata, p. 52. b. Forehead black ; a small white supercilium. '. Abdomen black R. albicollis, p. 53. &'. Abdomen white or whitish. a". Outer tail-feathers distinctly and abruptly tipped white R. javanica, p. 54. b". Outer tail-feathers merely paler towards the tips R. pectoralis, p. 55.

604. Rhipidura albifrontata. The White-browed Fantail Flycatcher.

Rhipidura albofrontata, Frankl. P. Z. & 1831, p. 116 ; Horsf. 8f M. Cat. i, p. 145; Anders. Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. 655; Sharpe, Cat. B. M., p. 338 ; Le.gge, Birds Cet/l. p. 412 ; Oates, B. B. i, p. 268 ; id. in Hume's N. If E. 2nd ed. 'ii, p. 31.

Rhipidura aureola, Less. Traite, p. 390 (1831).

Leucocerca albofrontata (Frankl.}, Blyth, Cat. p. 206; Jerd. B. I. i, p. 452; Hume, N. 8f E. p. 201.

Leucocerca aureola (Less.}, Hums, S. F. i, p. 436, iii, p. 104; id. Cat. no. 292 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 160.

Leucocerca burmanica, Hume, S. F. ix, p. 175, footnote (1880). The White-browed Fantail, Jerd. ; Macharya, Hind, in the South ; Manati, Mai. ; Dasari-pitta, Tel.

Coloration. Male. Crown, lores, ear-coverts, and the feathers round the eye black ; forehead and a very broad supercilium to the nape white ; upper plumage and wings ashy brown, the wing- coverts tipped with white ; tail brown, all but the median pair of feathers tipped white, progressively more and more so to the outermost feather, which is almost entirely white ; cheeks, chin, and throat black, each feather broadly terminated with white, except on the lower throat, where the white is reduced to narrow margins ; sides of the breast black ; remainder of lower plumage white.

Female. Very similar to the male, but browner above.