Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/68

54 Bill, legs, and feet black; mouth fleshy white; eyelids grey; iris deep brown ; claws blackish horn-colour.

Fig. 22. Bill of R. albicollis.

Length about 7'5 ; tail 4 ; wing 2-9 ; tarsus '75 ; bill from gape -7.

Distribution. The Himalayas from Murree to Dibrugarh in Assam from their base up to 5000 feet, and occasionally, as recorded by Stoliczka, up to 9000 ; portions of the Central Provinces and Chutia Nagpur, Ball recording this species from Maiibhoom, Loharclugga, Jashpur, Sambalpur north of the Mahanadi, Raipur, and the Godavari valley, and Hume from Bod ; to the west the range of this bird is somewhat undefined, Barnes expressing his belief that it does not occur in the Bombay Presidency, but Mr. B. Aitken stating that it is common both at Bombay and Poona. Sykes obtained it in the Deccan. It is found in Lower and Eastern Bengal, Assam, and all the countries between this latter province and Central Tenasserim, extending into Cochin China.

Habits, &jC t Breeds in May, June, and July, constructing a nest of grass coated with cobwebs, of the shape of an inverted cone, in a small fork on a branch of a tree. The eggs, usually three in number, are fawn-colour or yellowish, marked with grey, and measure about -65 by -49.

606. Rhipidura javanica. The Java Fantail Flycatcher.

Muscicapa j avanica, Sparrm. Mus. Carls, tii, pi. 75 (1783;. Leucocerca j avanica (Sparnn.), Bhjth, Cat. p. 206 ; Hume 8f Dav. S, F. vi, p. 226 ; Hume, Cat. no. 293 bis ; id. S. F.ix, p. 175. Rhipidura javanica (Sparrm.), Horsf. # M. Cat., p. 144; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iv, p. 332 ; Oates, B. B. i, p. 267. Leucocerca infumata, Hume, S. F. i, p. 455 (1873).

Coloration. Male. Forehead, crown, and sides of the head sooty brown ; the whole upper plumage and the wings brown, suffused with rufous; tail dark brown, the four outer pairs of feathers broadly tipped with white, the pair next to these very narrowly tipped with white ; a short supercilium white ; chin, a band across the upper breast, and the sides of the breast blackish brown ; throat white ; remainder of lower plumage white tinged with buff.