Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/20

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MUSCICAPIDÆ.


tail plain brown; a ring of white feathers round the eye ; lores mixed white and hrown ; sides of the head brown ; chin, throat, breast, and sides of the body smoky brown, dashed with grey in places ; an indistinct white patch on the lower throat; abdomen, vent, and under tail-coverts white, the last mixed with brown. After the autumn moult, the margins to the wing-feathers are broader and more rufous.

The young have the crown and nape streaked with fulvous white and the upper plumage spotted and streaked with fulvous ; the lesser wing-coverts are tipped, and the greater coverts and quills margined broadly, with fulvous ; the lower plumage is much whiter than in the adult.

Upper mandible dark brown, lower yellowish ; iris brown; legs brownish black.

Length about 4-5 ; tail 2 ; wing 2-8 ; tarsus '5 ; bill from gape *55.

Distribution. A permanent resident in the Himalayas, from Afghanistan and Kashmir to Sikhim, occurring as high as 33,000 feet in the summer. In the winter this species is found along the lower ranges of those mountains, and it has been observed at Shillong, Manipur, and generally throughout Pegu and Tenasserim, extending into the Malay peninsula. It is widely spread over China and Eastern Siberia in summer. This Flycatcher appears to be entirely absent from the plains of India.

Halnts, fyc. Breeds in Kashmir in June. A nest found by Major Cock was placed against the side of a tree-trunk. The eggs are pale green mottled with pale reddish, and measure about 65 by -46.

559. Hemichelidon ferruginea. The Ferruginom Flycatcher.

Hemichelidon ferruginea, Hodgs. P. Z. S. 1845, p. 32 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 175; Horsf. $ M. Cat. i, p. 137; Hume, N. $ E. p. 207; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iv, p. 122: Gates. B. B. i, p. 276; id. in Hume's N. 8f E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 2.

Alseonax ferrugineus (Hodgs.), Jerd. B. I. i, p. 460 ; Hume. Cat. no. 299; id. S. F. xi, p. 106.

Dang-chim-pa-pho, Lepch.

Coloration. Forehead and crown of head dark brown; back, scapulars, lesser wing-coverts, rump, and upper tail-coverts reddish brown, changing to chestnut on the latter two parts ; median and greater coverts brown, edged and tipped with chestnut; quills dark brown, the later secondaries and tertiaries edged with reddish brown ; tail reddish brown ; a distinct ring of feathers round the eye whitish or pale buff; lores and ear-coverts mixed rufous and brown ; lower plumage pale rufous, deepening to chestnut on the abdomen, under tail-coverts, and flanks, the breast infuscated, the lower part of the throat whitish, and the sides of the throat mottled with brown.

The young have the forehead, crown, and nape black, boldly