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upon the head; below yellowish-albescent, the feathers of the foreneck and breast margined with the hue of the upper-parts; rump, towards the tail, bright and pure light yellow; the two great ranges of wing-coverts tipped, and the tertiaries externally margined, with white loral streak and the lower tail-coverts dull white: bill dusky above, below pale; and the legs pale. From Malacca.

Z. chrysophrys, nobis. Differs from the preceding in its more slender and depressed bill; in having a yellow supercilium continued back to the occiput; in the white wing-spot not being continued along the edge of the tertiary; and in the hue of the abdomen passing gradually to white from the bright yellow of the throat and breast. In other words, it may be briefly described as black, with yellow rump, supercilium, and under-parts, passing to white on the belly and lower tail-coverts, and a large patch of white upon the wing. Length of the wing three inches. The female I have not seen, nor am I aware of the habitat of the species; but have some reason to suspect Australia, in which case it will probably bear a prior name.

A considerable group is formed by the various blue Flycatchers of India and Malasia, minus the Myiagra (as exemplified by M. cærulea), which I have already approximated to Tchitrea (p. 290). At the head of them may be placed

Niltava, Hodgson, Ind. Rev. 1837, p. 650. In these beautiful birds, the Muscicapa structure is much reduced; the bill being narrow and scarcely flattened, and the rictal bristles, though tolerably long, are very fine and slender. According to Mr. Hodgson, they "never seize on wing," but their affinities with the following groups are nevertheless obvious. Three species occur in the Himalaya, the two first appearing to be very common at Darjeeling.-1. N. grandis, nobis, XI, 189 (which Mr. Hodgson would separate by the name Bainopus, but I cannot understand upon what characters).-2. N. sundara, Hodgson.-3. N. Macgregorii, (Burton), P. Z. S. 1835, p. 152, v. fuligiventer, Hodgson; which (as Lord A. Hay informs me) is common at Simla.

Cyanoptila, nobis. I found this group on a Javanese Flycatcher, which is just intermediate (both in form and colouring) to the preceding and following divisions, in neither of which it can be placed; and it thus illustrates the affinities of Niltava. Its wings, however, are longer than in either, and more pointed, reaching fully

half-way down the tail; and the beak is rather broader and flatter than in Niltava, but vertically deep, having the tomiæ much inflected: rietal bristles small and inconspicuous. Rest as in Stoporala; the frontal feathers deflected from the base of the bill, without any of the reflex velvety plumes conspicuous in Niltava.

C. cyanomelanura, (Tem.) Upper-parts deep Prussian-blue; the crown and shoulder of the wing ultramarine; and nearly half of the base of the tail pure white: lores, ear-coverts, throat and breast, blueblack; belly and lower tail-coverts sullied white; and flanks brown. Bill black; and legs dark-coloured. Length of wing three inches and three-quarters; of tail two and a half; bill to frontal-feathers half an inch; and tarse nine-sixteenths.

Stoporala, nobis. The type of this marked group is St. melanops, (Vigors), v. Muscicapa lapis, Lesson (Rev. Zool. &c. 1839, p. 104), and the female—M. thalassina, Swainson, Nat. Libr.: Verditer Flycatcher of Latham.—A second species, closely allied, inhabits Java; differing in its smaller size, and deeper blue colouring: length of wing three inches, instead of three and three-eighths, and the rest in proportion.-A third, from Java, is St. indigo, (Horsf.), which in its white base of tail, the spreading of the loral black on the chin and beneath the eye, and a little also in structure, approximates the Cyanoptila.-A fourth, allied to the last, especially in the white at the base of its caudal feathers, and in structure much resembling the first species, is St. albicaudata, (Jerdon), from the Neilgherries.

Siphia, Hodgson, Ind. Rev. 1837, p. 651. To this group may, I think, be referred

1. S. strophiata, Hodgson, Ind. Rev. 1837, p 651. Himalaya. 2. S. leucura, (Gm.): Saxicola rubeculoides, Sykes; Synornis joulaimus, Hodgson, Ann. Mag. N. H. 1845, p. 197; Muscicapa parva of India, apud Sundevall: White-tailed Redbreast of Latham, whose Maculate Flycatcher refers probably to the young. N. B.-Comparatively few specimens of this bird are procurable with the rufous throat. It inhabits India generally, visiting the plains in the cold season. From recollection, I should say that the European Musc. parva, Auctorum, is very nearly allied.

S

3. S. erythaca, nobis, n. s. Closely allied in form and structure to the last, but the whole throat, breast, and fore-part of the abdomen, bright yellowish-ferruginous; two narrow whitish bands across the wing, formed by the tips of the coverts; and the white on the sides of the base of the tail much reduced (as compared with the two preceding species), occupying only the extreme base of the outermost tail-feathers, and successively increasing in quantity upon the next four: belly and lower tail-coverts pure white; the flanks fulvous-brown: behind the eye a whitish spot: a slight olivaceous tinge on the upper-parts generally; and the tertials margined with whitish. Wing two inches and seven-eighths; tail an inch and seven-eighths; bill to gape ninesixteenths of an inch, and tarse the same. The female is probably without the rufous on the under-parts, but would be distinguished from that of the preceding species by the narrow whitish bands on the wing, and also by the reduced quantity of white at the base of the tail. Inhabits the Malayan peninsula.

4. S. leucomelanura; Digenea leucomelanura, Hodgson, Ann. Mag. N. H. 1845, p. 197. Length five inches, or a little more; of wing two and three-eighths, and tail two and one-eighth; bill to gape nine-sixteenths; and tarse three-quarters of an inch. Above dark slaty-ash, having a blue tinge, the forehead and over the eyes vivid blue-grey; lores and ear-coverts black; middle of throat and fore-neck white, the rest of the under-parts whitish-grey, passing to white at the vent and on the lower tail-coverts; tail black, its basal half white, except on the two middle feathers, and on the inner web of the next to them. Bill dusky, and feet brown. This bird has somewhat the aspect, at first sight, of Ianthia rufilatus (p. 132), but is at once distinguished by its smaller size, shorter bill, duller colouring, the white upon the tail, and the absence of rufous on the flanks. Hab. Nepal.

5. S. tricolor; Digenea tricolor, Hodgson, loc. cit. Length about four inches and three-quarters, of wing two and a quarter, and tail two inches; bill to gape half an inch, and tarse five-eighths. Colour (of female?) olive-brown, fulvescent on the rump; and passing to olive-green;" but there is not the slightest tinge of green on the specimens with which he has favoured the Society, though these may possibly be females.

*Mr. Hodgson says

66

*

rufous-brown on the wings; tail dull ferruginous: under-parts light brown, inclining to albescent on the throat and belly bill dusky, and legs brown. Young spotted above like a young Robin, or Stonechat, &c. Hab. Nepal.

6. S. signata; Leiothrix signata, McClelland and Horsfield, P. Z. S. 1839, p. 162, v. Dimorpha* (alias Siphia) auricularis, (Hodgson), J. A. S. XII, 240. Himalaya, Assam.

7. S. moniliger, Hodgson, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 1845, p. 197. (Non vidi.)

Muscicapula, nobis, XII, 939. This comprises

1. M. sapphira, nobis.-2. M. superciliaris, (Jerdon), v. Dimorpha albogularis, nobis, XI, 190: Lucknow Flycatcher and Azure Warbler, Latham.-3.M. hyperythra, nobis, XI, 885, altered from superciliaris, nobis, XI, 190, and again by an oversight to rubecula, XII, 940; Dimorpha rubrocyanea, Hodgson, Ann. Mag. N. H. 1845, p. 197.—4. M. melanoleuca, (Hodg.), a name which will probably not stand, as the Society has received the identical species from Java, from which part M. Temminck also will probably have received and named it.†— In M. sapphira, the affinity to Niltava, Cyanoptila, &c., is still obvious in the colouring; and in Siphia signata, the general brown plumage is relieved by a patch of ultramarine-blue on each side of the neck, as in restricted Niltava, (or the Neel-tours of the Nepalese.) M. melanoleuca, as already remarked (XVII, 306), seems allied to Hemipus, Hodgson.

5. M. acornaus, (Hodgson); Musc. pöonensis apud nos, XI, 458. Length four inches and three-eighths, by six inches and three-quarters; of wing two and three-sixteenths to two and three-eighths; and of tail an inch and a half to one and three-quarters: bill to gape ninesixteenths of an inch; and tarse somewhat more. Colour greyisholive above, fulvescent on the rump, and rufescent-brown on the upper tail-coverts and margining the base of the tail-feathers; one Nepalese specimen has the upper tail-coverts ashy: lower-parts albescent-greyish, slightly tinged with fulvous in some specimens; the throat, middle of belly, and lower tail-coverts, dull white: axillaries pure white:

Dimorpha is the name of an old genus in Botany.

It is not rare in the Midnapore jungles; and Capt. Phayre had sent it from

Arracan.

primaries dusky, the secondaries externally margined with olive, and the tertiaries with greyish or whitish-grey, becoming abraded on the worn plumage: greater coverts of the wing whitish-tipped, forming a slight wing-band. Bill blackish, and legs dusky or deep brown. The colour of this bird would ally it to Butalis, while its form is strictly that of Muscicapula. It inhabits the S. E. Himalaya, and Central India: being not rare in the Midnapore jungles.

Cyornis, nobis, XII, 940. To this may be referred

1. C. rubeculoides, (Vig.): Niltava brevipes, Hodgson, Ind. Rev. 1837, p. 651: Etherial Warbler of Latham, and the female agrees with the supposed female of his Blue Indian Warbler. Inhabits all northern India, visiting the plains during the cold season. On the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal, it extends southward to the Tenasserim provinces; but in southern India is represented by the next.

2. C. banyumas, (Horsf.): Muscicapa cantatrix, Tem. Hab. Neilgherries, Java.

3. C. elegans, (Tem,) apud Strickland: C. Tickelliæ, nobis; Muscicapa hyacintha, apud Tickell, and the female-Musc. rubecula, Swainson. Hab. Central India.-N. B. The Blue Indian Warbler of Latham would suit this species, except that the colour of the upperparts is stated to be deep blue, instead of light greyish-blue, brighter on the forehead and shoulder of the wing.

4. C. unicolor, nobis, XII, 1007. Described from the imperfectly moulted young. The adult is a larger bird than either of its congeners, a male measuring nearly seven inches long, the wing three and a quarter, and the tail three inches. Colour a light smalt-blue, approaching to verditer above; the lower-parts paler, inclining to albescent below the breast: forehead and over the eye beautiful smalt-blue, as is also the shoulder of the wing: axillaries light rufes. cent, and a tinge of the same on the lower tail-coverts. From Darjeeling.

5. C. pallipes, (Jerdon), Madr. Journ. No. XXVI, 15. Neilgherries.

6. Probably Muscicapa rufigastra, Raffles, Lin. Tr. XIII, 312. Ochromela, nobis. Nearly allied to the last group; but the Flycatcher form of bill more pronounced, and the rictal vibrissæ longer; tarsi also rather longer, the wings more rounded, and the style of colouring altogether different-bright rusty, with black cap and wings,

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