Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/45

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
ANTHIPES
31


one I observed in Pegu was solitary and silent, and was perched on a stalk of elephant-grass.

582. Muscitrea grisola. The Grey Flycatcher.

Tephrodornis grisola, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xii, p. 180* (1843) ; id. Cat. p. 153; Jertl. B. I. i, p. 411.

Muscitrea cinerea, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi, p. 122 ; Hume, S. F. v, p. 101.

Hylocharis philomela (Bole), Hume^S. F. ii, p. 201.

Hylocharis occipitalis, Hume, S. F. ii, p. 202 (1874).

Muscitrea grisola (Bl.}, Hume $ Dciv. S. F. vi, p. 206 ; Hume, Cat. no. 266 ; Gates, B. B. i, p. 257.

Pachycephala grisola (BL), Gadow, Cat. B. M. viii, p. 220. The Arakan Wood-Shrike, Jerd.

Figs. 11 & 12. Head and bill of M. grisola.

Coloration. Forehead, crown, nape, and lores ashy brown ; upper plumage, wings, and tail rufous- or olive-brown, the secondaries broadly edged with rufous ; sides of the head pale brown ; chin and throat white mottled with ashy ; breast pale ashy ; remainder of lower plumage and under wing-coverts white.

The young are slightly rufous.

Bill dark brownish black ; mouth flesh-colour ; iris reddish brown ; eyelids plumbeous ; legs plumbeous ; claws pale horn- colour. Length about 6'5 ; tail 2-6 ; wing 3-3 ; tarsus *8 ; bill from gape *8. Some specimens are paler and greyer, others darker and browner, and the plumage varies apparently according to the length of time which has elapsed since the moult in the autumn.

Distribution. Jerdon states that this species has been procured near Calcutta ; it occurs in the Andaman Islands, Arrakan, Pegu, and Tenasserim, extending to the Malay peninsula and islands.

Genus ANTHIPES, Blyth, 1847.

I place in the genus Anf/ilpesfive species of Flycatchers in which the sexes are alike, the plumage brown or rufous, relieved, in the case of three, by a patch of white on the throat, the bill flattened, the first primary large, and the lower mandible dark coloured. They are all very local, and they are not known to migrate.

In addition to the above characters the rictal bristles are long but few in number, and the tail is square.