THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 439 



muttui stotzneri Weigold for the larger birds of Szechwan will prob- 

 ably not be invalidated by the designation given Thai specimens. 



MUSCICAPA LATIROSTRIS LATIROSTRIS Raffles 



Continental Gray-breasted Flycatcher 



Muscicapa latirostris Raffles, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, vol. 13, 1822, p. 312 



( Sumatra ; type locality restricted to Benkulan, by Kinnear and Robinson, 



Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 47, 1927, p. 130). 

 Alseonax latirostris, Gyldenstolpe, Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, 1915, p. 169 



(listed) ; Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1916, p. 74 (Khun Tan, Tha 



Chomphu). 

 Alseonax latirostris latirostris, Gyldenstolpe, Ibis, 1920, p. 572 ("Various parts 



of the country"). — Geeenway, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 1940, p. 183 (listed). 

 Alseonax latirostris latirostris [partim], Dfjgnan, Journ. Siam Soc, Nat. Hist. 



Suppl., 1931, p. 144 (Doi Suthep [partim]). 

 Arizelomyia latirostris latirostris, Riley, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 172, 1938, p. 446 



(Chiang Mai, Ban Nam Khian). 



In this flycatcher we have a case, analogous to that of Saxicola t. 

 stejnegeri, in which our birds arrive and depart in two distinct migra- 

 tory waves, which may well be connected with separate northern breed- 

 ing grounds. The species first appears in small numbers on the moun- 

 tains of the western provinces, where it has been recorded in autumn 

 only between September 21 (Khun Tan) and October 3 (Doi Suthep), 

 at elevations from 2,000 to 4,800 feet ; dates for the return movement 

 in spring are not yet available. The main body reach the plains, 

 throughout the area, somewhat later (earliest known date at Chiang 

 Mai, November 25) and are present at least until May 3 (savannas of 

 the Mae Nam Ing) . There is no reason to believe with Gyldenstolpe 

 (1916) that the bird breeds in Thailand ; it is merely, with Phragamat- 

 icola a. rufescens and Lanius c. cristatus, one of the very last of the 

 northern visitors to depart. 



This is a bird of uninhabited but rather open country, occurring at 

 clearings in the evergreen and in the mixed-deciduous forest. Its 

 habits are quite like those of its congeners ; it is normally seen alone, 

 making aerial sallies after its insect prey and, between flights, perch- 

 ing quietly on one of several favored perches. 



Gyldenstolpe notes that his specimens had the irides dark brown; 

 the bill black, with the base of the mandible dirty yellow; the feet 

 and toes black. The dark apex of the mandible may perhaps be a 

 useful field mark in distinguishing between M. latirostris and M. 

 muttui. 



In the hand, M. I. latirostris may readily be known from M. s. si- 

 oirica by its different proportions, the shape of its bill, and other 

 minor points ; in life, it appears to differ only in having the sides of 

 the throat, the breast, and the flanks strongly overlaid with brownish 

 ashy, wholly or almost without streaking. 



