MUSCicAPrniE. 



Genus MUSCICAPA, Brisson, 1760. 



The genus Muscicapa contains the Spotted Flycatcher, a common 

 summer visitor to England and Europe. 



In this genus the sexes are alike : the culmen of the bill is about 

 as long as twice the breadth of the bill at the forehead ; the rictal 

 bristles are few and moderate in length ; the wing is long and 

 poiuted, the first primary being very small and the second very long 

 and equal to the fifth ; the tail is square ; and the plumage is 

 streaked. M. grisola is migratory. 



557. Muscicapa grisola. The Spotted Flycatcher. 



Muscicapa grisola, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 328 (1766) ; Sharpe, Cat. 



B. M. iv, p. 151 ; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 437 ; Oates in Humes N. 



8f E. 2nd. ed. ii, p. 1. 

 Butalis grisola (Linn.), Blyth, Cut. p. 175; Hume fy Renders. Lah. 



to Yark. p. 185; Hume, S. F. iii, p. 467, v, p. 495; id. Cat. 



no. 299 bis; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 52 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. 



p. 163. 



Coloration. Upper plumage brown, the forehead, crown, and nape 

 with black centres ; wing-coverts, secondaries, and tertiaries dark 

 brown, rather broadly edged with pale fulvous ; primaries and the 



Fig. 2.— Bill of M. grisola. 



primary-coverts more narrowly edged with the same ; tail dark 

 brown, obsoletely edged paler ; lores greyish white ; a buff ring 

 round the eye ; sides of the head brown ; cheeks whitish, with an 

 irregular dark moustachial streak below ; lower plumage white, the 

 breast and the sides of the throat streaked with brown ; the sides 

 of the body less distinctly streaked. 



The young have the upper plumage pale fulvous, with brown or 

 blackish margins ; the wings broadly edged, the lesser coverts 

 broadly tipped, with buff ; the lower plumage whitish, variegated 

 with dark brown. 



Legs and feet black ; bill blackish, yellow at the base of the lower 

 mandible ; iris dark brown {Butler). 



Length about 6 ; tail 2*5 ; wing 3*3 ; tarsus - 6 ; bill from 

 gape "8. 



Distribution. Common from May to September in Gilgit, where 

 this species breeds at elevations over 8000 feet. This bird visits the 

 plains in the autumn, and is found at that season in Sind, Eaj- 

 putana, Guzerat, Cutch, and Kattywar. Its eastern limit in the 



