lis SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



Bill blackish ; iris brown ; legs and feet bluish -brown or 

 bluish-gray. 



Length 5*8; wing 2 • 8 ; tail 2 • 45 ; tarsus ' 7 ; bill from 

 gape '15. 



Distribution. — A resident form found over the greater 

 part of the peninsula of India and portions of Burma. It is 

 widely distributed over the whole of the Island up to about 

 4,000 feet wherever there is forest. 



Habits. — Keeps to the undergrowth and lower branches in 

 tall forest, and may occasionally be seen in untidy village 

 gardens where there are jak trees. It is very active towards 

 dusk. The call is a little whistling chirrup. I have taken 

 eggs as early as February and as late as June. The nest is 

 rather a deep little cup of dead leaves, moss and grass, lined 

 with finer materials, and placed in holes in banks or trees. 

 Three is the usual number of eggs. They are so thickly 

 speckled as to seem almost uniform olive -brown, the colouring 

 being often deeper at the larger end, owing to the greater 

 density there of the markings. Average size "77 by "57. 



Stoparola melanops sordida. 

 The Dusky-blue Flycatcher. 

 Stoparola sordida (Gates, Vol. II., p. 29 ; Legge, p. 419). 



Description. — Head and body plumage in general dull ashy- 

 gray tinged with blue, which is brightest on the crown ; fore- 

 head, an indefinite streak over the eye, and the chin washed 

 with bright cobalt blue ; lores and the point of the chin black ; 

 abdomen, vent, and under tail coverts whitish ; wing and 

 tail quiUs dark brown edged with the hue of the back. 



Young birds are dark brown above, each feather with a 

 tawny centre and a blackish border ; feathers of lower 

 plumage grayish with dark borders. The change into adult 

 plumage is gradual. 



Bill black ; iris red brown or brown ; legs and feet dark 

 lead colour. 



Length about 6 ; wing 3 ; tail 2 • 4 ; tarsus ' 75 ; bill from 

 gape -7. 



