124 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



of returning time and again to the same perch. The cry is 

 rather a grating little single note. The breeding season is 

 chiefly in April and May, but may occasionally extend as 

 late as August. The nest is a beautifully built little shallow 

 cup of fine grass, fibres, &c., bound together with cobwebs 

 and lined with similar finer materials. I have generally 

 found it placed about 6 feet from the ground in the fork of 

 a downward slanting, thin, bare branch fairly close to the 

 stem of the tree. With us there are generally three, often 

 only two, eggs. The ground colour is pinkish -white, rather 

 sparingly spotted, often in a zone, with brownish-red. 

 Average size • 79 by • 60. 



Hypothymis azurea ceylonensis. 

 The Indian Black-naped Flycatcher. 



Hypothymis azurea (Gates, Vol. II., p. 49) ; Hypothymis ceylo- 

 nensis (Legge, p. 408). 



Description. — Male : Head, neck, back, rump, and upper 

 tail coverts, throat, and chest azure blue, brightest on the 

 head and throat ; there is a distinct dividing line across the 

 fore-neck between the two shades ; the extreme point of the 

 chin, the feathers adjoining the nostrils, and, in fully adult 

 birds, a patch on the nape black ; wing coverts and quills 

 dusky-brown, the coverts washed, and the quUls edged with 

 the hue of the back ; tail dusky -brown, the central feathers 

 and the outer webs of the others washed with azure blue ; 

 abdomen, vent, and lower tail coverts white tinged at times 

 with faint blue. 



Females lack the black nape patch ; the blue of the plumage 

 is slightly duller and the brown lighter ; the breast is ashy- 

 blue, and the abdomen, flanks, and lower tail coverts tinged 

 with gray. 



Bill dark blue ; iris dark brown ; legs and feet bluish lead- 

 colour. 



Length 6*1; wing 2 ' 7 ; tail 2 • 75 ; tarsus * 6 ; bill from 

 gape '65. 



