136 MUSCICAPID/E. 



Malay Peninsula to the Archipelago, and is found spread over China in winter. 

 Its habits are quite those of the other species. Jerdon says it is very 

 sedentary, sitting motionless on a branch and darting out occasionally to 

 capture an insect on the wing. 



Gen. MuSCicapa, Linn. ; Butalis Boie. ; Erythrosterna, Bp. 



Wings pointed and long ; bill rather long, depressed, wide throughout, 

 except at tip ; second primary longer than the secondaries and nearly the 

 length of the third ; nasal bristles scanty. 



208. MuSCicapa griSOla, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 328; Tern. Man. i. 

 p. 152 ; Naum. vogt. Deutch. if. p. 216 ; MacGill. Br. B. iii. p. 5 18 ; Gray, 

 Gen. B. i. p. 262 ; Gould. B. Eur. ii. pi. 65 ; Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1873, P- 7 1 J 

 id. Cat. Passerif. B. Br. M. p. 151 ; Blf. East Pers. p. 143 ; Str. F. 1873, 

 p. 377; Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 127. Butalis grisola, Boie. Isis, 1826, 

 p. 973 ; Cat. Mus. Heine. Th.\. p. 52; Sharpe, Cat. Afr. B. p. 42, No. 

 391; id. Ibis, 1872, p. 70; Hume, Str. F. 1875, p. 467; 1877, p. 495. 

 Butalis africana, Bp. C. R. xxxviii. p. 652. THE SPOTTED GREY FLY-CATCHER. 



Lores and feathers immediately above the nostrils dingy fulvous white ; 

 head, nape, cheeks, ear coverts, back and scapulars, pale earthy or greyish 

 brown ; the feathers of the head with darker brown central streaks not ex- 

 tending to the tips, and those of the forehead tinged with the fulvous colour 

 of the lores ; the rump, in some, uniform with the back, in others slightly 

 darker ; wings and tail brown, paler and greyer on the tertiaries and laterals, 

 all the feathers margined with brownish white ; the greater secondary coverts 

 and tertials most broadly so ; the tail feathers, except the exterior lateral ones, 

 inconspicuously so ; lower parts white, tinged with fawn colour towards the 

 vent, and with narrow inconspicuous grey brown streaks on the breast ; 

 axillaries and wing lining very pale rufous fawn ; sides and flanks tinged 

 faintly with the same colour and dull fulvous. 



" Bill black, dark fleshy at base of lower mandible ; legs and feet blackish 

 brown; iris deep brown ; interior of mouth orange." {Hume, Str. F., vol. 

 3, P- 467.) 



Length. 5*4 inches ; bill at front 0.55 ; wing 3*4 ; tail 2*45 ; tarsus 0*6. 



Hab. The whole of Europe, extending in the winter into South Africa and 

 N. W. India, Sind, Beloochistan, Afghanistan, Persia (Northern and Southern), 

 Kutch, Kattiawar, Jodhpore, Sambhur. Visits Sind in the course of its 

 migration in August and September, and at about the same time of the year 

 in other parts of the Western Presidency. 



All the species of this genus are quick and active birds, incessantly hopping 

 about on the branches of trees, generally thin scrub or acacias, searching 

 for insects, which are their chief food. 



