S1PHIA. 7 



shvakrd with fulvous; the upper plumage chestnut, mottled with 

 black ; wings and tail more rufous than in the adult ; chin and 

 throat white ; lower plumage uniform pale chestnut. 



Bill dusky, fleshy-yellow at the base beneath ; legs pale whitish- 

 fleshy ; iris dark brown (Jerdoii). 



Length about 5 ; tail 2 ; wing 2' 7 ; tarsus '5 ; bill from 

 gape -65. 



Distribution. A permanent resident in the Himalayas from. 

 Nepal to the extreme east of Assam, from about 4000 to 8000 feet. 

 This species has been procured in winter at Shillong, in the Khasi 

 hills ; in Pegu and in Tenasserim. Hume obtained it in April in 

 Manipur, where he is of opinion that it breeds. This Flycatcher 

 extends to China. 



Habits, $c. Hodgson figures the nest, made of moss and lichens 

 and placed upon the surface of an old stump of a tree. The eggs 

 of this bird appear to be buff freckled with reddish, and to 

 measure -69 by -5. 



Genus SIPHIA, Hodgs., 1837. 



The genus Sipliia contains four Indian birds, one of which is the 

 type of the genus, and the other three are closely allied species, 

 which have been placed by various ornithologists in Muscicapa^ 

 Sipliia, or Erytlirosterna. I consider the four species now noticed 

 to be absolutely congeneric both in structure and in style of 

 coloration. They have no close relationship with Muscicapa, in 

 which the sexes are alike and the wing very lengthened, and I 

 prefer to associate them together in the genus Sipliia, which is 

 equal to Erytlirosterna but of older date. 



In Siphia the sexes are differently coloured, the base of the tail 

 in both sexes is white, the upper tail-coverts black, and the back 

 brown or rufous. The bill is small, and the rictal bristles mode- 

 rate ; the wing is of moderate length, but sharply pointed, and the 

 first primary is shorter than half the second; the tail is square. 



The male nestlings soon lose their spotted plumage, and assume 

 the plumage of the adult female in September. It is not, however, 

 till towards the end of the winter that they commence to put on the 

 characteristic red colouring of the adult male, and consequently the 

 mass of birds which visit India are in the garb of the female till 

 near the time for their departure to summer-quarters. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Throat chestnut, not extending to the chin 



or breast .......................... S. strophiata, p. 8. 



b. Chin, throat, and breast chestnut ; crown 



of different shade to back ............ S. parva tf , p. 9. 



c. Chin and throat chestnut, breast ashy; 



crown and back of the same shade .... & albicilla cT , p. 10. 



d. Chin, throat, breast, and upper abdomen 



chestnut, surrounded by a black band . . S. hyperythra $ , p. 10. 



I S. parva ) O e t rf 



e. No chestnut on lower plumage .......... v s> - ^Sneilla > 



(S.hyperytha \ J UV ' 



