252 HEMICHELIDOX ALSEONAX 



under parts are paler than in the adult. Compared with J/. grisola this 

 species is much smaller and darker and the bill is shorter and wider. 



Hob. Eastern Siberia from Kamchatka to Dauria, Mongolia, 

 and China ; the higher ranges of the Himalayas from 

 Afghanistan and Kashmir to Sikkim ; wintering at the foot of 

 the Himalayas, in Burma, and the Malay peninsula. 



In its general habits it much resembles M. grisola, frequent- 

 ing groves and the forest where conifers and deciduous trees 

 are intermingled. Its song is melodious and prolonged, and is 

 uttered from the top of a tree. It breeds in June in Siberia, 

 and in the Himalayas to an altitude of 13,000 feet, and places 

 its nest on the small branches or near the trunk of a tree at an 

 altitude of from 5 to 20 feet. The nest is bulky for the size of 

 the bird, constructed of grass, rootlets, plant-stems, and moss, 

 lined with fine moss and roots. The eggs, from 3 to 5 in 

 number, resemble those of M. grisola, but the markings are 

 smaller and they are smaller in size, measuring about 0*65 

 by 0-47. 



ALSEONAX, Cabanis, 1850. 



376. BROWN FLYCATCHER. 



ALSEONAX LATIROSTRIS. 



Alseonax latirostris (Raffles), Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 312 ; Sharpe, 

 Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 127 ; Gates, F. Brit." Ind. Birds, ii. p. 35 ; 

 (Tacz.) F. 0. Sib. 0. p. 467 ; Hume and Henders. Lah. to Yark. 

 p. 185, pi. v. ; Jfuscicapa ci)ler^o-alba, Temm. and Schlegel, Faun. 

 Jap. Aves, p. 42, pi. 15. 



Kosamebitaki, Jap. ; Zakki, Hindu. 



ad. (India). Upper parts dull ashy brown, the feathers on the 

 crown with somewhat darker centres ; wings and tail dark brown, the 

 secondaries and coverts with ashy white margins ; outer tail-feathers with 

 narrow whitish tips ; a white ring round the eye ; lores whitish ; under 

 parts white, washed with pale brownish ash on the breast and flanks ; bill 

 short and broad, black, the base of the lower mandible yellow ; legs black ; 

 iris brown. Culmen 0*45, wing 2*8, tail T95, tarsus 0*5 inch. Sexes 

 alike. The young have the upper parts spotted with fulvous, the crown 

 blackish, streaked with fulvous, and the under parts mottled with brown. 

 It can easily be distinguished from M. grisola, for besides being less 

 streaked and spotted, and having a very short broad bill, it has the second 

 quill shorter than the fifth, whereas in M. grisola it is longer. 



Hob. Eastern Siberia, Japan, Corea, China, the Himalayas; 

 wintering throughout India, in Burma, the Malay peninsula, 



