ALSEONAXMUSCICAPA 253 



Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Philippines, and is said to 

 breed even in Ceylon. 



In general habits and in its food it resembles M. grisola, and 

 frequents groves and woods, chiefly those of non-evergreen 

 trees. Its song is agreeable arid melodious, and is usually 

 uttered from an exposed position. Its nest is constructed of 

 fine grass-bents or plant-stems, moss, and externally garnished 

 with lichens and small pieces of bark, and carefully lined and 

 neatly constructed, being easily distinguishable from that of 

 H. sibirica. It is usually placed on the branch of a tree near 

 the trunk, or on the bole of a willow. The eggs, 4 to 5 in 

 number, are white with a faint greyish olivaceous tinge,, 

 unspotted, and measure about 0*66 by 0'5. 



MUSCICA'PA, Briss., 1760. 

 377. SPOTTED FLYCATCHEH. 

 MUSCICAPA GRISOLA. 



Muscicapa grisola, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 328 (1766) ; Naum. ii. 

 p. 216, Taf. 64, fig. 1 ; Hewitson, i. p. 74, pi. xxi. fig. 1 ; 

 Gould, B. of E. ii. pi. 65 ; id. B. of Gt. Brit. ii. pi. 19 ; Newton, 

 i. p. 220 ; Dresser, iii. p. 447, pi. 156 ; Gates, F. Brit. Ind. 

 Birds, ii. p. 4 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iv. p. 151 ; Saunders, 

 p. 157 ; Lilford, ii. p. 83, pi. 39. 



Gobe-mouche gris, French ; Taralhao, Portug. ; Papa-moscas, 

 Span. ; Piglia-mosche, Ital. ; Graue Fliegenf anger, Germ. ; 

 Vliegenvangw, Dutch ; Graa Fluesnapper, Dan. and Norweg. ; 

 Grd Flugsnappare, Swed. ; Harmaa-karpcissieppaaja, Finn. ; 

 Sctraya Mycholovka, PienJca, Russ. 



ad. (England). Upper parts hair-brown, the feathers on the crown 

 with dark centres ; wings and tail darker, the inner secondaries margined 

 with pale brown ; under parts white, the breast washed with light brown ; 

 sides of the throat, breast, and flanks sparingly streaked with hair-brown ; 

 flanks tinged with yellowish buff ; beak dark brown ; legs blackish ; iris 

 hazel-brown. Culmen 0'52, wing 3*35, tail 2 '5, tarsus 6'6 inch. Sexes 

 alike. The young birds are profusely spotted with buffy white, the larger 

 wing-coverts are broadly tipped with buff ; under parts white, marked on 

 the breast and throat with brown. 



Hob. Europe generally, as far north as Lapland ; Asia as far 

 east as the valley of the Irkut, and rarely to Dauria, and in the 

 Himalayas to Simla ; wintering in the plains of India, and in 

 Africa as far south as the Cape Colony. 



