10 



NOTE ON MY I AGRA PLUMB E A, VIG. & HORSF. 



By W. V. Legge, Lt.,R.A., F.L.S., M.R.A.S. (Ceylon Branch.) 



[Bead 10th March, 1874.]. 



On the 18th ult. I procured a fine example of this fly-catcher 

 a few miles from Falmouth; it was affecting some partly 

 cleared land on the side of a hill near the Four-mile Creek, 

 I had noticed it the day previous in a young Eucalyptus 

 gigantea, and resorted to the spot on the following morning 

 with a view of looking for it, when I was fortunate enough 

 to find it in the same tree. On dissection it proved to be an 

 immature male attired in the dress of a female, one of the 

 peculiar characteristics of the species. 



As no previous record of the occurrence in Tasmania of 

 this fly-catcher is in the possession of the Society, it may 

 be fairly concluded that it has not been met with before in 

 the island. In his monograph of the birds of Australia, 

 Gould speaks of it as a summer visitant from the 

 north of New Holland to the colony of New South 

 Wales, arriving there in September, and remarks that 

 he did not meet with it in Van Dieinen's Land 

 or in any other of the Australian colonies. It could, however, 

 scarcely find its way into New South Wales, without passing 

 through some portion of Queensland, and in all probability 

 occurs sparingly in that colony ; furthermore as it occurs 

 on the North-East coast of Tasmania, it doubtless will 

 be found to pass through the islands of the Furneaux 

 Group on its way south, and will some day be added to the 

 list of birds frequenting that region.* 



The Plumbeous Flycatcher is a very marked Myiagra, its 

 broad bill and characteristic tail being highly typical of the 

 genus, the former organ being even broader than in most Indian 

 species that I am acquainted with. It may be well to give 

 measurements and description of this example on the occasion 

 of its taking a place in our avi-fauna. 



Its dimensions are: Length, 7 inches ; wing, 3*4; tarsus, 

 0-6 ; mid toe, 0-4, its claw, 0'17 ; bill to gape, 078 ; width at 

 base, 0'3 ; iris, brown ; bill, with the upper mandible blackish, 

 and the lower bluish, with dusky tip ; tarsi and feet, faded 

 bluish. Head, back of neck and lower back, bluish cinereous 

 with a plumbeous green gloss across the nape ; interscapular 

 region and centre of back, scapulars and wing coverts cinereous 

 brown ; quills and tail hair brown, the tertials edged light, 

 and the central pair of rectrices with brownish white shafts ; 



* Since writing the above, I learn that this bird is common in Victoria, 

 although Gould does not mention its occurrence in Port Phillip, the name 

 applied then to that colony. 



