CULICICAPA CEYLONENSIS. 



(THE GREY-HEADED FLYCATCHER.) 



Platyrhynckus ceylonensis, Swains. Zool. Illust. ser. 1, pi. 13 (1820-21). 



Cryptolopha cinereocapilla, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 205 (1849); Kelaart, Prodromus, 



Cat. p. 122 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist, 1853, xii. p. 127 ; Horsf. & Moore, 



Cat. B. Mas. E. I. Co. i. p. 147 (1854) ; Jerd. B. of Ind. i. p. 455 (1862). 

 Culicicapa cinereocapilla, Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 381. 

 Myialestes cinereocapilla, Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 441 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, i. p. 205 



(1873) ; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 18. 

 Culicicapa ceylonensis, Fairbank, Str. Featli. 1877, p. 401 ; Hume, B. of Tenass., Str. Featb. 



1878, p. 226 ; Sbarpe, Cat. Birds, iv. p. 369 (1879). 

 The Ceylonese Flatbill, Swainson ; Zird phutki, Beng. 



Adult male and female. Length 4 - 9 to 5 - 2 inches : wing 2-4 to 2 - (3 ; tail 1*9 to 2'2 ; tarsus 0*55 to 0*6 ; mid toe and 

 claw (1-45 to (i-5 ; bill to gape 055. 



Iris brown ; bill, upper mandible blackish, lower fleshy at base, with the tip dark ; legs and feet brownish yellow, 

 yellowish brown, or greyish yellow ; soles yellow, claws pale brownish. 



Lores, head, hind neck, and cheeks cinereous grey, the centres of the feathers on the head blackish slate-colour ; on the 

 bind neck the grey blends into the greenish yellow of the back, scapulars, wing-coverts, and rump, the latter being 

 more yellow than the back ; wings and tail dark brown, edged with the hue of the rump, except on the two outer 

 primaries and the lateral rectrices ; orbital fringe greyish ; throat, chest, and sides of neck pale ashy grey, blending 

 into the grey of the upper parts ; beneath, from the chest, saffron-yellow, shaded with greenish on the sides of the 

 breast and flanks ; under wing-coverts greenish yellow. 



Young. Immature birds in their first plumage almost resemble adults ; the lores are greyish, and the colouring of the 

 breast more overcast with greenish ; the wing-coverts are tipped with yellowish, and the lower parts not so yellow 

 as in the adult. 



Ohs. I have compared an extensive series of this species with Ceylonese examples, with the following results : — A 

 Cashmere, a Pegu, a West-.Tavan, and a N.W.-IIimalayan example are all slightly yellower on the back than the 

 majority of Ceylonese birds, and vary in the wing from 2-25 to 2-5, the latter measurement being that of the 

 Pegu example. Another specimen, from the N.W. Himalayas, is paler than all, and has the rump 3 r ellower and 

 the quills more conspicuously edged than in the rest of the series. A Sarawak example is an exact match with 

 those in my collection from Ceylon. It therefore appears that this species is spread over a very large geographical 

 area, with but little variation in the character of its plumage. 



Distribution. — In Ceylon the present species is essentially a hill-bird, and is, within its own limits, the 

 most abundant of its family in the island. It inhabits the Kandyan Province from the Horton Plains and the 

 tops of the highest ranges clown to a general elevation of about 1800 feet ; in the wilderness of the Peak, 

 however, I have met with it at an altitude of only 1000 feet, a little above the pretty elevated plain of Gilly- 

 mally. In the southern coffee-districts it is quite as numerous as in the Central Province, and it is also found 

 in the more elevated parts of the Kukkul Korale, as well as in the great Singha-Rajah forest. In large tracts 

 of mountain-forest, such as those covering much of the Nuwara-Elliya plateau and its great outlying spurs 

 and the upper portion of the Knuckles range, it is more abundant than in the lower-lying coffee-districts which 

 have been denuded of forest. 



Jerdon writes that the Grey-headed Flycatcher is dispersed throughout all India, from the Himalayas to 

 the Nilghiris, the only locality in the south of India where it is common being the summits of the latter hills. 

 In Central India it is occasionally met with, and is not rare in Lower Bengal. As it is so common in Ceylon 



