Genus RHIPIDURA. 

 Bill compressed suddenly near the tip, culmen raised ; rictal bristles very long ; nasal bristles 

 well developed. Wings with the 1st quill about half the length of the 2nd ; 4th the longest. 

 Tail exceeding the wing, and expanding towards the tip ; lateral feathers graduated. Tarsus 

 longer than the middle toe. 



RHIPIDURA ALBIFKONTATA. 



(THE WHITE-FRONTED FANTAIL.) 



Bhvpidura albofrontata, Frankl. P. Z. S. 1831, p. 116 ; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. 



Co. i..p. 145 (1854). 

 Leueocerca albofrontata, Jerd. Madr. Journ. 1840, xi. p. 12 ; id. 111. Ind. Orn. pi. 2 (1847) ; 



Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 206 (1849) ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, i. p. 201 (1873); 



Ball, Str. Feath. 1874, p. 404. 

 Leueocerca compressirostris, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1849, xviii. p. SI 5; Kelaart, Prodromus, 



Cat. p. 123 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiii. p. 126; Jerdon, B. of 



Ind. i. p. 483 (1862). 

 Leueocerca aureola, Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 370 ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 440; Hume, Str. 



Feath. 1873, pp. 178, 436, et 1875, p. 104. 

 Ehijpidura albifrontata, Sharpe, Cat. B. iv. p. 338 (1879). 



The White-broived Fantail, Jerdon ; Fantail, Europeans in Ceylon ShamcMH, Hind, in North- 

 west ; Macharya, lit. " Mosquito-catcher," Hind, in South ; Manati, lit. " Washerman," 



Malabar. 

 Ma raw a, Sinhalese. 



Adult male and ft male. Length 6-8 to 7T inches ; wing 3 - to 3 - 25 ; tail 3 - 2 to 3-4 ; tarsus 0-7 to - 8 ; mid toe and 

 daw 0'55 ; bill to gape - 65 to 07. 



Iris brown ; bill black, pale at base beneath ; legs and feet blackish brown or black, in some wood-brown. 



Crown, nape, lores, throat, and face black, blending on the hind nape into the cinereous blackish brown of the upper 

 surface ; wings and tail brown ; forehead and a very broad band over the eye to the nape, under surface from the 

 throat down, and terminal portion of all but the centre tail-feathers pure white ; the white of the lateral rectrices 

 occupies its major portion, varying from 1-4 to 1*6 inch on the inner web, and running up the outer web to the 

 base ; wing-coverts with terminal white spots ; chin and gorge edged white, which varies much in extent, occupying 

 in some individuals the lower part of the cheeks ; quills blackish brown ; wing-lining black, edged or barred with 

 white. 



The hue of the upper plumage fades with time, and scarcely auy two specimens appear to be exactly alike ; in such 

 abraded plumage the head is blackish brown, and the back dark cinereous brown, with the wing-covert tips much 

 reilnail in size. In some specimens the white supercilium meets, though imperfectly, round the nape. 



Young (India). A specimen in nestling plumage has the eye-stripe narrower than the adult, the feathers, as well as the 

 adjacent blackish ones on the occiput, slightly tipped with rufous ; scapulars, back-feathers, tertials, and wing- 

 coverts tipped with rufous ; the white on the tail-feathers reduced ; the throat blackish, but not so dark as iu the 

 adult, and less tipped with white : under surface white, tinged with buff. 



Obs. Blyth separated the Ceylouese bird from the Indian, alleging that its bill was more compressed and that it had 

 less white on the tail. I imagine he was led to these conclusions by an examination of immature specimens, for I 



