KHIPIDUltA ALBIFBONTATA. 413 



have not been able to verify their distinctness on comparingthe insular specimens withlndian. Someof the latter have 

 more white, perhaps, on the lateral tail-feathers than the generality of Ceylon birds, but others have less ; and as to 

 the bills, I find that three specimens from N.W. Himalayas, Gondul, and Dehra Doon, in the national collection, 

 are smaller in the bill than ours ; they vary from 055 to 0-63 from gape to tip. A North-west Province example 

 measures in the wing 3 - 35 inches, and has the white of the lateral tail-feather extending up it 1*8 inch ; one from 

 Rawul Pindi measures 2-9 in the wing, and two from Dehra Doon 3 - 15 and 3 - 2 inches respectively; and these 

 last three have the greater wing-coverts very deeply tipped with white ; but this, I think, is an individual pecu- 

 liarity. Mr. Nevill, of the Ceylon Civil Service, in a communication made to the ' Journal of the Asiatic Society,' 

 Ceylon Branch, 1867-70, p. 138, writes of seeing a Fantailed Flycatcher in theNuwara jungles, which he describes 

 (from seeing the bird on the wing, I conclude) as having the " breast broadly banded with mingled black and 

 white." It is possible, as Mr. Holdsworth suggests, that it may have been B. pectoralis, although I consider it 

 more probable that it was the young of the present species. 



An adult B. pectoralis (Godaveri valley) measures : — "Wing 2-7 inches ; tail 4 - l ; tarsus 0'75 ; bill to gape 061. 



Head and face blackish, paling into brown on the back, and into brown tinged with rusty on the rump ; supercilium 

 white ; throat white ; fore neck and sides black ; centre of the chest, breast, and lower parts buff, darkening into 

 rufescent on the abdomen and under tail-coverts ; sides of the chest blackish brown ; wings and tail pale brown, 

 the tail-feathers gradually paling towards the tips into dull whitish. 



Distribution. — The "Fantail" is chiefly an inhabitant of the dry jungle-region between the Haputale 

 mountains and the south-east coast, the eastern portion of the low country as far as the delta of the Maha- 

 welliganga and the district of Uva, including the patna-basin at the foot of the main range. In the first- 

 named tract of country, including the " Park," it is more common than elsewhere, frequenting the jungle on the 

 borders of tanks and also detached clumps of wood. From the Bintenne country it ranges up into Dumbara 

 and the valleys in the Hewahette and Maturata districts, where it is by no means rare. In Uva it is found 

 chiefly on tree-dotted patnas, and in the glens intersecting the great basin between Udu Pusselawa and 

 Haputale. It would appear that it is found occasionally on the plateau, the only evidence to this effect being 

 that of the bird seen near Nuwara Elliya by Mr. Nevill. It is rare to the west of Tangalla, but is occasionally 

 seen during the north-east monsoon in the Galle district, as I have met with it at that season at Baddegama. 

 I have never seen it in the neighbourhood of Trincomalie nor to the north of that place ; but there is no reason 

 to suppose that it does not inhabit this quarter of the island. 



Jerdon writes, " The White-browed Fantail is found all over India, except Lower Bengal, extending to 

 the foot of the Himalayas, only not towards the south-east. It is most common in Malabar and the Deccan, 

 and is not rare in the North-west Provinces and in Sindh." Concerning its north-western limit, Mr. Hume 

 says that it is common throughout the whole region, including Sindh, Mount Aboo, and Guzerat. He remarks 

 that it breeds as high up as 4000 feet on the Himalayas. Extending to the east, I find that Mr. Inglis does 

 not record it from Cachar. In Upper Pegu it appears to be not uncommon, and Blyth recorded it from Tonghoo, 

 although Messrs. Hume and Davison have not found it in Tenasserim. Mr. Fairbank met with it up to 4000 feet 

 in the Palanis. 



Habits. — This showy little bird is one of the most interesting of our Flycatchers ; it frequents little groves 

 of trees, or those standing isolated on patnas and semicultivated ground, jungle on the borders of tanks, and 

 open grassy glades, and in the Eastern Province cocoanut-topes in the vicinity of villages. It is a fearless 

 species, and when not paired for breeding is usually of solitary habit. At this time its manners are most 

 amusing ; for the male, in his endeavours to attract the attention of his consort, displays a nature much akin 

 to that of the Peacock, and seems to delight in displaying his prowess to mankind as well as to his own order. 

 He will sometimes alight on a tree close to a bystander, and proceed with a measured little pace either along 

 a horizontal trunk or up a slanting branch, with an outspreading movement of its wings and a gentle oscillation 

 to and fro of its body, combined with an expanding and contracting of its long tail, the whole reminding one 

 of the balance-step in a hornpipe ! Not less singular is its remarkably human-like whistle, uttered in an 

 ascending scale for the edification of its mate ; and when this proceeds, as it sometimes does, from a thickly 

 foliaged tree, completely hiding the performer from view, it is difficult to persuade one's self that it is made by 

 a bird. It is very active in catching its prey, and, as Jerdon remarks, does not fly far after it, but snaps it up 

 with a sudden dart. I have seen it on the ground, stalking about in the manner above described ; and 



