ALSEONAX MUTTUI. 



(THE RUSTY FLYCATCHER.) 

 (Peculiar to Ceylon.) 



Butalis muttui, Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiii. p. 127 ; Leg^e, Ibis, 1878, p. 203. 



Alseonax ferrugineus, Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 460, in part (1862). 



Alseonax terricolor (nee Hodgs.), Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 441 ; Layard, P. Z. S. 1873, 



p. 204; Legge, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 366. 

 Alseonax flavipes, Legge, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 367. 

 Alseonax muttui, Sharpe, Cat. B. iv. p. 132 (1879). 



Supra briumeus, pileo saturatiore, supraeaudalibus magis rufescentibus : tectricibus alarum ininiruis et medianis dorso 

 concoloribus, majoribus brunneis, fulvescenti-rufo marginatis : tectricibus primariorum priinariisque brunneis, 

 secundariis f ulvescenti-rufo marginatis : rectricibus brunneis, pallidiore brunneo limbatis : loris et annulo oph- 

 thalmico albidis : regione parotiea brunnea : gntture albo : genis cum pectore et corporis lateribus pallide brunneis 

 fulvescenti lavato : pectore medio et abdomine pure albis : subcaudalibus fulvescenti-albidis : subalaribus et axilla- 

 ribus eervinis : remigibus infra brunneis, infcus cervino marginatis : rostro nigricanti-brunneo, mandibula flavicante 

 ad apicem brunnea : pedibus pallide flavis : iride rufescenti-brunnea. 



Adult male and female. Length 5 - 3 to 5 - 5 inches ; wing 2-7 to 2-9 ; tail 2-1 to 2"2 ; tarsus 055 ; mid toe and claw 

 0'57 ; bill to gape - 7 to 0*75. The legs and feet are exceedingly delicate in this species. 



Iris hazel-brown ; bill, upper mandible dark brown with pale tip, under mandible fleshy yellow ; legs and feet pale 

 yellow ; eyelid dark plumbeous. In one female the tip of the upper mandible is pale. 



Lores, orbital fringe, and a spot beneath the gape whitish ; head and upper part of hind neck dark olive-brown, 

 changing into rusty olivaceous on the back, which deepens to ferruginous on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; 

 wings dark brown, the primaries with a fine pale edging, and the coverts and tertials conspicuously edged with 

 yellowish ferruginous ; tail slightly lighter brown than the wings, margined with rufous-brown ; chin and throat 

 white, bounded on each side by a dark cheek-patch ; chest brownish, the feathers margined with fulvous ; breast 

 and under tail-coverts white, flanks light yellowish brown ; wing-lining brownish, paling off into fulvous. 



06s. This Flycatcher was united by Mr. Holdsworth, in his ' Catalogue,' with Alseonax terricolor, Hodgson ; but this 

 species is identical with the last. There is no doubt that Layard's bird was the same as the subject of the present 

 article ; he makes, it is true, no mention of the yellow legs and feet which are so characteristic of it; but his 

 description, though somewhat scanty, is sufficient to preclude my keeping my specimens as distinct under the title 

 of A.flavijpes. He writes as follows : — " General resemblance of B. latirostris, but of a far more rufous colour ; 

 this colour most prevalent on the outer webs of the wing-primaries, the outer tail-coverts, and the sides of the 

 breast and belly ; throat, belly, and vent whitish ; breast rufous ashy ; back of the head dark brown. Length 

 5-0 inches, wing 3-0." This is, I think, near enough to identify his bird with the specimens I have procured in 

 the island. 



Cyornis mandellii (Hume, Str. Feath. 1874, p. 510) turns out to be a very closely allied representative of this species, 

 inhabiting Sikhim and the hill-region of Southern India. Since this article was penned, the British Museum has 

 acquired a specimen of this species from the collection sent home lately by Mr. Hume. It was labelled, in error, 

 as a female Cyornis magnirostris, but it corresponded with Mr. Hume's description of C. mandellii. On Mr. Sharpe 

 and myself comparing it with the Ceylon bird, it proved to be closely allied to it, and a member of the genus 

 Alseonax, having the pale lower mandible which does not exist in Cyornis, and likewise the wing-formula of the 

 first-named genus. It is almost identical on the upper surface with the insular bird, the head being only slightly 

 darker ; but the under surface is very much darker, the flanks are much browner, aud the whole breast instead 

 of being white is tawny brown, the vent and under tail-coverts only being white ; the chest is much browner than 

 in A. muttui, and the white throat-patch smaller. In Mr. Hume's original description he says, " the breast, 

 sides, and flanks are pale brown." The dimensions of this specimen are— wing 3-0 inches, tail 2-5 ; the legs are 

 in the dried skin dusky yellow, and they are more robust than those of the insular form. Alseonax ferrugineus, 

 now placed by Mr. Sharpe in the genus Hemiclielidon, is in its coloration not far distant from these two species : 



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