STOPAROLA SORDIDA. 



(THE CEYLONESE BLUE FLYCATCHER.) 

 (Peculiar to Ceylon.) 



Stoparola melanops (nee V.), Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 123 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. 



Nat. Hist. 1854, xiii. p. 127. 

 Niltava ceylonensis, Gray, Hand-1. B. i. p. 326. no. 4897 (1869). 

 Glaucomyias sordida, Wald. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1870, v. p. 218. 

 Eumyias sordida, Sharpe, Tr. Linn. Soc. new series, i. p. 326 ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 441 ; 



Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 18 ; Hume, Stray Feath. 1875, p. 401. 

 Stoparola sordida, Sharpe, Cat. B. iv. p. 440 (1879). 

 The Bluish Flycatcher, Kelaart. 



Supra sordide viridi-cinerascens : tectricibus alarum minimis dorso concoloribus, medianis niajoribusque cum remigibus 

 rectricibusque fuscis, dorsi colore marginatis : fronte et supercilio antieo laste cyaneis : loris et plumis subocularibus 

 nigris : facie laterali et corpore subtus toto viridi-cinerascentibus : abdomine imo et subcaudalibus albicautibus 

 macula ad basin mandibulas et mento summo nigris : gula cyaneo lavata : tibiis cinerascenti-brunneis. 



Adult male and female. Length 5-8 to 6-2 inches; wing 2'85 to 3 - l ; tail 2-3 to 2-5 ; tarsus - 7 to 08 ; mid toe and 

 claw 0-65 to 0-7 ; bill to gape 0-67 to 0'75. 



Iris varying from reddish brown to brown ; bill black ; legs and feet dark plumbeous, the feet sometimes blackish, 

 much darker than tarsus ; claws black. 



Head, hind neck, back, and wings sombre verditer-blue ; the edge of the forehead and an ill-defined superciliary stripe 

 lazuline blue ; chin washed with the same ; lores and extreme point of chin black ; wings and tail blackish 

 brown, edged with the blue of the back, the latter mostly towards the base ; throat and chest bluish cinereous, 

 blending with the brighter blue of the chin and paling on the breast, the lower part of which, with the under tail- 

 coverts, is white. The amount of white on the lower parts and depth of blue of the upper surface vary, being 

 perhaps dependent on age. In some examples the under tail-coverts alone are unsullied white. The greyish 

 bases of the rump-feathers show in imperfectly-plum aged birds, imparting a pale appearance to that part. 



Young. Iris brown ; legs and feet duskier than in the adult. In the first plumage the head, back, and wing-coverts 

 are brown, each feather with a fulvous centre, edged off with blackish ; feathers of the chin and forehead entirely 

 fulvous ; throat and breast f ulvescent grey, with dark edges. This dress is doffed a few months after fledging, 

 and specimens in the mixed blue and spotted plumage to be met with in August and September have a curious 

 appearance. 



Obs. This species was identified by Layard as Stoparola melanops, the Himalayan representative of our bird, but which 

 is a bright verditer-blue instead of the dull colour characteristic of the latter. Gray, in drawing up his ' Hand-list 

 of the Birds in the British Museum,' evidently distinguished the two birds from one another, for he gave the 

 Ceylonese form the name of Stoparola ceylonensis; but as he inserted this name in his list with a query as to the 

 species being new, and gave no description, it is not accepted. It was not until 1870 that the late Lord Tweeddale, 

 who states that he received four specimens from Ceylon, bestowed the present title on it. Stoparola sordida is 

 more nearly allied to the South-Indian S. albicaudata than to the above-mentioned Himalayan species ; the 

 Nilghiri bird has the head, back, hind and fore neck a dull indigo-blue, the forehead and chin hyacinth-blue ; wings 

 and tail brown, edged with blue ; the underparts pale bluish ; bases of all but the central tail-feathers white, but 

 they are quite concealed by these latter, which overlie them : an example in the national collection measures 3-1 in 

 the wing. S. melanops is a larger bird ; examples which I have examined from Darjiling, Murree, and Nepal 

 measure from 3 - 3 to 3 - 45 in the wing. 



Distribution.— -This Flycatcher is entirely a hill-bird, inhabiting both the Kandyan and the southern 

 mountains down to an elevation of somewhat under 2000 feet. It is not common at the Horton plains, 



