426 SIPHIA EUBECULOIDES. 



of the island, although I shot many examples of the foregoing on the chance of their proving to be the present 

 species. It is evidently a rare bird. Mr. Holdsworth mentions having seen examples in Lord Tweeddale's 

 collection which were collected, I believe, by Mr. Chapman ; but besides these, Layard's and my own specimens 

 are in all probability the only ones procured in the island. If I am right in my identification of the young of 

 this bird alluded to in the above " description," it is a remarkable fact that it should breed as a visitor to 

 Ceylon, and at such a time of the year. 



Its chief home appears to be the sub-Himalayan region, whence it migrates to the plains of India in the 

 cool season. In Burmah, however, and likewise in Tenasserim (if the bird inhabiting the latter province 

 really be this species) it appears to be resident. Mr. Oates says, as regards Pegu, " this species is common all 

 over the hills, and I have lately received it from Arraean." Blyth remarks that it is not rare in the vicinity of 

 Calcutta during the cold weather. Mr. Brooks says it is common in the lower parts of the valley of the 

 Bhagirati river above Mussoori in May ; and Captain Hutton writes, in the ' Journal of the Asiatic Society of 

 Bengal ' for 1848, that it arrives there in April to breed, from which it appears that it is not resident in all 



This gentleman was devoted to the study of natural history, and collected many birds, particularly in the Batnapura 

 district, in which he is said to have procured the present species. It is not improbable that the drawing was a faithful 

 one, and that Layard rightly identified the species which it was intended to represent ; but, on the whole, I do not 

 consider the testimony quite sufficient to warrant my giving it a well-established position in the Ceylonese avifauna, and 

 I therefore include it as a doubtful species in my list. Mr. Mitford asserts that it was migratory, appearing in June : in 

 this he doubtless was mistaken, as no South-Indian species migrates to Ceylon at that season of the year ; and were it 

 merely a local migrant to that district from other parts, it would have been observed elsewhere in the island. No 

 evidence, however, other than the above is forthcoming of this Flycatcher ever having been procured or seen in Ceylon : 

 and it is a bird which it would be impossible to overlook, on account of its remarkable colouring. 



The haunts of this species are the ranges of mountains in the south of the peninsula. Jerdon, who named and 

 discovered it, writes of it, " This prettil v-plumaged bird I have only met with on the summit of the Nilghiris, in the dense 

 woods of which it may occasionally be seen ;" he also states that it has been found on the highest mountains of Ceylon. 

 This is a reference to Mr. Mitford's supposed discovery; but the Batnapura district lies at the foot of Adam's Peak. 

 Recently Mr. Bourdillon observed it in the Travancore hills, remarking that it frequents " dense wood-thickets, from 

 2500 feet elevation upwards ; " and Dr. Fairbank likewise met with it " iu groves at the top of the Palanis, as well as at 

 Shemiganur, 5500 feet elevation." 



Habits. — Jerdon writes concerning this Flycatcher, "It frequents the dense woods, preferring the most retired shady 

 and damp swampy spots. Here it may be seen seated motionless on the low branch of a tree or a fallen stump, or some 

 thick tangled dead branches, every now and then making a short swoop at an insect in the air, or descending to the 

 ground for a second to pick one up. It is a very silent bird, and I never heard its note." Dr. Fairbank, who found it 

 affecting similar situations, says, " It is difficult to see this little bird in the dense thickets it inhabits at a distance 

 sufficient to shoot it without tearing it to bits." With regard to its habits in Ceylon, I am only able to quote Layard's 

 notes, in which he says that Mr. Mitford found it feeding much on spiders, which is a singular practice for a Flycatcher. 



Nidification. — In the Nilghiris this Flycatcher breeds at elevations of 5000 to 7000 feet, and lays from March 

 until May. The nest is an extraordinary structure, being of a large globular form, made of dry sedge-flags and very 

 coarse marsh-grass on a foundation of dead leaves. It is usually built at a height of 1 to 3 feet from the ground, and some- 

 times actually on the ground, as recorded by Mr. Darling in Hume's ' Nests and Eggs.' This gentleman writes:—" The 

 nest is globular, higher than it is wide, with a small entrance-hole at one side, below which the nest is a little drawn in, 

 and above which the dome projects somewhat. The foundation of the nest is almost always composed of dry leaves or 

 tern, and the rest of it is woven of reed-leaves and flags ; there is no lining, the eggs resting on the soft reed-leaves ; it 

 is exteriorly about G or 7 inches high and 4 broad, and the diameter of the central spherical cavity is about 3 inches." 

 The experience of Mr. Davison is similar ; a nest he found was made of the dry leaves of a kind of reed common on the 

 Nilghiris. The eggs are two or three in number, of a pale brownish salmon-colour, indistinctly mottled with a darker 

 colour, the markings coalescing to form a zone or cap at the larger end ; some are pale greyish white, thickly 

 and very finely speckled all over with very faint brownish red, forming a pale brownish-red cap. They measure 

 <»-7 by 0-53 inch. 



