AETAMUS FUSCUS. 667 



Murasing Chatterer, Brown-coloured Swallow, Latham ; Ash-coloured Swallow-Shrike, The 

 Ashy Swalloiv-Shrike, Jerclon. Murasing, Mussulnien in Bengal ; Tari dbdbil, Hind, in 

 South, lit. "Palmyra-Swallow;" Talchatak, Bengal., and Tati pitta, Telugu, likewise 

 "Palmyra-Swallow; Silliangchi pho, Lepchas. 



Madam Poru, Tamils in Ceylon. 



Adult male and female. Length 7 - l to 7 - 4 inches ; wing 5 - l to 5 - 3, expanse 15'0 ; tail 2-2 to 2 - 3 ; tarsus - 65 to 075 : 



middle toe and claw 0*75 ; bill to gape 1-0. 

 Iris dark brown (paler or reddish brown in the female) ; bill milky blue, with the tips of both mandibles blackish ; legs 



and feet dusky bluish, claws dark plumbeous. 



Females have, as far as my observations go, the base of the mouth yellow, while the male has the inside entirely black. 



Head and hind neck soft slate-grey, changing into reddish cinereous on the back, scapulars, and rump, and passing 

 round to the throat and fore neck, which are slightly dusky ; lores and round the base of both mandibles blackish ; 

 upper tail-coverts whitish, the terminal portion only showing beneath the rump-feathers ; wings and tail dark cine- 

 reous blue, the secondaries and shorter primai-ies with a fine terminal light edging ; tail broadly tipped with whitish, 

 the central rectrices with pale tips only ; beneath, from the chest, dove-grey, tinged with rufescent, and paling to 

 white on the under tail-coverts, which are crossed with narrow, wavy, grey bars. 



The moulting-season commences about July in the southern districts, and birds in new feather are in the plumage 

 above described. When the tips of the feathers wear off, the upper surface has a reddish-brown or rusty 

 appearance, and the under surface becomes a sullied creamy white ; the tail-feathers almost entirely lose their 

 white tips, as do also the upper tail-coverts. 



Young. In yearling plumage the young are dull earthy brown on the head and back, the feathers faintly margined 

 with a paler colour. Secondaries and inner primaries hroadly tipped with white ; throat duskier than in the adult, 

 blending gradually into the hue of the breast, which is ruddier than in the adult. 



Obs. Examples in the national collection from Nepal and Behar measure 5-2 and 5-3 inches in the wing; two from 

 Madras 5 - 15 and 4 - 95 ; several others, locality not indicated, 5-0, 5-2, and 5-3 — showing that, on the whole, they 

 average about the size of our birds. As a rule, these examples are slightly redder beneath than the Ceylon race, 

 and there does not seem to exist in them that faint trace of obsolete barring which is observable in some Ceylonese 

 specimens ; in a larger series, however, this unimportant character might be revealed. Artamus leucorhynchus, 

 Linn., now united to the Australian A. leucopygialis, Gould, was, it appears, formerly confounded with this species, 

 and appears in Kelaart's ' Catalogue of Ceylon Birds,' on what authority we know not. It inhabits the Andaman 

 Islands, the Philippines, Java, Borneo, Sumatra, and other islands of the Malay Archipelago, as well as Australia, 

 and is a very distinct species from the present ; the head and neck are bluish slate, and the back and wings 

 chocolate-brown ; the under surface from the throat downwards, together with a broad band across the rump, pure 

 white; tail blackish. A Labuan example measures in the wing 5 - 5 inches, tail 2 - 6, bill to gape 1*1 ; Andaman 

 specimens, according to Mr. Hume, average smaller than others ; but the Marquis of Tweeddale did not consider 

 them specifically separable. The size of wing given in ' Stray Feathers,' 1874, p. 214, for Andaman birds, is 5-0 

 to 5-25 inches. 



The Indian bird is more closely allied to A.personatus, Gould, from Australia. This latter has the ear-coverts, as well 

 as the lores, black ; the chin and upper part of the throat blackish slate, not coming down so far on the fore neck 

 as the dark hues in A. fuscus ; breast and flank reddish ashy, paling into white on the vent and under tail- 

 coverts ; back greyer than in our bird, with no white bar across the tail-coverts ; tail grey, tipped with white. 

 It differs in many more particulars, but has a general resemblance to our bird. 



This interesting genus is mainly developed in Australia, eight species being represented in Mr. Eamsay's recent list of 

 Australian birds (Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales), and thirteen inhabiting the entire Australian region. 



Distribution. — The Wood-" Swallow " is widely distributed throughout all the low country, inhabiting 

 most numerously open lands and the borders of lagoons in the maritime districts, especially along the east 

 coast, and down the west side as far as Negombo. Further south, where these open tracts disappear (except 

 at Panadure, where it is again numerous), it is chiefly found in the interior, being very common even in the 

 wooded districts of Saffragam. In the northern forest tract it chiefly frequents the open lands round the 



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