MUSCICAPA LATHAMII, Vigors. 

 Latham's Fly-catcher. 



PLATE VIII.— Fig. L 



M. nigrescenti-grisea, pectore abdomineque purpureo-roseis, macula frontali crissoque 

 albis. 



Muscicapa Lathami, Zool. Joum. vol. i. p. 410. pi. 13. 



A he length is four inches and three quarters : the bill is deep brownish- 

 black, and has the base surrounded with numerous very fine bristles ; a few 

 possessing a greater degree of strength spring from each side of the rictus. 

 On the forehead there is a spot of white, as in most of the true fly-catchers ; 

 the whole of the upper parts, the throat, and upper part of the breast, dark 

 greyish-black, ending on the breast in the shape of a crescent ; the wings and 

 tail are blackish-brown, palest on the inner webs ; the outer edges of the tail- 

 feathers are blackish-grey, and the tips are acuminated, as if the shafts 

 proceeded beyond the extremities of the webs ; the breast, belly, and vent, 

 are lake-red, with a considerable mixture of crimson-red, growing paler as it 

 approaches the vent ; the under tail-coverts are white ; the legs, feet, and 

 claws, are brownish-red. 



We have had this species many years in our collections ; but it remained 

 unnoticed, until lately described by Mr Vigors in the Zoological Journal. 

 It appears to have been confounded with Muscicapa eryihrogastra, which it 

 it resembles in the general colour and markings of the plumage, and in the 

 occasional variety to which it is [subject ; but may at once be distinguished 

 from it, by its size, by the different colour of the breast, from the deeper 

 black of the upper parts, and from the smaller proportion of white on the 

 wings and tail. The female appears yet to be unknown, at least no authen- 

 ticated specimen of it has hitherto reached this country. In many speci- 

 mens, the plumage is much duller than that now described ; but this may 

 belong to young birds, or such as were immature. 



The specimen from which the accompanying drawing and description 

 were taken, is now in the collection of the Zoological Society of London. 



(8) 



