1843.] Mr. BlytKs Report for December Meeting, 1842. 939 



slight admixture of the same here and there upon the back and espe- 

 cially on the scapularies. The specimen is a male, and I conceive it 

 to exhibit merely the thoroughly mature dress of its species. Of 

 several examples before me in ordinary attire, both adult and young, 

 not any present a decided admixture of green on the plumage, and 

 one only (a young bird from Tenasserim) has the wings rusty-sangui- 

 neous, others exhibiting more or less trace of the same, chiefly on the 

 interior of the feathers, the rest being dingy greyish. I also observe 

 that in the golden-winged species of the genus Garrulax (v. Crate- 

 ropusj, as G. chrysopterus, offinis, &c, the analogous yellow colour 

 is similarly convertible to dull greyish, which occasionally margins 

 the feathers, concealing the brighter tint within. 



Muscicapula, Nobis, n. g. The members of this group are nearly 

 allied to Bimorpha (olim Siphya,) Hodgson, Ind. Rev. 1839, p. 651, 

 from which they are chiefly distinguished by their small size and 

 feeble legs and toes, the latter approaching them nearer to the Fly- 

 catchers. The brilliant colouring of the first allies it to restricted 

 Chaitaris (olim Niltava), Hodgson, and also to the group exemplified 

 by Phosnicura rubeculoides of Vigors and Gould, which now that I 

 have three species appertaining to it, I venture to separate from 

 Chaitaris , to which Mr. Hodgson formerly referred the rubeculoides. 

 The following four are referrible to the present division : — 



1. M. sapphira ; Muscicapa sapphira, Tickell, M. S. Length 

 five inches, of wing two inches and a half, and tail an inch and seven- 

 eighths ; bill to gape nine- sixteenths of an inch, and tarse five-eighths 

 of an inch. Colour of the upper- parts rich dark purplish- blue, 

 inclining to ultramarine on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; fore- 

 head and crown vivid smalt-blue; the lores black; fore-neck and 

 breast rich purple, with a broad median line of deep and bright fer- 

 ruginous ; flanks greyish, the belly and fore-part of the wings under- 

 neath, with the axillaries, white ; alars and tail black edged with 

 blue externally. Bill and feet black. Unlike the three following 

 species, the M. sapphira has no white at the base of its tail external- 

 ly. Procured at Darjeeling. » 



2. M. super ciliar is ; Muscicapa super ciliar is, Jerdon, Madr. JL 

 XI, 16: Dimorpha albogularis, Nobis, J. A. S. XI, 190. Himalaya, 

 and has been obtained also in Central and Southern India. 



