THE SOOTY FLYCATCHEE. 
275 
Genus HEMICHELIDON, Hodgs, 
260. HEMICHELIDON SIBIRICA. 
THE SOOTY FLYCATCHEH. 
Muscicapa sibirica, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 936. Hemichelidon fuliginosa, Hodys. 
P. Z. 8. 1845, p. 32 ; Hume Sf Senders. Lah. to Yark. p. 184, pi. iv. ; Jerd. B. 
Ind. i. p. 458. Hemichelidon sibirica, Hume, Nests and Eyys, p. 206 ; 
id. 8. F. iii. p. 104 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 122 Hume, 8. F. viii. 
p. 92 5 81iarpe, Cat. Birds B. Mus. iv. p. 120. Butalis sibiricus, Bl. B. Burm 
p. 104. 
Description. — Male and female. Upper plumage brown^ the feathers of 
the head with darker centres_, and those of the wings more or less edged 
paler ; tail plain brown ; a ring of feathers round the eye white ; lores 
mixed white and brown ; sides of the face like the back ; chin^ throaty 
breast and sides of the body smoky brown dashed with grey in places; 
an indistinct white patch on the lower throat ; abdomen^ vent and under 
tail-coverts white^ the latter mixed with brown. After the autumn moult 
the margins to the wing-feathers are broader and more rufous. 
The young are spotted with fulvous or fulvous-white above_, and the 
margins to the wing-feathers are very broad ; the upper wing-coverts are 
very broadly tipped with reddish brown. 
Upper mandible dark brown, lower mandible yellowish ; iris brown j 
legs brownish black. 
Length 4'6 inches, tail 2, wing 2*8^ tarsus '5, bill from gape 'oS. 
■ The Sooty Flycatcher is spread over the whole of Burmah, but is a rare 
winter visitor. I procured it on the Pegu hills near the frontier, and Dr. 
Armstrong got it at Elephant Point, but found it rare. Capt. Wardlaw 
Ramsay mentions his getting a young bird on the Tonghoo hills in 
December, and Mr. Davison states that it is everywhere scarce in 
Tenasserim. 
It extends down the Malay peninsula, and is also found in China and 
Eastern Siberia. It ranges through the Indo-Burmese countries, and 
occurs pretty nearly over the whole peninsula of India, nesting in the 
Himalayas. 
The Sooty Flycatcher makes a nest of moss against the side of a tree- 
trunk or on the broken end of a branch, and lays three eggs, which are 
dull green marked with reddish brown. 
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