THE BROWN FLYCATCHER. 
277 
Genus ALSEONAX, Cahanis. 
262. ALSEONAX LATIROSTRIS, 
THE BROWN FLYCATCHER. 
Muscicapa latirostris, Rafles, Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 312. Butalis terricolor, 
Bl. J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 120. Muscicapa cinereo-alba, Temrn. 8f Schl. Faun. 
Jap., Aves, p. 42, pi. 15. Alseonax latirostris, Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 459 ; Hume 
Sf Benders. Lali. to Yark. p. 185, pi. v. ; Hume, S. F. ii. p. 219 ; Salvad. Ucc. 
Born. p. 129 ; Broohs, S. F. iii. p. 276, iv. p. 273, v. p. 470 ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds 
B. Mus. iv. p. 127 ; Scully, S. F. viii. p. 276 ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 415 ; 
Hume, S. F. viii. p. 92 ; Brooks, S. F. ix. p. 225. Alseonax terricolor, Jerd. 
B. Ind. i. p. 460 ; Brooks, S. F. iii. p. 234. Butalis latirostris, Bl. B. Burm. 
p. 104 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 123. 
Description. — Male and female. Upper plumage ashy brown_, the feathers 
of the crown darker at the centres ; tail dark brown_, the outer feathers very 
narrowly tipped whitish ; wings and coverts dark brown_, all but the 
primaries broadly edged with rusty white; lores and a ring of feathers 
round the eye white; sides of the head brown^ like the back; lower 
plumage white, tinged with ashy on the breast and sides of the body. 
Immature birds are strongly tinged all over with rufous. 
Young birds have broad fulvous margins to all the feathers of the upper 
plumage and elongated spots on the head. 
Bill black, the base of the lower mandible yellow ; mouth orange ; iris 
brown ; legs and claws black. An immature bird had the whole lower 
mandible fleshy yellow except the tip, which was dusky. 
Length 5*2 inches, tail 2, wing 2*85, tarsus "5, bill from gape '7. 
The Brown Flycatcher is a winter visitor to Burmah. Some birds would 
appear, however, to stay in Pegu all the year round or to nest close by ; 
for I shot an adult at Kyeikpadein on the 21st July and a quite young 
bird on the 30th of the same month, and they become quite common after 
the 24th of September. 
It is abundant in the southern half of Pegu, and probably also in the 
northern portion, although I have not observed it there. Capt. Wardlaw 
Ramsay shot it at Tonghoo. Mr. Blyth received it from Arrakan, where it 
is no doubt very common. Mr. Davison states that he observed it only in 
the southern half of Tenasserim. As this bird has a very large range, it is 
just as likely to occur in the northern half as in the southern, and was 
probably overlooked by Mr. Davison. 
Out of Burmah it extends down the Malay peninsula to the archipelago ; 
and it is found spread over India and China in winter and in Northern 
Asia in summer. 
This Flycatcher and the two preceding are much alike in habits. They 
station themselves on an elevated perch and sit still till some passing insect 
attracts their notice, when they immediately launch out and catch it. They 
are all remarkably silent. 
