TSE JAVAN PANTAIL FLYCATCHEE 
R kip (dura javanha {Spamn.) 
Malay name : — Murai gila. 
Description : — This flycatcher l;as the upper parts all very- 
dark brown or sooty black but with a broad white end to most 
of the tail feathers. The underparts are white except for a 
broad black band across the chest. 
The i rides are brown, bill and legs black. 
Length about S inches, wing usually just over 3 inches* 
Young birds have rufous markings on the dark parts of 
the plumage. 
Distribution: — This flycatcher is common throughout the 
whole of the Malaysian area. 
Status in Singapore: — common garden bird but also 
found, usually in pairs, m other parts of the island, in the 
woodlands and manijrove alike, ft appears to be especially 
numerous in the coastal gardens in the vicinity of Beting Kusa 
and Tanah Me rah and also near Changi. 
field Notes -.—Thh active little bird well deserves its 
Malay name of ''murai-gila" — or '*mad thrush'* purely on ac- 
count of its erratic actions. In the field it may be identified by 
its jerky, dancing movements* the shuffling of its wings and 
the continual jerking and spreading fanwise of its long tail. 
Other habits :^T[iQ small insects which compose the food 
of this bird are captured on the wing. 
The bird has a pleasing little song. 
The nest is extremely well made, a tiny, well knit and 
compact cup usually placed in a horizontal brancli. The only 
one we have seen was found in mangrove and was cup-shaped. 
Mr, Stuart Baker writes, *'tbe nest is cone-shaped with a tail 
pendent below it and may be placed either on a small branch 
or from a small bamboo-twig in open tountry, gardens, or 
compounds'*. 
[171] 
