STOPAEOLA SOEDIDA. 
(THE CEYLONESE BLUE FLYCATCHER.) 
(Peculiar to Ceylon.) 
Stoparola melanops (nec V.), Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 123 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. 
Nat. Hist. 1854, xiii. p. 127. 
Niltava ceylonensis. Gray, Hand>l. B. i. p. 326. no. 4897 (1869). 
Glaucomyias sordida, Wald. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1870, v. p. 218. 
Eumyias sordida, Sharpe, Tr. Linn. Soc. new series, i. p. 326 ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 441 , 
Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 18 ; Hume, Stray Feath. 1875, p. 401. 
Stoparola sordida, Sharpe, Cat. B. iv. p. 440 (1879). 
The Bluish Flycatcher, Kelaart. 
Supri sordide viridi-einerasceiis : tectricibus alarum minimis dorso concoloribus, medianis majonbusque cum remigibus 
rectrieibusque t'uscis, dorsi eolore marginatis : fronte et supercilio antico laete eyaneis : loris et plamis suboculanbus 
nigris : facie lateral! et corpora subtus toto viridi-cinerascentibus : abdomine imo et subcaudalibus albicantibus 
macula ad basin mandibulas et mento summo nigris : gula cyaneo lavata ; tibiis cinerascenti-brunneis. 
Adult male and female. Length 5-8 to 6-2 inches; wing 2-85 to 3-1 ; tail 2-3 to 2-6; tarsus 0-7 to 0-8 ; mid toe and 
claw 0’65 to 0’7 ; bill to gape 0'67 to 0'75. , , . . , 
Iris varying from reddish brown to brown ; bill black ; legs and feet dark plumbeous, the feet sometimes blackish, 
much darker than tarsus ; claws black. 
Head hind neck, back, and wings sombre verditer-blue ; the edge of the forehead and an ill-dehued superciliaiy stripe 
iLzuline blue; chin washed with the same; lores and extreme point of chin black; wings and tail blackish 
brown, ed>^od with the blue of the back, the latter mostly towards the base; throat and chest bluish cinereous, 
blending with the brighter blue of the chin and paling on the breast, the lower part of which, with the under tai - 
coverts, is white. The amount of white on the lower parts and depth of blue of the upper surface vary, being 
perhaps dependent on age. In some examples the under tail-coverts alone are unsullied ‘® greps i 
bases of the rump-feathers show in imperfeetly-plumaged birds, imparting a pale appearance to that par . 
rouw. Iris brown ; legs and feet duskier than in the adult. In the first plumage the head, back and wiiig-coverts 
are brown, each feather with a fulvous centre, edged off with blackish ; feathers of the chin and forehead en ire y 
fulvous ; throat and breast fulvescent grey, with dark edges. This dress is doffed a few months after fledging, 
and specimens in the mixed blue and spotted plumage to be met with in August and September have a curious 
appearance. 
Obs. This species was identified by Layard as Stoparola melanops, the Himalayan representative of our bird,^but wliich 
is a bright verditer-blue instead of the dull colour characteristic of the latter Gray, in drawung up his and- is 
of the Birds in the British Museum,’ evidently distinguished the two birds from one another, for he gave he 
Ceylonese form the name of Stoparola ceyloneneis ; but as he inserted this name in his list with a fin®U 
species being new, and gave no description, it is not accepted. It was not until 1870 that the 
who states that ho received four specimens from Ceylon, bestowed the present tirie on i 
more nearly allied to the South-Indian S. albicaudata than to the above mentioned H' y , A 
Nilghiri bird has the head, back, hind and fore neck a dull iudigo-blue, the forehead 
, , v ^ ^ - 4 . 1 . j-u nflie bluish ; bases of all but the central tail-ieathers white, but 
and tail brown, edged with blue; the underparts “ i , eollection measui-es 3-1 in 
they are quite concealed by these latter, w^hich overlie them . an e p -n -r n- Qiiri i 
the wing melanops is a larger bAd; examples which I have examined from Darjiling, Murree, and Aepal 
measure from 3-3 to 3-45 in the wing. 
Distribution.-This Flycatcher is entirely a hill-bird, inhabiting both the Kandyan and the southern 
mountains down to an elevation of somewhat under 2000 feet. It is not common at the Horton plains, 
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