LEADEN FLYCATCHER. 
the base and becoming paler on the outer edges, especially towards the tips, with 
obsolete cross-bars ; the feathers in front and behind the eye somewhat darker 
than the top of the head . chin and throat pale cinnamon-rufous becoming deeper 
in colour and inclining to pale chestnut on the fore-neck and breast ; abdomen 
and under tail-coverts dull white ; thighs grey ; axillaries, under wing-coverts, 
and inner edges of the quills below buffy- white ; under-surface of flight-quills hair- 
brown ; lower aspect of tail also hair-brown ; with pale shafts to some of the feathers. 
Bill and feet black ; eyes dusky. Total length 150 mm. ; culmen 11, wing 81, tail 
72, tarsus 16. Figured. (Middle fig.) Collected at Kiama, New South Wales, in 
October 1909. 
Adult female. Crown of head, nape, and hind-neck, pale slate-blue ; back, wings, and tail 
dark brown tinged with slate-blue more strongly on the back, and upper tail- 
coverts ; outer edges of median and greater upper wing-coverts and some of the 
flight-quills greyish-white ; inner margins of flight-quills dull white ; tail-feathers 
dark brown with whitish edges at the tips and along the outer web of the outermost 
feather on each side ; rictal bristles black, and directed forward ; the short feathers 
round the eye whitish ; hinder face darker than the top of the head and inclining 
to blackish ; chin white ; throat and breast cinnamon-rufous ; abdomen, thighs, 
under tail-coverts, axillaries, under wing-coverts, and inner margins of the quills 
below dull white ; under-surface of quills and lower aspect of tail hair-brown. Wing 
73 mm. Figured. (Lower fig.) Collected at Derby, North-west Australia, on the 
12th of September, 1886. 
Immature. Rather like the adult female. 
Nest. Cup-shaped. Composed of fine bark, held together with cobweb ; with small pieces 
of bark and lichen on the outside Lined with fine rootlets. Outside measurements 
2f-3 inches by If deep. Inside If by § deep. 
Eggs. Clutch, three. White with a zone of brown and lavender blots round the larger 
end. 16-17 mm. by 14-15. 
Breeding-season. October to January. 
The examination of the Watling paintings enabled Latham to describe this 
species which, on account of its broad bill, he allotted to the genus Todus. 
About the same time the French explorers collected a series of these broad- 
billed birds, and when Vieillot examined them he referred them to the genus 
PlatyrhyncTios, and the present species he included, using the same Specific 
name as Latham had introduced, viz., rubecula , a reference to the breast 
coloration. 
Vigors and Horsfield did not recognise either of the preceding, but at 
once instituted a new genus for the ^Australian forms, and described three 
species, but the last has since been transferred and the other two prove to be 
synonymous. 
Gould described as a distinct species a form from Port Essington, which 
will be discussed in detail later as regards its scientific aspect. Of the bird 
he called Myiagra plumbed, he wrote : “ A summer visitant to New South 
Wales, where it takes up its abode on high trees bordering creeks and low 
valleys, and captures its insect food under the shady branches, the Myiagra 
plumbed is mostly seen in pairs, which are rather thinly dispersed over the 
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