BROAD-BILLED FLYCATCHER. 
Mastersornis ruficollis tormenti Mathews, ib. 
Master sornis ruficollis Jcempi Mathews, ib. 
Distribution. Tropical Northern Australia. 
Adult male. General colour of the upper-surface, including the crown of the head, sides of 
face, hack, wings and tail, slate-blue darker and more glossy on top of the head ; 
outer edges of the innermost secondaries inclining to whitish ; inner webs of flight- 
quills blackish-brown with white inner margins ; tail-feathers blackish-brown 
fringed with slate-blue, the outermost feathers much paler and margined along 
the outer web with white extending round the tip on to the apical portion of the 
inner web, the white confined to the tips of the next inward pair ; eye-ring whitish, 
rictal bristles black and directed forward ; chin and throat cinnamon-rufous, 
becoming darker and inclining to pale chestnut on the breast ; abdomen, sides of 
body, under tail-coverts, axillaries, and under wing-coverts white ; thighs grey ; 
under-surface of flight-quills hair-brown margined with white on the basal portion ; 
lower aspect of tail blackish-brown with white shafts and white margins to some of 
the lateral feathers. Bill, tomium of lower and upper mandible black, remainder 
of lower and base of upper leaden-blue. Eyes brown ; feet and legs dark leaden- 
blue. Total length 151 mm. ; culmen 11, wing 71, tail 70, tarsus 18. Figured. 
Collected at Point Torment, North-west Australia, on the 21st of March, 1911. 
Adult female. Similar to the above. 
Immature. Rather like the adult. 
Nest. Cup-shaped. Composed of strips of bark, held together with a thick coating of 
spider’s web and decorated with lichen on the outside. Outside measurements 
2 inches by 2 deep. Inside If by If. 
Eggs. Clutch, two. Whitish, with a zone of brownish and lavender spots round the 
larger end. 18 mm. by 14. 
Breeding-season. January and February. 
Macgillivray has recorded : “ Found always in the mangroves at Cape York, 
where they find an abundance of insect life amongst the leaves. They usually 
place their nest on a dead twig about two feet above high-water mark over 
a channel in the mangroves. When building, one of the birds was always near 
the nest. The male would sit in some chosen position, calling all the time 
the female was away gathering material. When she returned he would flit 
away on the same quest.” Later, from the Claudie River district, he added : 
“ The Broad-billed Flycatcher keeps near the shore, and is always found in or 
near the mangroves. Several pairs were noted on Haggerstone Island. Mr. 
McLennan states that it is always found in the mangroves, finding its living 
amongst the leaves. Mr. McLennan noted this species in the Archer River 
mangroves.” 
Mr. J. P. Rogers wrote me: “These birds are not numerous at Derby, 
and are seldom seen away from the mangroves. Twice I saw them on the 
Lower Fitzroy River, but this was unusual. On Melville Island I only saw a 
few, but sometimes heard them calling in the dense mangroves.” 
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