RHIPIDURA RUBROFRONTATA, Ramsay. 
Kufous-fronted Fantail Flycatcher. 
Rhipidura rubrofrontata, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, iv. p. 82 (1879). — Layard, Ibis, 1880, p. 293. — 
Ramsay-, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, vi. p. 178 (1881). — Salvad. Orn. Papuasia e delle Molucche, 
ii. p. 68 (1881), iii. p. 533 (1882). 
Rhipidura rifofronta, Ramsay, Nature, xx. p. 125 (1879). — Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, xiv. p. 508 (1879). 
Rhipidura rufofrontata, Salvad. Ibis, 1880, pp. 127, 129. 
The present species belongs to the group of Fantailed Flycatchers which have the lower part of the hack 
cinnamon-rufous, contrasting in colour with the mantle and upper hack. It is very closely allied to the 
Australian Rhipidura ruffrom , hut is a smaller bird and differs, moreover, in the following characters, viz. : — 
The tips of the tail-feathers are pure white and not ashy white, and the under tail-coverts are deep rufous 
instead of pale cinnamon-huff; the black band of the fore neck is narrower, and the ear-coverts are blacker. 
The rufous base on the tail is more restricted in R. rubrofrontata, where it is hidden by the coverts, whereas 
in R. ruffrom it occupies nearly half the tail-feathers. 
It would thus appear that R. rubrofrontata is the representative of R. ruffrons in the Solomon Islands, 
where it was discovered by Mr. Cockerell in the Island of Guadalcanal’. Mr. Ramsay at one time considered 
it to he identical with Canon Tristram’s R. russata from S. Christoval ; hut as he lent us the type specimen 
of the present bird, we were enabled to compare the two species, and can affirm that they are quite distinct. 
The following description is taken from the typical specimen lent to us by Mr. E. P. Ramsay: — 
Adult male. General colour above brown, the lower hack, rump, and upper tail-coverts rufous ; wing-coverts 
like the hack, the outer ones slightly tinged with rufous ; quills dark brown, edged with paler brown, tinged 
with rufous on the inner secondaries ; tail-feathers blackish brown, broadly tipped with white, and having the 
base of the outer web rufous, this being almost entirely concealed by the rufous upper tail-coverts; crown of 
head brown like the back ; forehead and feathers above the eye orange-rufous, as well as the upper edge of 
the eyelid, the hinder frontal plumes tipped with tiny brown spots like the rest of the crown ; lores, feathers 
below the eyes, and ear-coverts blackish brown, with a white mark on the lower eyelid ; cheeks and throat 
white, followed by a black band across the lower throat; the feathers of the fore neck scaly, black with white 
edges ; sides of the fore neck and chest dark ashy, the sides of the breast brown, with a rufous tinge ; centre 
of abdomen white ; thighs and under tail-coverts orange-rufous ; axillaries and under wing-coverts brown 
washed with rufous, the lower ones white; quills dusky below, ashy whitish along the inner web. Total 
length 52 inches, culmen 0 5, wing 2’6, tail 29, tarsus 0 ’7. 
In the Plate two figures are given, of the natural size, drawn from the type specimen which Mr. Ramsay 
lent to us. 
[R. B. S.] 
