(669) Anthipes monileger monileger.
Hodgson's White-gorgeted Flycatcher.
Dimorpha monileger Hodgs., P. Z. S., 1845, p. 2(5 (Sikkim). Anthipes moniliger. Blanf. & Oates, ii, p. 32.
Vernacular names. Phatt-tagrak-pho (Lepcha).
Description. Short broad supercilia almost, meeting on the forehead, bright fulvous; crown to rump olive-brown, tinged with rufous on the latter; upper tail-coverts and tail dull ferruginous; wings brown, all the feathers except, the primary coverts edged with rufous; bides of head olive-brown; lores, ear-coverts and under the eye grey-brown ; chin and throat whites surrounded with black, lower plumage fulvous-olive, albescent on the abdomen.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown; bill dark horny-brown, paler at base but all black in breeding-season; legs and feet fleshy-white.
Measurements. Total length about 125 mm.; wing 60 to 65 mm.; tail 45 to 50 mm.; tarsus about 23 mm.; culmen about 10 mm.
Nestling olive-brown, with an ill-defined white throat and with fulvous streaks on the upper plumage and. fulvous edges to the wing-feathers.
Distribution. Sikkim and hills of Northern Assam.
Nidification. Two nests of this species were taken by Mandelli at Lebong at an elevation of 5,800 feet in May and June. The nests were made of grass mixed with dried moss and in one case coated with skeleton-leaves. They were cup-shaped and placed in depressions in a bank amongst grass. Eggs taken by Mandelli on the 3rd April have the ground-colour almost pure white and they are speckled with brownish red, principally m a zone about the larger end and less profusely over the rest of the surface. In shape they are broad ovals and they measure about 18.8 x 13.7 mm.
Habits. Hodgson's White-gorgeted Flycatcher appears to be resident between 4,500 and 8,000 feet, descending to 3,000 or even 2,000 feet in the Winter. It frequents light forest intersected with open grass and bracken-covered patches and does not as a rule enter very deep forest.
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