606. Rhipidura javanica

606. Rhipidura javanica.

The Java Fantail Flycatcher.

Muscicapa javanica, Sparrm. Mas. Carls, iii, pl. 75 (1788). Leucocerca javanica (Sparrm.), Blyth, Cat. p. 206 ; Hume & Dav. S. F. vi, p. 226; Hume, Cat. no. 293 bis ; id. S. F. ix, p. 175. Rhipidura javanica (Sparrm.), Horsf. & M. Cat. i, p. 144; Sharpe, Cat. E. M. iv, p. 332 ; Oates, B. B. i, p. 267. Leucocerca infumata, Hume, S. F. i, p. 455 (1873).

Coloration. Male. Forehead, crown, and sides of the head sooty brown ; the whole upper plumage and the wings brown, suffused with rufous; tail dark brown, the four outer pairs of feathers broadly tipped with white, the pair next to these very narrowly tipped with white ; a short supercilium white ; chin, a band across the upper breast, and the sides of the breast blackish brown; throat white ; remainder of lower plumage white tinged with buff.

Female. Resembles the male, but has the lower plumage more tinged with buff.

The young resemble the adult, but the back and the wing-coverts are broadly tipped and fringed with rufous.

Iris brown ; bill black, fleshy at the base of the lower mandible (Hume and Davison).

Length about 7.5; tail 3.6; wing 3 ; tarsus .75; bill from gape .7.

Distribution. Tenasserim from Tavoy southwards, extending to Siam, Cochin China, the Malay peninsula and islands.