Bill very broad at base, slightly compressed toward the tip which is pointed; bill from nostril a little more than half the length of tarsus; wings long and pointed, when folded reaching at least half way to tip of tail; first primary short and small, not longer than tarsus; second primary slightly shorter than fourth, the latter nearly as long as third. Sexes similar; plumage mostly brown, gray, or ferruginous.
Species.
- a1. Tail uniform blackish brown; upper surface of body dusky or ashy brown; upper tail-coverts like back.
- a2. Tail ferruginous, its feathers with dark brown outer webs; back and rump ferruginous ferruginea (p. [434])
394. HEMICHELIDON SIBIRICA (Gmelin).
SIBERIAN FLYCATCHER.
- Muscicapa sibirica Gmelin, Syst. Nat. (1788), 1, pt. 2, 936.
- Hemichelidon sibirica Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1879), 4, 120; Hand-List (1901), 3, 204; Blasius, Ornis (1888), 10 of reprint; Oates, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1890), 2, 5, fig. 3 (head); Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1903), 3, 250; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 70.
Palawan (Platen). Eastern Siberia, Altai Mountains, Japan; China in winter.
“Adult male.—General color above brown; least wing-coverts uniform with the back, the greater series dark brown with lighter brown tips to the median series, the greater coverts tipped with whitish; primary-coverts and primaries dark brown, the secondaries edged with pale brown, whitish at the tips; tail dark brown; lores buffy white; in front of the eye a dusky spot; round the eye a ring of buffy white feathers; feathers below the eye and ear-coverts brown like the crown; cheeks white, mottled with brown bases to the feathers; throat white, widening out on the lower part and separated from the cheeks by a broad moustachial line of brown; breast and sides of body ashy brown the former slightly mottled with grizzly white edgings to the feathers; abdomen and under tail-coverts pure white; thighs brown; under wing-coverts light tawny, with dusky bases to the feathers, the quills ashy brown with an edging of light tawny to the inner webs. ‘Upper mandible dusky black; lower mandible yellowish brown, tipped with dusky; legs and feet brownish black; iris dark brown.’ (Armstrong.) Length, 124; culmen, 10; wing, 80; tail, 56; tarsus, 127.
“Observation.—The description is from a specimen collected by Dr. Radde in Eastern Siberia on the 18th of May, 1856, and therefore in full breeding plumage. Examples from other parts of China and the Himalayas are similar, but great variation takes place in this species as regards the tone and intensity of the brown color both on the upper and under surface, and also in the uniform or mottled color on the breast. The coloration of the throat is very different in individuals, being in some almost uniform brown, succeeded by a jugular spot of white.
“Young (Peking, Sept. 1868, R. Swinhoe).—Ashy brown, mottled with whitish streaks and terminal spots to the feathers, the greater coverts edged and tipped with buffy white, the rest of the coverts spotted with whitish at the tips like the back; primary-coverts and quills dark brown, the inner secondaries edged and tipped with pale rufous; under surface very thickly mottled with brown, the feathers being white with dusky brown edges.” (Sharpe.)