RHIPIDURA RUBROFRONTATA, Ramsay.

Rufous-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,
li. p. 68 (1881), i. p. 533 (1882).

Rhipidura rufofronta, 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 back
cinnamon-rofous, contrasting in colour with the mantle and upper back. It is very closely allied to the
Australian Rhipidura rufifrons, but isa 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-buff; 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. rufifrons it occupies nearly half the tail-feathers.

It would thus appear that 2. rubrofrontata is the representative of R. rufifrons in the Solomon Islands,
where it was discovered by Mr. Cockerell in the Island of Guadalcanar. Mr. Ramsay at one time considered
it to be identical with Canon Tristram’s R. russata from S. Christoval; but 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 back, rump, and upper tail-coverts rufous ; wing-coverts
like the back, 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 baving 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 binder frontal plumes tipped with tiny brown spots like the rest of the crown; lores, feathers
elon 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 inver web. Total
length 5°2 inches, culmen 0:5, wing 2°6, tail 2:9, 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.

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