PSEUDOGERYGONE CINEREICEPS, Sharpe.
Grey-headed Flycatcher.

Pseudogerygone cinereiceps, Sharpe, Nature, 1886, p. 340.

 

Tuere is not much to say about this little Flycatcher, which belongs to an Australian group which have
much the appearance of the Willow-Warblers of more northern latitudes. The present species was
discovered by Mr. H. O. Forbes in the Sogeri district of the Astrolabe Mountains, at a height of 1750 feet
above the sea. Its nearest ally appears to be P. flavilateralis of New Caledonia, which is yellow-sided like
P. cinereiceps, but is a larger bird and has a great deal of white on the tail.

The following description is taken from the typical specimen :—

Adult female. General colour above yellowish green, rather more olive on the upper tail-coverts ; lesser
and median coverts like the back; greater coverts, bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills dusky brown,
externally edged with yellowish green, brighter on the margin of the quills, the innermost secondaries also
washed with greenish ; tail-feathers ashy brown, edged with yellowish green, with a very distinct subterminal
bar of black before the tip, which is ashy brown, with a tiny spot of white at the end of the inner web,
scarcely visible ; crown of head ashy with a faint tinge of green ; lores white, extending above the fore part
of the eye; feathers round eye, ear-coverts, and cheeks ashy brown; throat and under surface of body white,
the sides of the upper breast ashy brown; lower breast and abdomen purer white; sides of body and flanks
pale sulphur-yellow ; thighs ashy brown ; under tail-coverts white, washed slightly with yellow; under wing-
coverts and axillaries white, edged with yellow ; quills below dusky, white along the inner edge : “ bill black ;
legs and feet lavender; iris rich lake” (7. O. Forbes). Total length 3:5 inches, culmen 0°4, wing 1°9,
tail 1-25, tarsus 0°60.

The Plate gives an illustration of an adult bird in two positions, drawn from the specimen described
above.

[R. B. S.J

 

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