RHIPIDURA RUBROFRONTATA, Ra,may.
Rufous-fronted Fantail Flycatcher.
Rhipidura rubro/rontata, 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,
ii. p. 68 (1881), iii. 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.
T he present species belongs to the group of Fautailed Flycatchers which have the lower part o f the back
cinnamon-rufous, contrasting in colour with the mantle and upper back. I t is very closely allied to the
Australian Rhipidura rufifrons, but is a smaller bird and differs, moreover, in the following characters, viz.:—
The tips o f 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 . ru ffrom it occupies nearly half the tail-feathers.
It would thus appear that R . rubrofrontata is the representative o f R . rufifrons in the Solomon Islands,
where it was discovered by Mr. Cockerell in the Island o f Guadalcanal Mr. Ramsay a t one time considered
it to be identical with Canon Tristram’s R . russata from S. Christoval; but as he lent us the type specimen
o f the present bird, we were enabled to compare the two species, and can affirm that they are quite distinct.
T he 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 tin: back, the outer ones slightly tinged with rufo u s; quills dark brown, edged with paler brown, tinged
with rufous on the inner secondaries ; tail-feathers blackish brown, broadly tipped with white, and having the
base o f the outer web rufous, this being almost entirely concealed by the rufous upper tail-coverts; crown of
head brown like the b ack; 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 o f the crown; lores, feathers
below the eyes, and ear-coverts blackish brown, with a white mark oti the lower eyelid ; cheeks and throat
white, followed by a black band across the lower th ro a t; the feathers of the fore neck scaly, black with white
edges ; sides o f the fore neck and chest dark ashy, the sides o f the breast brown, with a rufous tinge ; centre
o f abdomen w h ite ; thighs and uuder tail-coverts orange-rufous; axillaries and under wing-coverts brown
washed with rufous, the lower ones white; quills dusky below, ashy whitish along the inner 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, o f the natural size, drawn from the type specimen which Mr. Ramsay
lent to us.
[R. B. S.]