KfflPJBTJRA OQHSTHEBYTHRA, Sdater.
RHIPIDURA OPISTHERYTHRA, sdater.
L a ra t Fantail Flycatcher.
Rhiptdura opislherythra, Sdater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1883, p. 197,
T he present species belongs to the Australian group o f Rufous-backed Fantail Fly catch ers; it is very nearly
allied to Rhipidura rufa, b u t is much larger and has a white spot on the lores. The throat is also white
instead of being dull ashy, and the tail likewise seems different, a s R . rufa is described as having broad tips
o f pale rufous to the tail-feathers, which cannot be said to be the case with the present species.
Mr. H . O. Forbes discovered this Flycatcher on the islands f f c a r a t and Maroe in the Tenimber group.
T he latter island is distant about twenty miles to the north-west of the mainland o f the northern island, which
the natives call Yamdena, and which is known to Europeans as Timor Laut.
The following description is taken from the typical specimen
Adult male. General colour above dusky brown, gradually shading off into rufous on the hack, and
deepening into ferruginous on the lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts; lesser wing-coverts like the
back, slightly washed with ferruginous ; median and greater coverts, bastard wing, primary-coverts, and
quills dusky brown, narrowly edged with deep ferruginous; tail-feathers dusky brown, externally ferruginous,
the centre feathers hroadly tipped with the latter colour, the others becoming reddish brown towards their
ends, this colour increasing in extent towards the outermost fe a th e r; lores dull white, forming a rather
conspicuous sp o t; no eyebrow; ear-coverts dusky brown, with pale shaft-Iines ; cheeks and throat white;
fore neck and chest pale ochraeeous buff, deepening into pale reddish buff on the rest of the under surface;
thighs and under tail-coverts more ferruginous; under wing-coverts and axillaries like the b rea st; quills
below dusky, inner edges ashy rufous; “ upper mandible sooty brown, lower one sooty brown a t tip, pale
flesh-colour a t the base; legs and feet lavender-pink; iris dark brown” ( f li 0 . Forbes'). Total length
6-8 inches, culmen 0'6 , wing 2-8, tail 4 , tarsus 1.
T he type specimen, for the loan of which we are indebted to the kindness o f Dr. Sclater, is represented in
the accompanying Plate o f the natural size and in two positions.
[R. B. S.]