RHIPIDURA HYPERYTHRA, Gray.
Rufous-breasted Fantail Flycatcher.
Rhipidura rufiventris (nec Vieill.), Verh. Land- en Volkenk. p. 185 (1839-44).— Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 259 (1846).__
Bp. Consp. i. p. 323 (1850).—Sclater, Journ. Linn. Soc. ii. p. 162 (1858).—Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858,
pp. 176, 192.—Id. Cat. Mamm. etc. New Guinea, pp. 28, 57 (1859).—Id. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1861,
p. 434.—Rosenb. J. f. 0 . 1864, p. 119.— Finsch, Neu-Guinea, p. 169 (1865).
Rhipidura hyperythra, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858, pp. 176, 192.— Id. Cat. Mamm. etc. New Guinea, pp. 28, 57
(1859).— Id. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1861, p. 434.—Rosenb. J. f. 0 . 1864, p. 119.—Finsch, Neu-Guinea,
p. 169 (1865).— Gray, Hand-list Birds, i. p. 331, no, 4977 (1869).—Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1873,
p. 696.—Sharpe, Cat. Birds in Brit. Mus. iv. p. 338 (1879).—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, xiv.
p. 499 (1879).—Sharpe, Journ. Linn. Soc., Zool. xvi. p. 431 (1882).— Salvad. Orn. Papuasia e delle
Molucche, ii. p. 65 (1881), iii. App. p. 532 (1882).
Rhipidura, sp., Gray, Hand-list Birds, i. p. 231, no. 4976 (1869).
Rhipidura muelleri, Meyer, Sitz. k. Akad. Wien, lxx. p. 502 (1874).—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, x. p. 135
(1877).
Rhipidura castaneothorax, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N .S . Wales, iii. p. 270 (1879), iv. p. 98 (1879).—Salvad. Ibis,
1879, p. 323.
T his is a very distinct species o f Fantail Flycatcher, and is easily recognized by its style o f colour on the
underparts, the chin and cheeks being white, the throat black, and the breast rufous.
It was first described by S. Müller from Lobo Bay, in New Guinea, but he gave it the name o f Rhipidura
rufiventris, which already belonged to the species from Timor. Count Salvadori states that he could not find
the type o f Muller’s species in the Leiden Museum, and it was apparently exchanged away to the late
Mr. Gould, as his collection contaiued a specimen o f this bird marked as from Lobo Bay, which is now in
the British Museum, having been purchased with the rest o f the Gould Collection.
Mr. Wallace subsequently discovered the species in the Aru Islands, and we cannot perceive any difference
between examples from the last-named locality and from New Guinea. I t seems to inhabit the whole o f the
latter island, as D r. Meyer found it a t Rubi, and Signor D’Albertis on the Arfak Mountains. It was
afterwards obtained by Mr. Broadbent on the Goldie River, about 40 miles inland from Port Moresby, and
was named by Mr. Ramsay R . castaneothorax. We have, however, examined specimens from this p art of New
Guinea, and can affirm that they are the same as the Aru Island and Lobo birds. Mr. Goldie has forwarded
a specimen from the Morocco district in the Astrolabe Mountains, where he says it is called by the natives
“ Urobiagga.” Mr. H. 0 . Forbes has likewise sent a pair from the Sogeri district in the same range of
mountains, where he obtained them a t an altitude o f 2000 feet.
The following is a description o f the type specimen o f R . hyperythra in the British Museum
General colour above slaty grey, a little darker on the. crown and sides of the h e a d ; the lores and feathers
round the eye blackish; over the eye a distinct white streak, and a second narrow line o f white above the
upper edge o f the ear-coverts less distinctly indicated ; cheeks, chin, and moustache white; centre of throat
black, widening out upon the lower th ro a t; rest o f under surface o f body orange-rufous, slightly paler
towards the lower abdomen and ven t; thighs slaty g rey ; under wing-coverts pale orange-buif; quills ashy
below, whitish along the inner webs; wings above resembling the back, the greater series and secondaries
brown, washed externally with grey ;• the primaries entirely brown ; median and greater coverts tipped with
buff o r whitish sp o ts ; tail slaty black, the three outer feathers tipped with white, with an obscure subterminal
band o f dull brown: “ bill black, the lower mandible yellow; feet dusky olive” {Wallace). Total length
6*4 inches, cultnen 0 ’5, wing 2*8, tail 3 -2, tarsus 0 ‘65.
The male bird collected by Mr. Forbes has the head blacker than in the female, but otherwise the sexes
are alike in colour.
The figures in the Plate represent a male and female of the natural size, drawn from the pair o f specimens
obtained by Mr. Forbes in the Astrolabe Mountains.
[R. B. S.]