Muscicapa sibirica Gmelin, Syst. Nat. (1788), 1, pt. 2, 936.
Hemichelidon sibirica Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1879), 4, 120;
Hand-List (1901), 3, 204; Blasius, Ornis (1888), 10 of reprint;
Oates, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1890), 2, 5, fig. 3 (head); Oates
and Reid, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1903), 3, 250; McGregor and Worcester,
Hand-List (1906), 70.
Palawan (Platen). Eastern Siberia, Altai Mountains, Japan; China
in winter.
"Adult male.--General color above brown; least wing-coverts uniform
with the back, the greater series dark brown with lighter brown
tips to the median series, the greater coverts tipped with whitish;
primary-coverts and primaries dark brown, the secondaries edged with
pale brown, whitish at the tips; tail dark brown; lores buffy white;
in front of the eye a dusky spot; round the eye a ring of buffy
white feathers; feathers below the eye and ear-coverts brown like
the crown; cheeks white, mottled with brown bases to the feathers;
throat white, widening out on the lower part and separated from
the cheeks by a broad moustachial line of brown; breast and sides
of body ashy brown the former slightly mottled with grizzly white
edgings to the feathers; abdomen and under tail-coverts pure white;
thighs brown; under wing-coverts light tawny, with dusky bases to the
feathers, the quills ashy brown with an edging of light tawny to the
inner webs. 'Upper mandible dusky black; lower mandible yellowish
brown, tipped with dusky; legs and feet brownish black; iris dark
brown.' (Armstrong.) Length, 124; culmen, 10; wing, 80; tail, 56;
tarsus, 127.
"Observation.--The description is from a specimen collected by
Dr. Radde in Eastern Siberia on the 18th of May, 1856, and therefore
in full breeding plumage. Examples from other parts of China and
the Himalayas are similar, but great variation takes place in this
species as regards the tone and intensity of the brown color both
on the upper and under surface, and also in the uniform or mottled
color on the breast. The coloration of the throat is very different
in individuals, being in some almost uniform brown, succeeded by a
jugular spot of white.
"Young (Peking, Sept. 1868, R. Swinhoe).--Ashy brown, mottled with
whitish streaks and terminal spots to the feathers, the greater
coverts edged and tipped with buffy white, the rest of the coverts
spotted with whitish at the tips like the back; primary-coverts and
quills dark brown, the inner secondaries edged and tipped with pale
rufous; under surface very thickly mottled with brown, the feathers
being white with dusky brown edges." (Sharpe.)
The Siberian flycatcher must be considered a rare winter visitant to
the Philippine Islands.