Hemichelidon ferruginea Hodgson, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1845), 32; Hume,
Oates ed., Nests & Eggs Ind. Bds. (1890), 2, 2; Sharpe, Hand-List
(1901), 3, 204; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 71.
Hemichelidon ferrugineus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1879),
4, 122.
Mindoro (Mearns); Palawan (Everett). Khasi Hills, southern China,
northern Borneo, Burmese provinces, Eastern Himalayas, Assam,
Sumatra.
"Adult.--General color above rufous-brown, shading into chestnut on
the rump and upper tail-coverts; head and nape sooty brown; least
wing-coverts like the back, the remainder of the coverts and the
secondaries blackish brown, edged and tipped with chestnut-rufous,
paler on the margins of the inner secondaries; primary-coverts and
primaries nearly uniform blackish brown, the first primary broadly
edged with rufous; two center tail-feathers dusky brown, the remainder
rufous, dusky brown along the outer web, the inner web more or less
dusky near the tip; round the eye a distinct ring of buffy white
feathers; lores rufous; feathers in front of and below the eye and the
ear-coverts dusky brown, mottled with whitish shaft-lines or spots;
under surface of body orange-rufous, the throat and sides of the
breast shaded with dusky brown; center of abdomen white; throat pale
rufous-buff, with dusky margins to most of the feathers; the bases of
the plumes of the lower throat white, forming a concealed white patch;
under wing-coverts deep orange-rufous; quills dark brown below, edged
with light rufous along the inner web. 'Bill black, with base of the
lower mandible whitish; feet dull gray, with the soles yellow and the
nails gray; iris brown.' (David.) Length, 114; culmen, 11; wing, 71;
tail, 51; tarsus, 13.
"Observation.--In some specimens the throat is pure white, with a malar
streak on each side of dusky black; the outer tail-feathers appear
gradually to lose all the dusky markings on the outer web." (Sharpe.)
The ferruginous flycatcher is a rare winter visitant to the Philippine
Islands. A specimen of doubtful sex taken in Mindoro by Doctor Mearns
measures: Wing, 69; tail, 48; culmen from base, 10; tarsus, 12.5. The
folded wings extend beyond the middle of the tail.
Genus ALSEONAX Cabanis, 1850.
The genus Alseonax is similar to Culicicapa and Hemichelidon, having
a very broad bill, but the rictal bristles are fewer and shorter than
in Culicicapa; the first primary is pointed and but little longer
than the primary-coverts. The sexes are alike in colors, being earthy
brown above and white below. The species are migratory.