FLYCATCHERS— SHRIKES 175 



Another delightful little bird that soon became very- 

 familiar on Bugalla was the black and white flycatcher, 

 with bright red wattle over the eye, probably Platysteira 

 jacksoni, whose call note is very characteristic. Two 

 birds were often heard calling one to another. The first, 

 with high-pitched pipe, would sing " How are you ? " to 

 which the other responded, " I'm pret-ty well, thanks." 



By whistling the first phrase I could often get the 

 answer and bring the bird near. Like Tchitrea this bird 

 seems to be forming a local race on Bugalla, for the call 

 elsewhere is not exactly the same, although one can recog- 

 nize it as coming from the same bird. 



It is not so much a forest frequenter as Tchitrea, 

 being found more among the clumps of bush and copses 

 that make the park like country on the larger islands. 



A third very pretty little flycatcher {Elminia longicauda) 

 is worth noticing here, because I have not seen it on the 

 islands, save once on Kizima, though it is often seen in 

 the gardens of Entebbe. It is a light blue bird which has 

 a habit of spreading out its tail fan wise, and hence attracts 

 one's attention. 



Shrikes are noteworthy because several species familiar 

 in the gardens of Entebbe and Jinja have never been 

 seen on the islands. Conspicuous among these is the 

 beautiful black bird with scarlet breast {Laniarius 

 erythrogaster), pairs of which haunt Hibiscus bushes, whose 

 red flowers exactly correspond with the breast of the bird. 



They have a call note which may be crudely represented 

 by " What-ho. " This is uttered by one, and simultaneously 

 the other of the pair makes a harsh scolding or churring 

 noise, not at all musical. It is curious that many shrikes 

 have this habit of uttering a joint call ; for instance, the 

 long tailed black and white species, whose very musical 

 notes I have often heard on mainland but never on an 

 island. 



A brown shrike (? Pomatorrhynchus) that was shot on 



