2C) S\:\\ ZEALAND HIHDa. 



MUSCICAPID.E. FLY-CATCHEns. 



Bill, weak, broad at the base, where it is furnished with bristles ; legs, short and weak. 



Rhipidtjea. V/'t/. and Ilorsf. 



First quill short, fourth and fifth longest ; tail, very long, fan-shaped ; tarsi, longer than 

 the middle toe, hind toe long. 



India, Australia, Samoa Islands. 



34. Khipidura flabellifera. Omh 



Tied Fantaii,. Piwakawak.\. 



Head and neck, blackish-grey, with white throat and eyebrows ; back, brown ; breast 

 and abdomen, yellowish-rufous; two middle tail-feathers black, witli white tips, outer ones 

 white, intermediate white, with tlie outer webs partly black, tlie sliufts all white. 



L., G ; W., 3 ; 13., -5 ; T., -8 ; Tail, 3-75. 



Ji'^^. — White, witli brownish-grey spots towards the largerend : length, '7; breadth, 'o. 



Hah. — Both Islands. 



" The Pied Fantaii, ever flitting about with broadly-expanded 

 tail, and performing all manner of fantastic evolutions, in its diligent 

 pursuit of gnats and flies, is one of the most pleasing and attractive 

 objects in the New Zealand forest. 



" It is very tame and familiar, allowing a person to approach 

 Avithin a few feet of it without evincing any alarm ; sometimes, 

 indeed, perching for an instant on his head or shoulders. It will 

 often enter the settler's house in the bush, and remain there for days 

 togetlier, clearing the Avindow-pancs of sand-flics, fluttering about the 

 open rooms with an incessant lively twitter during the day, and 

 roosting at night under the friendly roof. It is found, generally in 

 pairs, on the outskirts of the forest, in the open glades, and in all 

 similar localities adapted to its habits of life. It loves to frequent 

 the wooded banks of mountain streams and rivulets, where it may be 

 seen hovering over the stirface of the Avatcr collecting gnats ; and I 

 have counted as many as ten of thein at one time so engaged. It 

 affects low shrubby bushes and the ])ranchcs of fallen trees; but it 

 may often be seen catering for its iuscct-food among the topmost 

 branches of the high timber. 



" In winter it generally frequents the darker parts of the forest, 

 where insect-life is more abundant at that season; but it is neverthe- 

 less to be met Avith, wherever there is any bush, all the year round. 

 It is a true Fly-catcher, subsisting entirely by the chase ; darting forth 

 from its perch, it performs a number of aerial evolutions in pursuit 

 of invisible flies, the snapping of its mandibles tis it catches its prey 

 being distinctly audible, and generally returns to the t^^■ig from which 

 it started. It hops about along the dry branches of a prostrate tree, 

 or upwards along the tangled vines of the karcao {Rhipoyonum 

 scandens), with its tail half expanded and its wings drooping, seizing 



