48o 



PERCHING BIRDS 



completely conceal. They likewise differ from the thrush tribe by 

 their feeble legs and feet, which are unfitted for walking on the 

 ground, and by the broader and flatter beak ; and although both these 

 features are adaptations to the mode of life of these birds, they are 

 now regarded as indicative of affinity with the swallows. It may 

 be added that the front of the leg is smooth, as in thrushes and 

 redstarts, and not scaled, as in the hedge-sparrow. Flycatchers, which 

 are entirely confined to the Old World, pass practically the whole of 

 their time on trees (or other perches) and in the air, seldom descending 

 to the ground. Their insect-prey is captured either during short flights 



from the twigs on 

 which they perch, or 

 by running along the 

 boughs of trees. 

 Some are migratory 

 and others resident, 

 but none has a song 

 which is really 

 melodious, and the 

 majority are almost 

 silent birds. 



The typical re- 

 presentative of the 

 group is the spotted 

 flycatcher, in which 

 the two sexes are 

 alike in colour, and 

 the eggs are spotted. 

 In this bird the general hue of the upper surface is ashy brown, the 

 crown of the head being, however, streaked with darker brown, while 

 the greater wing-coverts and the outer webs of the secondar}- quills have 

 narrow borders of buffish white ; the under-parts being dull white with 

 inconspicuous brown streaks on the throat, breast, and flanks. Young 

 birds are ver)- distinctly spotted, the feathers of the upper surface being 

 dark brown, each with a pale yellowish central spot. 



The spotted flycatcher is a member of a group of the genus very 

 strongly represented in Africa. Its own range includes the greater 

 part of Europe, as far north as Tromso and Archangel, and thence 

 extends eastwards to Persia, Turkestan, and Siberia, where it is believed 

 to terminate about longitude i lo . In winter these birds migrate 

 to north-western India and Africa, travelling for long distances down 



SI'OTTKI) FI.YfATClIKKS (M.M.IC AND KKMAI.E). 



