FL YCA TCHER 275 



like a collar round the neck. A fourth European species, M. parva, 

 distinguished by its very small size and red breast, has also strayed 

 several times to the British Islands. This last belongs to a group 

 of more eastern range, which has received generic recognition 

 (possibly well deserved) under the name of Erythrosterna , and it has 

 several relations in Asia and particularly in India, while the allies 

 of the Pied Flycatchers (Ficedula of Brisson) are chiefly of African 

 origin, and those of the Grey or Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa 

 proper ^) are common to almost the v/hole Pakearctic area. 



One of the most remarkable groups of Muscicapidai is that known 

 as the Paradise Flycatchers, forming the genus TeipsipJwne of 

 Gloger {Tchitrea of Lesson). In nearly all the species the males 

 are distinguished by the growth of exceedingly long feathers in their 

 tail, and b}' their putting on, for some part of the year at least, a 

 plumage generally Avhite, but almost always quite difterent from 

 that worn by the females, which is of a more or less deep chestnut 

 or bay colour, though in both sexes the crown is of a glossy steel- 

 blue. They are found j^retty well throvighout Africa and tropical 

 Asia to Japan, and seem to affect the deep shade of forests rather 

 than the open country. The best-known species is perhaps the 

 Indian T. jxiradisi ; but the Chinese T. incii, and the Japanese 

 T. princeps, from being very commonly represented by the artists 

 of those nations on screens, fans, and the like, are hardly less so ; 

 and the cock of the last named, with his bill of a pale greenish- 

 blue and eyes surrounded by bare skin of the same colour — though 

 these are characters possessed in some degree by all the species — 

 seems to be the most beautiful of the genus. T. bourbonnensis, 

 which is peculiar to the islands of Mauritius and K6union, appears 

 to be the only species in which the outward difference of the sexes 

 is but sliij-ht. In T. corvina of the Seychelles, the adult male is 

 wholly black, and his middle tail-feathers are not only very long 

 but very broad. In T. mutata of Madagascar, some of the males 

 are found in a blackish plumage, though with the elongated median 

 rectrices white, while in others white predominates over the whole 

 body ; but whether this sex is here actually dimorphic, or whether 

 the one dress is a passing phase of the other, is at present undeter- 

 mined. Some of the African species, of which many have been 

 described, seem always to retain the rufous plumage, but the long 

 tail-feathers serve to mark the males ; and the whole group deserves 

 more investigation than it has yet received, as it is likely to reveal 

 facts of importance in regard to the theory of " Sexual Selection." 



On the other groups of the Family there is not room to descant. 

 A few are distinguished by the brilliant blue they exhibit, as 

 Myiagra azurea, and others, as Piczorhynehxis chrysomelas, by their 



^ By some writers this section is distinguished as Butalis of Boie, but to do 

 BO seems contrary to rule. 



