20 Family Muscicapid^: 



boiled egg, hemp-seed, bread-crumbs, carrots, potatoes, and ants' eggs ; they drink 

 a great deal, but seldom wash, and I have more than once seen a Waxwing delib- 

 erately eat its own fseces, though it was abundantly supplied with many varieties 

 of food ; none of these birds ever became tame with me, and I shall certainly 

 never bu}' au}^ of them again." 



Seebohm gives them much the same character : — " They were most voracious 

 eaters, and the cage required cleaning several times a day. They were very active 

 and restless, aud even when perched at rest seemed to be continually moving their 

 heads. If alarmed they would stretch out their necks to almost double the usual 

 length." 



On the other hand Swaysland (Cassell's Cage-birds, p. 340) says : — " It is 

 easily tamed, and in the aviary is docile and quiet. It should be fed upon German 

 paste, sponge-cake, a little hard-boiled egg, Juniper berries, soaked grocers' currants, 

 or any other soft-skinned fruit." I think it c|uite likely that, associated with birds 

 of its own size in an aviarv, the Wa.Kwing would become far more easily reconciled 

 to captivit3% would eat less, bathe more frequently, aud keep in better health, than 

 m a cage : moreover, I should certaiul}- not recommend either raw meat or 

 grocers' currants to be given to it as articles of food. 



FAMILY MUSCICAPID^. 



THIS large family of birds was not even regarded by Seebohm as a distinct 

 Subfamil}', but was included by him in the Turdtna: ; yet it forms a very 

 characteristic group : the bills of Flycatchers are somewhat flattened and 

 broad at the base, compressed and somewhat curved towards the point ; the rictal 

 bristles which, in insectivorous birds serve to prevent the escape of winged insects 

 from the base of the bill, are very strongly developed, and numerous in this family. 

 The Flycatchers, as their name indicates, are rapid flyers, and consequently 

 have long pointed wings ; their e3'^es also are large and full ; they perch mostl}'' 

 on trees, very rarely descending to the earth ; their feet, as might be anticipated, 

 are small, the middle toe being considerably longer than the lateral ones. 



