INDIAN FLY-CATCHERS i8i 



the following species are abundant in the Nilgiris : 

 Tickell's blue fly-catcher (Cyornis tickelli), the Nilgiri 

 blue fly-catcher (Stoparola albicaudata) , and the black 

 and orange fly-catcher (Ochromela nigrirufa). In the 

 Himalayas, the paradise fly-catcher is common in 

 summer at lower altitudes. Above 6000 feet elevation 

 the following are the species most commonly seen : 

 the grey-headed fly-catcher, the white-browed blue 

 fly-catcher (Cyornis supeyciliaris), and the beautiful 

 verditer fly-catcher [Stoparola melanops), which is no 

 mean songster. 



Fly-catchers form a most interesting group of 

 birds. It is, I maintain, quite impossible for any 

 man possessed of a logical mind to contemplate 

 this family without discovering that the theory 

 of natural selection is utterly inadequate to account 

 for the variety of animal hfe that exists upon the 

 earth. The habits of practically all the fly-catchers 

 are identical. They all dwell in an arboreal habitat ; 

 nevertheless, the various species display great dis- 

 similarity in outward appearance. Some species are 

 brightly plumaged, others are as dully clad as a bird 

 can possibly be. Some have crests and long tails, others 

 lack these ornaments. The adult cock paradise fly- 

 catcher, with his long, white, satin-hke tail feathers, 

 is the most striking of birds, while the brown fly- 

 catcher is less conspicuously attired than a hen sparrow. 

 This is not the only difficulty presented to the theory 

 of natural selection by fly-catchers. In some species, 

 as, for example, the paradise fly-catcher, the sexes are 

 altogether dissimilar in appearance, while in others the 



