FLYCATCHERS. 



59 



the breast and under tail-cdverts; the thighs, sides of 

 body, and under wingcoverts green ; lower surface of 

 iiuills ashy, paler on the inner margins. Iris brown; 

 lull black; legs and feel leiij-colour. ' (W. L. Sclater.) 



Mr. Scluter says that the female resembles the male 

 in plumage ; but Ur. Gadiiw describes it as follows : — 



" All the underparls are green ; the tail uniform olive- 

 green ; the head wanting the black loral and lateral 

 stripes, the black creecont being likewise absent ; 

 throat vermilion ; remainder of the underpafts of the 

 biidy olive-yellow ; under taiicoverts dull yellow ; sides 

 of brea.st and Hanks green ; the black cx>llar on the chest 

 of the male is repre.-iented merely by a few blackish 

 tipiion some of the feathers; bill and feet brown ; lower 

 mandible paler." He also describes the young plumage 

 in botli sexes, so that it seems impossible that his 

 female can have been anything but an adult bird. Hab., 

 South-eastern Africa. 



An excellent figure of the male (Plate XI.) is given in 

 Sharpe's edition uf Layard's " Birds of South Africa." 

 from which I extract the following note by Mr. Thomas 

 Ayres : — "These birds inhabit, the dense bush along the 

 luast, never leaving it ; they creep about the under- 

 wo(k1 in search of their food, and are easily obtained 

 by those who can imitate their call, for they "will imme- 

 diat-ely answer, and come to the sjKjrtsman if within 

 hearing. On perceiving their mistake they make a 

 low charring noise, as they do also if theysee a eat, 

 snake, panther, or other beast of prey." (p. 381.) 



In Stark and Sclater's "Birds of South Africa," 

 Vol. II.. p. 36, are the following notes on the habits 

 from the pens of Messrs. Woodward and Millar: — "It 

 does not sing, but its cheerful cry. ' kong-kong-koit,' is 

 one of the pleasantest of bush sounds. It is particularly 

 ])artial to dense thickets, where, when it is disturbed, it 

 makes a croaking noise, and it is difficult to shoot it 

 at such close quarters without destroying its plumage. 

 Tills Shrike feeds principally on insects, but the natives 

 tell us that it sometimes attacks and kills the small 

 Bush-Wrens, and that they have known them to eat 

 the flesh of birds caught in their snares." 



" Tliey breed early in November, and although plenti- 

 ful, their nests are rarely found. They build a loosely- 

 constructed nest of twigs lined with dry leafstalks, 

 generally placed four or five feet from the ground, in a 

 thicket or among some dried twigs or sticks. 



" The clutch consists of two or three pretty white 

 eggs delicately marked with grey-brown streaks and 

 splashes, principallv at the obtu.se end, and measuring 

 about .83 by .58. 



"The nest being loosely put together, enables one to 

 see through it. and the eggs resembling light and shade 

 renders detection more difficult, which is probably the 

 reason they are not more frequently dis'covered. I have 

 bunte<l for hours before spotting the nest, and then 

 wondered how it was pcssible to have passed it over." 



Beautiful and highly desirable as this Shrike is, Dr. 

 Russ is only able to record one instance of its importa- 

 tion, the specimen having reached the London Zoological 

 Gardens in 1882, but with the increased interest taken 

 in aviculture it is hardly probable that such a state of 

 things can long continue. 



Why the Green Cochoa is placed among the Shrikes 

 in the Zoological Society's list I am unable to explain. 

 According to Hmne and Dates it is a true Thrush ; its 

 nidification seems to have been imperfectly known when 

 the second edition of the "Xestsand Eggs of Indian Birds" 

 was known. It is hardly likely ever to become a well- 

 known cage-bird, although the Zoological Society pur- 

 cha.sed a specimen in April, 1884. 



The Waxwings are not very desirable cage-birds, on 

 account of their greed and the consequent necessity for 



providing them with a small aviary. The Xorth. 

 .'Vmerican Cedar-bird is, moreover, so nearly related to- 

 the European Waxwing that it seems hardly worth while 

 to devote space to a de-icriptioa of it, more especially 

 now that the birds of the I'nited States are so strictly" 

 jireserved and consequently rare in the market. 



FLYCATCH ERS {Mnscicapidce). 



Niunerous as these birds are, they are not easy to 

 feed, and consequently are hardly ever imported ; but 

 one species which has reached us in recent years from 

 Austialia is so entirely charming and ha.s been so 

 thoroughly studied in captivity, that it would be a 

 punitive sin to omit it. 



Bluk Wrkn (Malurus ci/aneus). 



Male in siuiuiier with the crown, ear-coverts and a 

 lniiar-shape<l mark on upper part of back light metallic 

 blue; lores, line over eye, occiput, scapulars, back,, 

 rump, and iippjr tail-covei-ts velvety-blaik ; throat and 

 chest bluish-black, bounded liclow by a baml of velvety- 

 black ; tail deep blue, indistinctly barred with a deeper 

 hue and finely tipped with white ; wings brown ; under 

 surface butfish white; flanks tinged with blue; bill 

 black; feet brown; irides blr.ckish-hrown. (Gould.) 



In winter the male loses all its bright colouring and 

 much more clo.-'Sly resembles the female. The latter is 

 brown above, including wings and tail ;■ the lores and a 

 circle enclosing the eye reddish-brown ; under surface 

 brownish white ; bill reddish brown ; feet flesh-brown. 

 Hab., "South Queensland {'!), New Soutli Wales. Vic- 

 toria, and South Australia." (Campbell.) 



Gould says that this species " gives preference to those 

 parts of the country which (are) thinly covered with low 

 scrubby brushwood, and e-specially in Iccalities of this 

 description which are situated near the borders of rivers 

 and ravines. During the months of winter it a,ssociates 

 in small troops of from six to eight in number (probably 

 the brood of a single pair), which continually traverse 

 the district in which they were bred. At this period of 

 the year the adult males throw off their fine livery, ana 

 the plumage of the sexes then becomes so nearly alike 

 that a minute examination is requisite to distinguish 

 them. The old males have the bill black at all seasons, 

 whereas the young males during the first year, and the 

 females, have this organ always brown ; the tail-feathers 

 also, which with the primaries are only moulted once a 

 year, are of a deeper blue in the old male. As spring 

 advances, the small troops separate into pairs, and the 

 males undergo a total transformation, not only in their 

 colour, but in the texture of their plumage ; indeed, a 

 more astonishing change can .scarcely be imagined. This 

 change is not confined to the plumage alone, but extends, 

 also to the habits of the bird ; for it now displays great 

 \'ivacity, proudly shows off its gorgeous attire to the 

 utmost advantage, and pours out its animated song un- 

 ceasingly, until the female has completed her task ot 

 incubation, and the craving appetites of its newly 

 hatched young have called forth a new feeling and 

 given its energies a new direction. 



"During the winter months no bird can be more 

 tame and familiar; for it frequents the gardens and 

 shmblieries of the settlers, and hops about their houses 

 as if desirous to court, rather than shun, the presence 

 of man ; but when adorned with its summer plumage, 

 the male becomes more shy and retiring, appearing to 

 have an instinctive consciousness of the danger to which 

 his beauty sulijects liim ; nevertheless they will fre- 

 quently build their little nest and rear their young in 

 the most populous places. Several broods are reared 

 annually in the Botanic Garden at Sydney, and I saw a 



