THE FLYCATCHERS. 59° 
little creature, not quiet and phlegmatic like most 
Flycatchers, (which are rather dull little birds) but always 
on the move, hopping about among the boughs or even 
on the ground, and constantly opening and closing its 
tail, and flirting it from side to side, using it, in fact, 
almost exactly as a lady uses her fan. It has a pretty 
little tinkling song, repeated at intervals, and is a very 
dainty little creature altogether. 
It breeds from February to August, building a cup- 
shaped nest in a fork, the foundation being of grass, with 
an outside coating of cobwebs. Only three eggs are laid, 
white with drab spots. 
Another common species of Fantail Flycatcher (Rhipi- 
dura albicollis) has similar habits, but is not so pretty, 
being soot-coloured all over, except for white eyebrows, 
throat, and tail-tips. 
Tue VERDITER FiycatcHER (Stoparola Melanops) has 
nothing remarkable about its form and habits, and is a 
smaller bird than those I have mentioned, being only 
six inches long. It is very strikingly coloured, however, 
the male being of a lovely pale blue all over. The hen 
is also blue, but of a duller and greener shade ; and the 
young are almost grey, with buff spots. 
This bird is found almost all over the Empire, but not 
in India south of the Nilgiris, nor in Sind, nor in the 
Andamans and Nicobars. In Ceylon it is replaced by a 
somewhat similar but much duller species (Stoparola 
serdida). Out of India it extends to China and the Malay 
Peninsula. Itisa migratory bird in a small way, ascend- 
ing the hills up to nine thousand feet in the breeding: 
