MELIZOPHILUS UNDATUS 93 



It feeds on insects and their larvae, and also to a great extent upon 

 fruit and berries. During the bird's autumnal passage through Italy 

 ripe figs are largely eaten by it, whence its Italian name of " Beccafico," 

 although this name is applied to other species as well. In some parts 

 of Sicily numbers of these birds are captured at night, as they are 

 roosting on the lower branches of the fig-trees. The method employed 

 on such occasions seems very simple ; a sharp-eyed boy, armed merely 

 with a lantern, walks along quietly under the trees, and with his hand 

 seizes the poor birds, which are either asleep, or so dazed by the light 

 suddenly turned on them, that they are incapable of taking flight. 



The species is said to bear confinement well and to become very 

 tame in captivity. 



Its nest, which is generally to be found in a low bush, is composed 

 of fine grasses and root-fibres, lined with hair, and its eggs, four 

 or five in number, are whitish, marbled and spotted with violet and 

 brown markings. Average measurements 18 x 1.5 mm. 



MELIZOPHILUS UNDATUS (BodJaert). 

 DARTFOKD WAEBLER. 



Motacilla undata, Bodd. Table PI. Enl. p. 40 (1783). 

 Sylvia proYincialis, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v, p. 31. 

 Melizophilus provincialis, Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. i, p. 219 (1867) ; 

 Koenig, J. f. 0. 1888, pp. 130, 202 ; id. J. f. O. 1892, p. 404. 



Description. — Adult male, autumn, from Italy. 



General colour of upper parts greyish-brown, rather more slate on the 

 crown and browner on the back, quills brownish-slate ; tail, which is long 

 and rounded, also brownish-slate, the outer rectrices fringed with white ; 

 underparts mostly chestnut-red, the middle of the abdomen white ; the 

 throat spotted with white ; and the under tail-coverts grey. 



Iris bright hazel; bill dark brown, yellowish at the base of the lower 

 mandible ; feet yellowish-brown. 



Total length 5 inches, wing 2-10, culmen -40, tarsus -75. 



Adult female resembles the male, but is rather duller in plumage, 

 and slightly smaller. 



According to the naturalist Blanc, this species is not uncommon in 

 some parts of Tunisia during the periods of migration, being found 



