THE FLYCATCHERS 1695 



while the tail is ample and rounded, and the feet are moderate and slender. Full of 

 life and energy, hopping merrily from bough to bough, the fantails construct beau- 

 tiful little nests covered with cobwebs. 



Between forty and fifty species of fantails are known, inhabiting the Oriental 

 and Australian regions, and ranging to Tasmania and the islands of the Malay 

 Archipelago. Thus L,ayard's fantail inhabits the Fiji group of islands, while the 

 white-bellied fantail is found in the islands of the Philippine Archipelago, and the 

 sooty fantail is peculiar to New Zealand. The white-browed fantail ranges from 

 Ceylon to the Himalayas; while the Javan fantail inhabits Tenasserim, Siam, Cochin 

 China, and the Malay Peninsula. One of the best known of the Indian fantails is 

 the white-browed species {R. albifrontata} , which breeds all over the plains of 

 India, sometimes nesting in a bush, but generally in a mango tree. The nest is cup 

 shaped and deep, framed of fine stems of grass, and lined with fine grass roots and 

 a little hair, the exterior being coated with cobwebs. It is generally placed upon 

 the upper surface of a nearly horizontal bough; and the eggs are white in ground 

 color, with many minute brown specks, and a fine zone of grayish brown at the 

 larger end. This fantail rears two broods in a season. The adult male has 

 the crown, lores, and ear coverts black; the forehead white; the wings and upper 

 parts ashy brown; the cheeks and throat black, tipped with white; the sides of the 

 breast black, and the remainder of the lower parts white. 



In the wooded tracts of the lower Himalayan ranges, the white-throated fan- 

 tail (/?. albicollis) is to be seen in the summer months, generally frequenting a 

 thickly wooded country. It is very partial to mango trees; and darts out occasionally 

 with a tumbling flight as if falling from the tree, and suddenly returning to its 

 perch, keeping up an almost incessant snapping sound with the beak as it hawks 

 about the tree for insects, and indulging occasionally in a not unpleasing little song. 

 It nests in some slender upright fork; the nest being composed of dry grass stems 

 and pieces of dry blades of grass, with here and there fragments of vegetable fibre, 

 and entirely coated with cobwebs, while in form it resembles an inverted cone and 

 is comparatively solid. The eggs of this species are slightly smaller than those of 

 the last and are wanting in gloss. They are of a very pale fawn, or grayish white 

 ground color, with an irregular zone of gray specks and spots. The adult male is of 

 a general smoky black above with a white eye stripe; the wings are browner than 

 the back; the two central tail feathers are black, the remainder being broadly tipped 

 with white; a dull patch of white extends across the lower throat, and the rest of 

 the under surface is slaty black. 



One of the tamest and most familiar of Australian birds is the little black fan- 

 tail {R. motacilloides) . Gould says that it passes much of its time on the ground, 

 over which it runs and darts with the utmost celerity, and when skirting the stream 

 with tail erect and shaking from side to side, it presents an appearance very similar 

 to that of the pied wagtails. The movements of the tails of the two birds, however, 

 are very different, that of the European being perpendicular, while that of the 

 Australian is a kind of lateral swing. Its song, which consists of a few loud and 

 shrill notes, is continually poured forth throughout the entire night, especially if 

 it be moonlight, and the flight is at times gracefully undulating, but always of very 



