58 BLACK-BELLIED FLYCATCHER. 



a travers les arbres pour se saisir des mouches qu'il 

 poursuit sans cesse.) Our author mentions, that 

 out of one hundred and four male birds which he 

 shot, the tails of only fourteen were perfect. 



Returning to the species before us, we may add to 

 the specific distinction already given, the following 

 general description of the plumage. The head, like 

 the generality of the other species, is ornamented 

 with an incumbent crest, the feathers of which 

 gradually lengthen as they approach the nape, where 

 it terminates in a semicircular form : the whole of 

 the head, neck, throat, and breast, are deep black, 

 strongly glossed with steel-blue. This gloss, in the 

 young bird, gradually disappears beyond the breast, 

 where the colour becomes of a deep grey ; but in 

 the full plumaged male, all the under parts are like 

 the breast. The under tail- covers are rufous, as 

 deep in colour as the tail itself; this is one of the 

 peculiar specific distinctions of the species. The 

 whole of the upper plumage of the body, beyond 

 the neck, is uniformly of that bright rufous so pre- 

 valent in this genus; this colour extends to that 

 half of the wings which is nearest the body, the 

 outer half being entirely black : these two colours 

 are divided by a line of pure white, which margins 

 the feathers, over which as it were it passes, 



would seem to imply that these birds pursue their prey from 

 place to place, and not, like ordinary flycatchers, by taking up 

 a fixed station and merely darting upon such flies as come 

 within the range of a dart or spring. This is a very important 

 question, and deserves the close attention of the African or- 

 nithologist. 



