FLYCATCHERS. 79 



dainty little cup of fine grass or fibres, compacted 

 and draped with cobwebs. The whole thing, when 

 finished, is not much bigger than an egg-cup, and 

 as the bird sits on her three ring-spotted eggs, her 

 head projects on one side and her tail stretches away 

 on the other. But the site is so well chosen, with 

 just a few leaves to come in the way of the prying 

 eye, that you may look long before you find that nest. 

 Of the plain Flycatchers (plain in form, I mean, 

 not in colour), there are many species in India, 

 and some of them are very brightly attired. Blue 

 is the most fashionable colour, and one common 

 kind has a red breast, like a robin. Jerdon calls it 

 Tickell's Blue Redbreast (Cyornis tickelli). I should 

 not be surprised to meet with this or some of the 

 others in Bombay, but the only species of which I 

 can say that it is found in our island is the Southern 

 Brown Flycatcher (Alseonax latirostris). It is just 

 " a tiny brownie bird," and no description of it would 

 be of much assistance in identifying it at a distance. 

 But just as you may recognise a man by his figure 

 and walk when you cannot see his features, so you 

 may know a bird without the help of its colour. 

 And the Brown Flycatcher has more character than 

 most. Its very way of sitting, bolt upright, on the 

 undertwigs of a tree, and the ceaseless, nervous move- 

 ment of its little tail, and the nimble little sallies 

 after flies, all declare it, and, at closer quarters, its 

 great black eyes, too big for its little head, are unmis- 

 takeable. It is a creature of habit, frequenting the 

 same corner of the garden day after day, and sitting 

 on the same twig. But it comes to us for the cold 

 season only, like M, P.'s and Commissions. 



