102 GLIMPSES OF INDIAN BIRDS 







Early in April the paradise flycatchers (Terpsiphone 

 paradisi) arrive. The hen is a chestnut bird with a 

 black head and crest and a white breast ; she looks 

 something like a bulbul. The cock when quite young 

 is similarly attired. At his first autumnal moult, that 

 is to say when he is about fifteen months old, his two 

 middle tail feathers outgrow the rest by twelve or 

 thirteen inches. In his third year white feathers begin 

 to appear among the chestnut ones, and after his 

 third autumnal moult he emerges as a magnificent 

 white bird with a metallic black head and crest. His 

 elongated tail feathers now look like white satin 

 streamers. He retains this livery for the remainder of 

 his life, and looks so magnificent in it as to merit well 

 his name. It is impossible to mistake the paradise fly- 

 catcher. There is no other bird like it. It is a denizen 

 of orchards and shady groves and may always be seen 

 during the hot weather in the beautiful wood on the 

 bank of the Ravi between the bridge of boats and the 

 railway. A cock paradise flycatcher, in the full glory 

 of his white plumage, as he flits like a sprite through the 

 leafy glade, is a sight never to be forgotten. The 

 movements of his long tail feathers as he pursues his 

 course are as graceful as those of the folds of the 

 gossamer garments of a skilled serpentine dancer. 



The nest is a deep cup, in shape like an inverted 

 cone, plastered exteriorly with cobweb and white 

 cocoons. It is almost invariably placed in a fork near 

 the end of one of the lower branches of a tree. Both 

 cock and hen take part in nest building and incubation. 

 As the cock sits his long white tail feathers hang down 



