FLYCATCHERS. 



5*9 



and swollen, with numerous long and coarse bristles at the rictus. Distributed 

 all over India and the adjacent regions, the paradise-flycatchers have the sexes 

 almost or completely alike for the first two years, when the prevailing coloration 

 of the plumage is chestnut. This dress is never changed by the hen birds ; but 

 sometimes after the second autumn the cocks assume a beautiful white plumage, 

 and it thus happens that in some cases both members of a pair may be breeding 

 in the chestnut dress, instead of the male being far more gorgeous than his 

 partner. Writing of the Indian paradise-flycatcher (T. paradisi), whose range 

 extends from Ceylon to Kashmir, Leith Adams observes, that in the plains of 

 India "its singularly attractive plumage can scarcely escape observation. The 

 adult male has a blue head and white body, with two of the tail-feathers prolonged 

 for upwards of eight inches beyond the tip ; those in the female scarcely extending 

 beyond a quarter of an inch. The young birds are chestnut. The paradise - 

 flycatcher does not possess great power of flight, except when hunting for insects ; 

 then its movements are quick, it suddenly appears on a branch beside you, and the 

 next moment is seen shooting like an arrow through the grove, at times uttering a 

 harsh chirp now perched on the upper bough of a tamarind, now on the lower 

 one of a neighbouring tree spectre-like it suddenly appears, and is as quickly 

 gone." The five eggs laid by the hen are pink spotted with brownish red. 



Fantaii- Our notice of the family may be brought to an end by a brief 



Flycatchers, mention of the fantail-flycatchers (Rhipidura), which, while differing 

 from the members of the preceding genus by the absence of a crest on the head 

 are distinguished from the other crestless forms of the group by the length of the 

 tail considerably exceeding that of the wing. Possessing a short depressed bill, 

 broad at the base, with the culmen arched, and the upper mandible notched > these 

 birds have the nostrils oval, basal, and nearly covered by the rictal bristles ; 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 

 beautiful 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 Layard'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 Himalaya; 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-colour, with many minute brown specks, and a fine zone of 

 greyish 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. 



