THE FLYCATCHERS. 57 



chestnut, the crested head being glossy blue-black, the 

 breast grey and the belly white. The bill is of a beautiful 

 blue, and the inside of the mouth a bright yellow, as 

 if it had been painted with mustard ; the eyelids are also 

 blue. Nestling birds have very dull or even brown heads. 

 In his second autumn, the young cock gets a pair of long 

 centre tail-feathers, but these are chestnut like the rest of 

 his upper plumage. In two more years nearly all the 

 plumage except the head becomes white. All red tinge 

 being lost, and he then resembles the figure, and is one 

 of the most beautiful and striking birds in any country. 

 Europeans as well as natives notice him, and have also 

 bestowed on him special names, such as " Indian Bird- 

 of-Paradise," and " Rocket Bird." 



The bird is found all over India and Ceylon, ascending 

 the hills to nine thousand feet in summer ; in Burma 

 it is replaced by a very similar species (Terpsiphone affinis) 

 which hardly differs except in having no crest, the head- 

 plumage being short. 



The Indian species, at all events, is not a very abun- 

 dant bird ; I have only seen two specimens in the wild 

 state and these, being without the long tail-feathers, 

 were either hens or quite young cocks. 



Mr. F. Groser, who has had much better opportunities 

 of studying it than I have, tells me that it feeds much on 

 butterflies, whose wings it cuts off by the snap of the beak 

 which captures them.' Some people say it has a fine song, 

 but the only notes I have heard from captive specimens 

 were harsh and unpleasant to a degree. It can be kept 

 caged, but requires a great deal of care, and ought 



