FLYCATCHERS. 



5'5 



Rhodes, also visiting the Cyclades : while the white-vented bulbul (P. (trsirioi ; ) 



frequents the mimosa groves of Northern Africa. It is considered the finest 



songster of all the family. Mr. Gurney, who met with this species at Faioum, 



was told by the natives that it was very partial to apricots, and found it singing 



among tall palm-trees. In South Africa the red-eyebrowed bulbul (P. capensis), 



the knif-kop of the colonists, is well known for its partiality to figs and grapes; 



and is a bird of sociable temperament, generally living in small flocks. 



The red-billed liothrix of India (Liothrix luted), shown on the 

 Liothrts:. . 



right side of the figure on p. 513 is the typical representative of 



another subfamily, including such members of the present family as are arboreal in 

 their habits, and of which the sexes are differently coloured ; the first character dis- 

 tinguishing them from the BracJi ;j pod i >w\ and the second from all the rest. In the 

 typical genus, which includes but a single mountain species, the feathers of the 

 slightly-forked tail are curved outwards. 



The Flycatchers. 



Family MUSCICAPIDJE. 



The large group of birds now claiming our attention are insectivorous in their 

 habits, and, like the chats, pursue their prey in short flights from a perch, 

 to which they return after the capture. Exhibiting much variety of form and 

 plumage, some species are for the most part plain and homely-coloured birds, 

 while others, such as the Indian paradise -flycatchers (Terpsiphone), almost vie 

 with the birds from which they take the first half of their name in the bright 

 coloration of their plumage and the elongation of the central tail-feathers of the 

 male. As a group, Mr. Oates considers that the flycatchers may be best recognised 

 by the mottled plumage of the nestling, and the presence of numerous hairs (distinct 

 from the rictal bristles) stretching from the forehead over the nostrils. There are, 

 however, many connecting links between the most specialised flycatchers with their 

 flattened beaks, and the more warbler-like forms. With smooth, simply notched 

 beak, ten primaries, and twelve tail-feathers, they all have feebly developed legs 

 and feet, which prevent them from walking on the ground, and thus serve to 

 differentiate them from the more typical members of the thrush family. Most 

 abundant in the tropical regions of the Old World, the flycatchers are quite 

 unknown in America, 



The typical flycatchers (Muscicapa), of which there area con- 

 siderable number of species, with a wide distribution in the Old World, 

 have the tail <•< msiderably shorter than the wing, the second primary equal in length 

 to the fifth, and the wings when closed not reaching beyond the middle of the tail. 

 Spotted Among the commonest of European summer birds is the spotted 



Flycatcher. or g re y flycatcher (Muscicapa griseola), which does not, however, 

 reach its haunts until later in the spring than the majority of small migrants, not 

 being met with even in Spain until the latter part of April, and being still later 

 in the more northern parts of its habitat. Unlike most English migratory 

 songsters, this flycatcher may be met with throughout the summer in the London 



