L 



716 The Sparrow-like Birds 



pillar Catcher (E. tenuirostre) of Australia generally may be taken as an ex- 

 ample. It is a dark slaty gray above, the wings being black, each feather broadly 

 margined externally with whitish, while the lores, cheeks, and ear-coverts are 

 black; the female is mainly ashy brown ; the length is about ten inches. This 

 bird, according to Gilbert, is extremely shy and retiring in its habits, generally 

 occurring in the topmost branches of the loftiest and most thickly foliaged trees 

 growing near swamps, where it is always observed singly. Its note is a harsh, 

 grating, buzzing sound, repeated rather rapidly about a dozen times in succes- 

 sion, and is likened by Campbell to the pulsating sound of a large cicada. It 

 builds a nest quite similar in appearance and situation to that of the Black- 

 faced Cuckoo-Shrike just described, but lays only a single egg, which is pale or 

 light green in color, spotted or blotched over nearly the whole surface with 

 brownish. 



African Black Cuckoo-Shrike. The typical genus (Campephaga) is en- 

 tirely confined to Africa, and, as now restricted, comprises only seven species, 

 which are distinguished among other things by a relatively broad bill and an 

 extremely long tail. In the Black Cuckoo-Shrike (C. nigra) of South Africa the 

 male is entirely black, while the female is mottled with blackish bars above and 

 white barred with blackish brown beneath. It is a rather solitary bird, fre- 

 quenting trees but often flying to the ground to pick up caterpillars. 



The Minivets (Pericrocotus], of which there are over thirty species, are by 

 far the most brilliant members of the group, scarlet and yellow being the pre- 

 dominant colors; they are confined to India and eastern Asia. They possess a 

 strong hooked and notched bill which is about half the length of the head, and 

 have the nostrils concealed by plumes, while the wings are very long and pointed, 

 the tail long and much graduated, and the feet comparatively weak. With the 

 exception of two or three species, the sexes are very different in coloration and the 

 young resemble the females in the distribution of the colors, but have the entire 

 upper plumage barred with white. "The Minivets are strictly arboreal, going 

 about in small flocks and searching the leaves and branches of trees for insects," 

 and they construct beautiful cup-shaped nests of mosses, coated with spiders' 

 webs and lichens, in the slender branches of trees. In the male of the Indian 

 Scarlet Minivet (P. speciosus) the whole head, back, and scapulars are glossy 

 black, the rump and upper tail-coverts and the lower parts behind the throat 

 a vivid scarlet, while the wings are black, barred with scarlet, and the tail, with 

 the exception of the middle pair of feathers, is also scarlet; in the female the 

 back of the head, back, and scapulars are gray, and the whole lower plumage 

 yellow, which color also appears on the wings. Another handsome species, 

 known as the Orange Minivet (P. flammeus), occurs in southern India and 

 Ceylon. In this the male is glossy blue-black above, with the rump and upper 

 tail-coverts fiery orange-red, the latter color prevailing over most of the 

 lower parts. It is a common bird, usually seen singly or in small flocks, in 

 the lofty forests of southern and western India, seeking its insect food 

 among the branches or in the air. The males have a whistled note like ivheet, 

 wheel, wheel. 



