5 2o PERCHING BIRDS. 



In the wooded tracts of the lower Himalayan ranges, the white-throated 

 fantail (R. albicollis) is to be seen in the summer months, generally frequenting a 

 thickly wooded country ; being very partial to mango trees, darting out occasion- 

 ally with a tumbling flight as if falling from the tree and suddenly returning to 

 its perch. Keeping up an almost incessant snapping sound with the beak as it 

 hawks about the tree for insects, and indulging occasionally in a not unpleasing 

 little song, it nests in some slender upright fork ; the nest being composed of dry 

 grass-stems and pieces of dry blades of grass, with here and there fragments of 

 vegetable fibre, and entirely coated with cobwebs; while in form it resembles 

 an inverted cone and is comparatively solid. The eggs of this species are 

 slightly smaller than those of the last ; and are wanting in gloss, and of a very 

 pale fawn, or greyish white ground colour, with an irregular zone of grey specks 

 and spots. The adult male is of a general smoky black above with a white eye- 

 stripe ; the wings are browner than the back ; the two central tail-feathers are 

 black, the remainder being broadly tipped with white; a dull patch of white 

 extends across the lower throat ; and the rest of the under surface is slaty 

 black. 



One of the tamest and most familiar of Australian birds is the little black 

 fantail (B. onotacilloides). Gould says that it passes much of its time on 

 the ground, over which it runs and darts with the utmost celerity, and when 

 skirting the stream with tail erect and shaking from side to side it presents 

 an appearance very similar to that of the pied wagtails ; the movements of the 

 tails of the two birds, however, are very different, that of the European being 

 perpendicular, while that of the Australian is a kind of lateral swing. Its song, 

 which consists of a few loud and shrill notes, is continually poured forth 

 throughout the entire night, especially if it be moonlight ; and the flight is at times 

 gracefully undulating, but always of very short duration. It commences to 

 build in September, often placing its beautiful cup-shaped nest upon some branch 

 overhanging the water. Sometimes it nests upon the upper side of a fallen branch 

 without the slightest shelter from the sun and rain, and at an elevation of only 

 three or four feet from the ground. The nest consists of dried grasses, strips of 

 bark and roots all firmly matted together and covered over with cobwebs, so that 

 the entire nest looks like an excrescence of the wood ; it is lined with fine 

 grass, roots, or feathers. The eggs are dull greenish white, blotched and 

 spotted with blackish and chestnut-brown. The old birds are very tame at 

 the nest, and will even perch upon it while the eggs are being removed, uttering 

 a peculiar cry. The adult male has the upper-parts black ; the great wing- 

 coverts are brown, as are the primaries ; the tail is black, as are the sides of the 

 face, throat, and sides of the breast ; and the remainder of the lower surface 

 is white. 



The Swallows. 



Family HiRUNDiNIDJE. 



Possessing a short and wide bill, deeply cleft, with the gape very wide, and 

 the mouth opening to about the line of the eye, the swallows have the wings 



