494 CLASS AVES. 



solidly to the branches which surround it. They compose it 

 of stalks of the liana, turned with much art, and give it a 

 very considerable depth. The female lays five or six eggs of 

 an olive green colour with red points. These points are 

 greatly multiplied towards the large end, where they form a 

 kind of zone. 



The Muscicapa Pristinaria is another African bird, which 

 the colonists at the Cape call MoUnar (the Miller) from a 

 fancied resemblance between the song of the male, and the 

 sound of a handmill used in this colony for grinding corn. 

 Its cry may be thus expressed : gre rrrrrrrr rar, gre r r r 

 rrrr rr rar, gre rrrrrrrr rar. This sound it utters with- 

 out inten-uption wherever it is found, and thus reveals the 

 place where it is concealed. Without this noise it would be 

 difficult to discover it, as it remains constantly in the thickest 

 bushes. This species is very numerous in the neighbourhood 

 of the river of Uywenhoc. 



The Muscicapa A'edon is remarkable for the sweetness of its 

 song. It is true, that this is not the only fl3'catcher which has 

 been remarked for this attribute, and received the epithet of 

 musical. It is, however, at the least questionable, if all the 

 birds so called, are in reality belonging to this genus. The 

 bird in question inhabits the rocks and vallies of Oriental 

 Tartary ; and Pallas, to whom we are indebted for its discovery, 

 informs us that it sings during the night in a strain not inferior 

 to the nightingale. This last mentioned bird is not found in 

 the same country. 



We shall give the substance here of M. Vieillot's observa- 

 tions on the Black Flycatchers of Europe, as we think them of 

 importance towards the discrimination of species. 



There are few birds which have occasioned, and do still 

 occasion, more mistakes than those which, in the same year 

 exhibit different liveries, or whose colours vary in each season. 

 In many systems of ornithology we find the same species 

 repeated two or three times, as distinct ones, in consequence 



