106 TETCPSIPHONE PARADISI. 



in the Kurunegala district, it is extremely abundant. As regards the young birds during the south-west monsoon , 

 I have found them more abundant in the low-lying forests between Haputale and the sea than anywhere else. 



I would add here that in my conclusions concerning the migration of the old birds I am supported by 

 my friend and correspondent, Mr. Parker, who has paid particular attention to the subject dining his residence 

 :ir Madewatchiya, -where the species was very numerous and bred in April and May. Mr. Holds-worth 

 observed many immature birds at Aripu during the. south-west monsoon ; but I am not aware that 

 lie met with any adult red birds. As regards the earlier migration of the adults, and the arrival with 

 them of many young birds, it can be explained on the assumption that most birds leave the island to 

 breed on tbe mainland, bringing their young back with them, while a few that have paired as early as April 

 are constrained to remain behind for a period and breed in the island, departing soon afterwards without 

 their young. 



On the continent the Paradise Flycatcher is found from the extreme south of the peninsula to the Hima- 

 layas. To the westward it extends to the province of Guzerat and the vicinity of Kattiawar; it is, says ('apt 

 Butler, not uncommon at Mount Aboo, and it likewise occurs at Sambhur and Ajmere. Mr. Brooks has 

 observed it in the valley of the Bhagirati, even above Mussoori, but it does not seem to ascend the Himalayas 

 to any considerable altitude. In Travancore, Mr. Bourdillon writes that it ascends the hills in March and 

 \pril when the weather is hot; but in the Palanis Mr. Fairbank only observed it at the base of the ranges. 

 Messrs. Davidson and Winder say that it is "freely scattered all over the Deccan," and they believe that it 

 breeds at Satara. Mr. Ball writes that it is a remarkable fact that it does not visit the Chota-Nagpur and 

 Sambalpur jungles until March and April. In 1875 he observed no birds until the latter month, and saw 

 them after that daily during the month of May, " while marching through the Orissa tributary mehals." 



It i- worthy of remark that this bird has been called the Paradise-bird from the earliest times. Edwards, 

 who figured it as the " Black-and-white crested Bird of Paradise," says that it had been described formerly bv 

 .Mr. Petever in Ray's ' Synopsis Methodica Avium,' published in the 17th century, and he likewise speaks of 

 having seen three skins of it in London. 



Habits. — This remarkable bird is very fond of the neighbourhood of water, and is always found in shady 

 trees surrounding tanks, swamps, and wet paddy-fields, or bordering rivers and streams in the forests. The 

 fine bamboos on the western and southern rivers are a favourite resort. It is, however, not confined to aqueous 

 snots, but is found in jungle of all descriptions and in the densest forests. It is a very tame bird, exhibiting 

 not tin' slightest fear of man, and often takes up its abode in jack, bread-fruit, and other cultivated trees 

 adjacent to native cottages, about which it darts, whisking its long tail to and fro, and when in the white 

 plumage forms a conspicuous and beautiful object as contrasted to the surrounding dark-green foliage. It 

 is very lively in the evenings before roosting, uttering its harsh note, tchreet, and darting actively on passing 

 insects. It is capable of much longer flights than most Flycatchers, frequently compassing the distance across 

 ■> urn nidc paddy-field with ease and celerity. Its peculiar appearance when thus flying, with its long tail 

 extended like a piece of rag or cotton, has acquired for it the curious native appellations by which it is known. 

 It dors not return to its perch after taking its prey, but darts oil' to another, and so moves about more than is 

 usual with other Flycatchers. I have once or twice disturbed it from the ground, which proves that its habits 

 are to a slight extent terrestrial — a remarkable feature in a Flycatcher. Mr. Ball has seen it alight on the 

 ground, and writes that, Captain Gray and Mr. Levin confirm his statement that it does do so ; the former 

 mentions three of the chestnut birds hopping round his chair, and the latter saw young birds settling on the 

 ground in his garden and hopping about after insect-. 



Nidification. — Mr. Parker writes me that the Paradise Flycatcher breeds about Madewatchiya in April 

 and May. Layard mentions having found a nest at Tangalla, in the fork of a satin-wood tree, and that the 

 nest was " a neat well-built cup-shaped structure, composed externally of mosses and lichens, and lined with 

 hair and wool." 



Mr. Hume writes that " the nest is commonly a delicate little cup, never very deep, often rather shallow, 

 composed, according to locality, of moss, moss-roots, vegetable fibres, and fine grass, which latter generally 

 constitutes the greater portion of the framework, bound round exteriorly with cobwebs, in which little silky- 



