Birds of the Indian Hills 



THE MUSCICAPID^. OR FLYCATCHER 

 FAMILY 



The family of the flycatchers is well repre- 

 sented in the hills, for its members love trees. 

 The great majority of them seem never to 

 descend to the ground at all. Flycatchers are 

 birds that feed exclusively on insects, which 

 they catch on the wing. Their habit is to 

 make from some perch little sallies into the air 

 after their quarry. But, we must bear in mind 

 that a bird that behaves thus is not necessarily 

 a flycatcher. Other birds, as, for example, 

 king-crows and bee-eaters, have discovered how 

 excellent a way this is of securing a good supply 

 of food. The beautiful verditer flycatcher 

 {Stofarola melanops) must be familiar to every- 

 one who has visited the Himalayas. The 

 plumage of this flycatcher is pale blue — blue 

 of that peculiar shade known as verditer blue. 

 There is a little black on the head. The 

 plumage of the hen is distinctly duller than 

 that of the cock. This species loves to sit on 

 a telegraph wire or at the very summit of a 

 tree and pour forth its song, which consists of 

 a pleasant, if somewhat harsh, trill or warble 



of a dozen or more notes. The next flycatcher 



62 



