1 16 ELEMENTS OF OENITHOLOGY. 



Weaver-bird of India {Plocms haya) may be taken as a type, 

 form a large family-group of two hundred and eighty-eight 

 species. These birds are distributed over Africa and India, 

 extending into the Malay Peninsula. They are not very un- 

 like Pinches, but are of especial interest on account of the 

 wonderful nests some of them construct, as will be noticed 

 later on *, 



There is a large group of Birds called Flycatchers, which, 

 although they are confined to the Old World, yet number 

 more than four hundred and five species. Of these we may 



Kg. 125. 



The Eed-oapped Babbler ( Tiwiefea pileata). 



select the Spotted Flycatcher {Muscicapa griseolci) as an example. 

 It is one of the most regular of our summer visitants though 

 late in its arrival. All these Birds have similar habits, catching 

 insects on the wing, and then returning to the perch from which 

 they took wing to catch them. 



There is also a very large group of Birds called Babblers, or 

 Babbling Thrushes, of not less than three hundred and seventy 

 species, more or less, whereof the Eed-capped Babbler (Timelia 

 pileata) may be taken as a type. It inhabits grassy plains, but 

 the group to which it belongs consists mostly of bush-birds, that 



* See below, p. 232. 



