372 



AVES— ORDER PASSER/FORMES. 



rue 



Mocking-Birds. 

 — Family 



MimidcB. 



Fig. 113.— The Mocking-Bird 

 (A( Imus polyglotlus). 



The mocking-birds r.re an American family, of wliicli Mimus polygloUns 

 and the cat-bird {Galtoscopies 

 carolinensis) are prominent ex- 

 amples. Tlie MimidiK are found 

 throughout temperate North 

 America, Central America, the 

 West Indian islands, and the 

 greater part of South America, even to Chili, 

 Patagonia, and tlie Galapagos Islands. Their 

 powers of song and mimicry are proverbial. 



The Timeliidce are short-winged, non-migra- 

 tory birds, with the habits of thrushes and the 

 rictal bristles of flycatchers. 

 The Babblers.— They are mostly ground birds. 

 Family many of them, like Grateropus, 



Timeliidce. proceeding through the bushes 

 in flocks, while others, like Ptilo- 

 cichla are clothed in dense plumage, resembling 



the FormicariidcE of South America. The characters and limits of this large 

 Old World family are still imperfectly understood. 



The bulbuls are another family peculiar to the Old World, thrush-like in 



character, but differing from the thrushes in their short tarsi, and stronger 



rictal bristles. They are birds of quiet habits, but posses.s a 



sweet song. The Pycnonotidce are found all over Africa, 



and one species is an inhabitant of Algeria and Morocco. 



They are strongly represented throughout the Indian region, 



and. extend into the entire Malayan region. 



The chief character which distinguislies this Old World family of birds 



The is the spiny character of the rump-feathers. They are 



Cuckoo-Shrikes, found throughout the Ethiopian, Indian, and Austrahan re- 



— Family gions, and constitute a link between the flycatchers and the 



Campophagidce. shrikes. 



The flycatchers are mostly broad-billed, insect-catching birds, with abun- 

 dant rictal bristles, entirely confined to the Old World, over the whole 

 „, _, i . ff which they are distributed. They 



'''-fSiv ^''^■' ^''^'' ^P"*^**"^ y°""= "''<' *''® thrushes, 



MuscicapllcB ^""^ °" ^^^^ account it is often very 



■ diflioult to determine whether some of 



the genera should be referred to the Turdida^ or the 



Muscicapidce. 



Our common flycatcher (Muscicapa grisola) is. a 

 late summer migrant to England, and arrives from 

 Africa in May. The last-named continent is also 

 the home of a number of resident species of the genus 

 Muscicapa, which is also well represented in the Indian 

 and Chinese regions by species similar to M. grijiola. 

 The nest of the latter species is often placed in a crevice 

 of bark on a tree and decor.atcd with lichens and spiders' 

 webs, which help to conceal it. The eggs are greenish- 

 white or stone-colour, with reddish-brown spots. The 

 pied flycatcher (Ficedula atyicKjiilla) represents another section of the Musd- 

 capidm, and lays blue eggs, the nest being in the hole of a tree. The faii- 



The Bulbuls.— 



Family 

 PycnonotidcE. 



Fi!;.114.— TheCommos 



Flycatcher 



(MusdcafO. grisola). 



