

MUSCICAPINiE. 



It is in various parts of India and its archipelago that these birds are found. They are observed in wooded districts 

 and gardens generally singly or in pairs, sitting upright upon the shady branches of trees or occasionally in exposed 

 places, as on a post or dead branch, waiting the approach of small insects, which, when within a few feet, they pursue 

 and take upon the wing, often returning to the same branch or to a neighbouring station. The food entirely consists 

 of small insects, which, when scarce, occasions them to migrate to a fresh locality. 



1. N. sundara Hodgs. Ind. Rev. 1837. p. 651. 



2. N. Macgregorii (Burt.) Proc. Z. S. 1835. p. 152. — Niltava 

 fuligi venter Hodgs. x \ 



3. N.grandis (Blyth), Joum. A. S. B.,1842. p. 189- 



4. N. rubeculoides (Vigors), Proc. Z. S. 1831. p. 35. — Niltava 

 brevipes Hodgs. ; Type of Cynornis Blyth (1843). 



5. N. banyumas (Horsf.) Linn. Trans, xiii. p. 146. Zool. Res. 



in Java, pi ■ Muscicapa cantatrix Temm. PI. eol. 226. ; M. rube- 



cula Swains. Libr. Flyc. x. pi. 27. ; M. Tytlerii James ; M. rufi- 

 gaster Raffl,. ; M. cyanea Vieill. 



6. N. Tickellii (Blyth) Muscicapa hyacintha Tick. Journ. 



A. S. B. ii. 574. 



7. N. unicolor (Blyth), Journ. A. S. B. 1843. p. 1007. 



8. N. nigrorufa (Jerd.) Madr. Journ. Lit. & Sci. 1842. p. 189. 



9. N. rufula (Lafr.) Rev. Zool. 1840. p. 66. 



10. N. hyacintha (Temm.) PI. col. 30. 



11. N. elegans (Temm.) PI. col. 596. f. 2. 



12. N. indigo (Horsf.) Linn. Trans, xiii. p. 146. Zool. Res. in 

 Java, pi. — Platyrhynchus cyanoleucus Vieill. 



13. N. pallipes (Jerd.) Madr. Journ. Lit. & Sci. 1840. p. 15. — 

 Muscicapa indigo Horsf. ? 



14. N. melanops (Vigors), Proc. Z. S. 1831. p. 171. Gould, Cent, 

 of B. pi. — Muscicapa thalassina Swains. ; M. lapis Less. 



15. N. albicaudata (Jerd.) Madr. Journ. Lit. & Sci. 1840. 

 p. 16. — Muscicapa thalassina Swains. ? 



16. N. azurea (Vieill.) N. Diet d'Hist. Nat. xxi. p. 463. 

 Le Vaill. Ois. d'Afr. pi. 158. 



17- N. cyanomelana (Temm.) PL enl. 470. 



18. N. strophiata (Hodgs.) Indian Rev. 1837. — Type of Si- 

 phia Hodgs. (1837). 



19. N. auricularis (Hodgs.) Journ. A. S. E. 1843. p. 940. 



20. N. plumosa (Blyth), Journ. A. S. B. 1842. p. 791. 



Setophaga Swains* 



Bill moderate, broad, and depressed at the base, with the culmen slightly curved, and the sides 

 gradually compressed to the tip, which is slightly emarginated ; the gonys long and ascending ; the gape 

 furnished with short bristles ; the nostrils basal, oval, and partly covered by the bristles. Wings long 

 and pointed, with the first quill slightly shorter than the second and third, which are the longest. Tail 

 long, broad, and nearly even. Tarsi rather longer than the middle toe, and covered with broad scales. 

 Toes long, with the outer longer than the inner ; the hind toe long : the claws long, curved, and 

 acute. 



It is in North and South America that the species are found. They inhabit the forests, borders of swamps and mea- 

 dows. Wilson, in speaking of the North American species, says, it is almost perpetually in motion ; and will pursue a 

 retreating party of flies from the tops of the tallest trees in an almost perpendicular, but zigzag direction to the ground, 

 while the clicking of its bill is distinctly heard ; and it probably secures ten or twelve of these in a descent of three or 

 four seconds. It then alights on an adjoining branch, traverses it lengthwise for a few moments, flitting its expanded 

 tail from side to side, and suddenly shoots off in a direction quite unexpected after fresh game, which it can discover at a 

 great distance. The nest is frequently built in low bushes, in the fork of a small sapling, or on the drooping branches 

 of the elm, within a few feet of the ground ; outwardly it is formed of flax well wound together, and moistened with 

 saliva interspersed here and there with pieces of lichen, and lined with a very soft downy substance. 



Mr. Swainson established this genus in 1827 (Zoological Journal, iii. p. 360.). Sylvania of Mr. Nuttall (1832) is synonymous. 



