5 2 ° 
PERCHING BIRDS. 
In the wooded tracts of the lower Himalayan ranges, the white-throated 
fantail ( R. albicollis ) is to be seen in the summer months, generally frequenting a 
thickly wooded country; being very partial to mango trees, darting out occasion¬ 
ally with a tumbling flight as if falling from the tree and suddenly returning to 
its perch. Keeping up an almost incessant snapping sound with the beak as it 
hawks about the tree for insects, and indulging occasionally in a not unpleasing 
little song, it nests in some slender upright fork; the nest being composed of dry 
grass-stems and pieces of dry blades of grass, with here and there fragments of 
vegetable fibre, and entirely coated with cobwebs; while in form it resembles 
an inverted cone and is comparatively solid. The eggs of this species are 
slightly smaller than those of the last; and are wanting in gloss, and of a very 
pale fawn, or greyish white ground colour, with an irregular zone of grey specks 
and spots. The adult male is of a general smoky black above with a white eye- 
stripe ; the wings are browner than the back; the two central tail-feathers are 
black, the remainder being broadly tipped with white; a dull patch of white 
extends across the lower throat; and the rest of the under surface is slaty 
black. 
One of the tamest and most familiar of Australian birds is the little black 
fantail (R. motacilloides). Gould says that it passes much of its time on 
the ground, over which it runs and darts with the utmost celerity, and when 
skirting the stream with tail erect and shaking from side to side it presents 
an appearance very similar to that of the pied wagtails; the movements of the 
tails of the two birds, however, are very different, that of the European being 
perpendicular, while that of the Australian is a kind of lateral swing. Its song, 
which consists of a few loud and shrill notes, is continually poured forth 
throughout the entire night, especially if it be moonlight; and the flight is at times 
gracefully undulating, but always of very short duration. It commences to 
build in September, often placing its beautiful cup-shaped nest upon some branch 
overhanging the water. Sometimes it nests upon the upper side of a fallen branch 
without the slightest shelter from the sun and rain, and at an elevation of only 
three or four feet from the ground. The nest consists of dried grasses, strips of 
bark and roots all firmly matted together and covered over with cobwebs, so that 
the entire nest looks like an excrescence of the wood; it is lined with fine 
grass, roots, or feathers. The eggs are dull greenish white, blotched and 
spotted with blackish and chestnut-brown. The old birds are very tame at 
the nest, and will even perch upon it while the eggs are being removed, uttering 
a peculiar cry. The adult male has the upper-parts black; the great wing- 
coverts are brown, as are the primaries; the tail is black, as are the sides of the 
face, throat, and sides of the breast; and the remainder of the lower surface 
is white. 
The Swallows. 
Family Hie TJNDINID IE. 
Possessing a short and wide bill, deeply cleft, with the gape very wide, and 
the mouth opening to about the line of the eye, the swallows have the wings 
