MUSCICAP A. 
the pairing-feafon, the male, at his moulting, lofes his 
two long feathers ; and, during all the rainy feafon, his 
tail is not to be diftinguilhed from that of the female; his 
beautiful blue eyelids alio fink fo as to be hardly vilible. 
He may ftill however be diftinguilhed by his fize, his creft, 
and his plumage, which always retains a glofs never feen 
in the female. But the male, when young, cannot be 
diftinguilhed by his exterior, fro'm the female. 
This fpecies is very plentiful, along the eaftern coaft of 
Africa, from the Duywenhock to the land of Cadres ; it 
is abundant alfo on the borders of the Sondag and Svvart- 
kop ; but never near Cape-town. The male and female 
are rarely apart, even in the rainy feafon, which may be 
called the winter of that country. They inhabit the 
woods, and prefer living in high trees, for they rarely 
alight upon Ihrubs or on the ground. The males are 
very quarrelfome; they fight almoft as often as they meet; 
five or fix will be fometimes purfuing one another in a 
line; and, as their tails are very long, that is the part 
which commonly fuffers, as foon as one catches his ad- 
verfary by the tail, he never quits him till he pulls out a 
feather, or at leaft a piece of one, fo that it is uncommon 
to kill a male with his tail unmutilated. Furthermore, 
the bird, in flying among the branches of trees in pur- 
fuit of winged infedts, is continually liable to wear or 
break the; long feathers of the tail. In Ihort, it is fo dif¬ 
ficult to meet with this bird in full perfeftion and beauty, 
that, of one hundred and four males which M. Vaillant 
fliot, he declares he found but fourteen uninjured. 
The neft is of a remarkable conftrudtion, perfedlly re- 
femblinga horn fufpended point downwards, between the 
forks of a branch. It was two inches and a half wide at 
its greateft: diameter, which diminifned almoft to a point 
downwards, and bending at the fame direction. Its length, 
following its curvature, was eight inches, but the chord 
of the arc only fix. It were hard to account for the fa¬ 
brication of fuch a neft, lince three parts of it feem en¬ 
tirely ufelefs, the portion which was to contain the eggs 
being only three inches deep. It was formed of the fila¬ 
ments of the bark of Ihrubs interwoven ; there was no 
foft lining, either of down, wool, or hair; the eggs were 
not laid, nor was the neft complete, for the birds were at 
work upon it when it was taken away. It was probably 
intended to have been covered in, fo as to leave a very 
fmall hole at top ; but this is only conjecture. This beau¬ 
tiful bird and his neft are made the fubjeft of Plate II. 
39. Mufcicapa penulata, the mantled fly-catcher. This 
fpecies is of the fize and proportion of the preceding, but 
it has not the long tail-feathers which Vail.lant difcovered 
in that fpecies: its colours alfo are different. It has a 
very beautiful creft, which it raifes at the fame time that 
itfpreads out its tapered tail in.the manner of a peacock. 
The creft and neck are, in the male, of a fhining black, 
enriched with a beautiful Ihade of blue which comes down 
on the front of the neck ; the mantle,'rump, and upper 
tail-coverts, are of a bluifli grey; a broad ftripe of white 
runs acrofs the wing; of which the feathers in general 
are black, edged along with bluifh grey. The tail is a 
little tapered, and of the fame colour. The under plu¬ 
mage is in general white tinged with bluifh grey. The 
bill and feet are bluifli black; the iris brown. The mouth 
is briftled, like the genuine fly-catchers. 
The female is fomewhat lei's; her rweft not fo full nor 
fo dark 5 the hinder part of her neck,' back, breaft, and 
tail-coverts, are bluifli grey; the throat and front of the 
neck are fpotted with faint black upon acinereous ground, 
the belly white; the wings and tail are light brown; the 
feet, bill, and eyes,are lighter than thole parts in the male. 
This fpecies was met with in the Auteniq.iois forefts, 
and in the riiimofa-woods of Caftraria. It is not fo lhy as 
fiome of the preceding fpecies. “ A pair of thefe birds,” 
fays Vaillant, “ came habitually into my tent every day 
at the fame hour, while I was encamped on the edge of a 
-foreft. They perched on my chair, on the edge of a trunk, 
or upon my table ; and caught all the .flies that came near 
Tos.. XVI. No jiiq. 
2G5 
them. I feveral times feized the male, but, .when I let 
him go, he returned as ufual. The male had a (harp cry, 
Jchrret-J'chrret, which I imagine to be his call ; for, when 
the female feemed unwilling to enter my tent, the male 
began to repeat this note, and fhe came in prelently. I 
was never able to difcover the neft of this fpecies.” On 
Plate III. the male is reprefented at fig, 1. the female ac 
fig. 2. 
40. Mufcicapa fuperciliata, the fpeffacled fly-catchcr. 
The eyebrows, for fo they Ihould be called rather than 
fpeftacles, fincethey do not go round the eyes, are broad 
and white. This fpecies haunts the great forefts about 
the Gamtoo-river; and has not been met with in any 
other canton of Africa. It is fomewhat ftouter and larger 
than the preceding, and not crefted. Its broad flat bill 
is furnifhed with very long ftiff hairs, which denote a ge¬ 
nuine fiy-catcher. Its colour would be very monotonous, 
but for the white eyebrows we have mentioned, fome 
black on the front of the neck, and the whitefpots at the 
ends of the three feathers on each fide of the tail, which is 
much tapered. The black or brown collar is ornamental, 
as it lies on the white ground of the throat and breaft ; the 
under parts of the body, as far as the under tail-coverts, 
are alfo white. All the reft of the plumage js uniformly 
brown. The upper mandible is black, the under whitilh ; 
feet and nails light brown, eyes darkeh The. female is 
rather fmaller than the male; her eyebrows hardly vift- 
ble, and no appearance at all of the dark collar; the white 
of the under l'urface is much of a greyiih tinge ; the brown 
of the upper furface is fainter and more delicate. This 
bird has the faculty of fpreading out his tail into a fan, 
and laying it almoft upon his back. His note is a (harp 
cry, like fome of the preceding fpecies. They frequent 
the higheft trees, on the tops of which they lie in wait'to 
catch the flies that come within their reach. Their nefts 
they probably conceal very carefully ; for Vaillant never 
could find one, though he was in that country about the 
time of their incubation. 
4.1. Mufcicapa Borbonica, the Bourbon fly-catcher : 
length five inches and a third; bill grey; head greenilh 
black, glofi'ed with violet; throat, and all the under parts, 
afh-colour; back, wing-coverts, and tail, pale cliefnut; 
quills black, edged with cliefnut; rump grey; legs brown. 
Inhabits the Ifle of Bourbon. 
42. - Mufcicapa melanoptera, the Senegal collared fly¬ 
catcher : length four inches and three quarters: bill 
black; the head, and all above, to the rump, deep afh- 
colour; throat, and fore-part of the neck, brownilh chef- 
nut ; the lower part bounded by a tranfverfe black line ; 
breaft and under parts white; thighs dulky and white 
mixed; wings black ; acrofs the covercs a white band j 
quills black, edged with grey ; tail black ; the two mid¬ 
dle feathers tipped with white; the outer one white on 
the outer web ; legs cinereous. Native of Senegal. 
43. Mufcicapanigrifrons, the black-fronted fly-catcher: 
length four inches and-a half: 'bill dulky ; forehead, and 
fides of the head, black, ending in a point, behind each 
eye ; the reft of the upper parts of the plumage brown ; 
the chin, and throat, yellow; belly olive-brown ; tail the 
fame, except the two middle feathers, which are plain 
brown; legs black. 
44. Mufcicapa leucura, the white-tailed fly-catcher: 
fize of the preceding : bill black ; the plumage above, ci¬ 
nereous grey, beneath white; the two middle tail feathers 
black, the others black and white, divided obliquely, the 
outer feather nearly all white; legs black. From the Cape 
of Good Hope. 
45. Mufcicapa Pondicerrina, the Pondicherry fly¬ 
catcher: bill black;' the upper parts deep cinereous grey; 
over the eye a ftreak of white, palling to the hind head ,- 
the wing-coverts tipped with a triangular white fpot; all 
the tail-feathers, except the two middle ones, grey half¬ 
way from the. bafe ; the reft of their length white ; as are 
the fore-parts of the neck, breaft, and belly ; legs black. 
Found every-wherc on the coaft of Coionmndel. Its long 
