M U S C I C A P A, 
270 
From this account the naturalift mayjudge of the refem- 
blances and the differences between this and the European 
fpecies. 
It inhabits in great numbers the Auteniquois country, 
and the whole coaft of Natal. The male exprefles very 
clearly tzirer-chrrjl; the female has but a Angle note. 
They build their nefts in coppices and thickets in a forked 
part near the trunk; they are compofed of bits of herbs 
and hair, with an outer covering of mofs and a lining of 
hair. The female lays five eggs of a reddifh-grey colour. 
The young birds at their firft: plumage have the wing-fea¬ 
thers all edged with red ; and all the browm colour has a 
fmall tinge of red, efpecially about the rump. But Vail- 
lant met with an entire brood, the young of which had 
the wing and tail feathers almoft wholly white; a proof 
that it is not in cold countries only that birds vary to a 
white colour. 
107. Mufcicapa ftellata, the ftarred fly-catcher: a little 
white ftar on each fide of the forehead between the upper 
mandible and the eye. The head is entirely covered with 
bluifli grey, except the white fpot; the throat is of the 
fame colour, terminating in a w'hite collar formed by a 
Angle row of feathers. The mantle, back, rump, and 
upper tail-coverts, are olive-green with a tinge of yellow; 
the feathers of the tail are equal in length, and of the 
fame colour, but the lateral ones are inwardly barbed with 
yellow'. The wings are flate-colour, with an edging of 
lighter grey. All the under parts of the body and tail are 
yellow, inclining to olive on the breaft and fides. The 
bill and claws are blackifli brown; the legs yellowifhbrow'n; 
the eyes browniih red. 
This fpecies is fomewhat larger than the preceding, 
being very near the fize of our fly-catcher, but the legs 
are longer. The female is as large as the male; her head, 
neck, mantle, w'ings, and tail, olive-green, but duller 
than in the male; the throat and cheeks fainter olive; 
and the under furface pale yellow with a tinge of olive on 
the breaft and under the tail. She has neither the grey 
head-piece, the w'hite ftars, nor the white collar, of the 
male. In the young birds, the male and female can hard¬ 
ly be diftinguiihed. The male, at the fecond moult, re¬ 
ceives his grey head-piece; but (till the white ftars in the 
forehead cannot be perceived but by removing the fea¬ 
thers at the place they fpring from ; and the white neck¬ 
lace is not yet formed. He does not attain his complete 
plumage till a year old. His fong has fome refemblance 
to that of our chaffinch. They build in trees, in the low 
forked branches: the neft is made of fibres of herbs in¬ 
terwoven with a fpecies of lichen very common on the 
trees of that country; the lining is very minute and flexi¬ 
ble bits of roots, but contains nothing like dowrn, fea¬ 
thers, or hair. The eggs are four, greenifh-grey dotted 
with red ; incubation lafts fixteen days. 
One Angularity was obferved in thefe birds : on each 
fide the vent, the male has two fatty protuberances, fliaped 
exaftly like eggs, three lines long and tw'o thick, and of a 
w'hite colour : “ Their fliape and colour,” fays Vaillant, 
“ made me at firft fuppofe they might be external tefticles ; 
but, having opened the bird, and found he had internal 
ones like all other birds, I found I had been deceived, 
I cut them in tw’o, and found them to contain ayellowiflt 
oil, exaftly fimilar to what is exprefled from the glands 
about the rump in all birds, and which ferves to poliffi 
their feathers. I found, however, that the liquor did 
not ooze out upon fqueezing thefe glands, or eggs, unlefs 
fo fqueezed as to burft them : I therefore imagine them 
not to be intended for that purpofe. The next idea was, 
that this appearance might proceed from fome diforder; 
but this I could not long entertain, becaufe feven males 
whom I had killed had all of them thefe protuberances, 
and I never met with them upon any female; neither did 
any of the males I killed appear to be difeafed. I have 
not been able to clear up my doubts on this head, as to 
whether it were a diforder peculiar to this bird in certain 
cantons or at a particular feufon 3 for I never met with the 
fpecies but near Rlettemberg or Lagoa Bay, and towards 
Poort.” 
108. Mufcicapa azurufa, the blue-and-red fly-catcher: 
upper furface bright blue, under orange-red. This fpe¬ 
cies inhabits the country of the Great Namaquois, on the 
trees near the Fifh River. It is fix lines (hotter than the 
preceding. Almoft the whole upper furface, namely, the 
face, head, back of the neck, mantle, rump, wings, and 
tail, is of the brighteft azure-blue ; the throat, front of 
the neck, and breaft, orange-colour; and the belly, legs, 
and under tail-coverts, white. The bill, feet, and nails, 
are brown ; eye bright orange. The female 'sfmaller; 
her blue is not fo bright; and her under furface is en¬ 
tirely white, with fome very faint tinges of red ; belly a 
dirty white. In Vaillant’s coloured plate of this fpecies, 
the colours intended for the male are laid on the female, 
and vice-verfa. (See his African Birds, PI. 158.) The 
young male has orange only on the lower part of the 
throat, with a few traces of that colour on the br.eaft. 
Vaillant was informed that thefe are birds of paflage, ar¬ 
riving in that country during the heats, and migrating in 
the rainy leafon. The call of the male very diftinctly 
exprefles the fyllables piet-piet, piereret-piereret. Thefe 
birds are not very ftiy : they feed upon caterpillars and 
fpiders only. They make their neft in mimofa-trees, fix¬ 
ing it ftrongly in the fork of two or more branches ; it con- 
fifts of twigs nicely interlaced, and is very deep, but no 
down of any kind, neither feathers, hair, nor even mofs, 
enters into its compofition. The eggs, five or fix in num¬ 
ber, are olive-green dotted with red, efpecially towards 
the larger end, w'here they are fo numerous as to form a 
kind of chain-work. The male bird is reprefented on 
the Plate at fig. 2. 
109. Mufiricapaalbicapilla, the white-hooded fly-catcher: 
head and neck entirely enclofed in a hood of white, which 
falls down in a point upon the black of all the front of the 
body as far as the under tail-coverts, which again are 
fringed with white. The plumage at the top of the head 
is long, and forms a creft inclining backwards, but wdiich 
the bird eredls when moved by anger or by love, emitting 
at the fame time a plaintive note, which dies away in a 
Angular manner. The hind part of the neck, mantle, 
back, wings, and tail, are jet black; but all the wing- 
quills are edged with white, which has a very pretty effedt. 
The tail, which is a little rounded, is tipped with white. 
The bill is brown, the eyes red, the feet and nails black* 
The female is as large as the male ; her hood is grey in- 
ftead of white, and the creft very fcanty. The reft of her 
plumage is black of a browniih caft, and the edging of the 
wings is grey. This fpecies Vaillant met with only on 
the high mountains in the country of the Houzouanas, 
and among rocks. They are extremely (hy, and our na- 
turalift was never able to difeover a neft. In the ftomachs 
of thofe he (hot he found the remains of infedts only. 
The male is reprefented at fig. 3. 
no. Mufcicapa molenara, the miller fly-catcher. This 
fpecies is called moolenar, miller, by the Dutch fettlers 
and Hottentots, becaufe the male really makes a noife re- 
fembling thofe hand-mills which many of the inhabitants 
ufe for grinding their own corn. Thefe birds keep in 
the thickeft buihes, and would not be eafily difeovered 
but for the grating note of the males, grerrrrar, grerrrrar t 
which they repeat almoft incelfantly; yet they are not 
very ffiy, for, while making this delightful muiic, you, 
may get near enough to knock them down with a flick. 
The male is about the fize of our titmoufe, Parus major. 
It is of a reddifli brown tinged with olive on the head, 
neck, mantle, rump, and upper tail-coverts; the wings 
are black, and fo is the tail, but the lateral feathers are 
bordered with white; the feathers of the wings alfo have 
an edging of reddifli white; and near the middle of the 
wing appears a fpot of red. A black fpot begins at the 
noftrils, and reaches acrofs the eye. The throat is black, 
which is divided from the black of the eye by a white 
ftripe, There is a large black patch on the breaft, leaving 
• on 
4 
