MUSC1CAPA. 
ca tlie front of the neck another white fpace dividing it 
from the black of the throat. The fides are ruff-colour; 
the reft of the under part pure white. The bill and feet 
are brown ; the eyes very bright orange. The female is 
rather fmaller than the male. Her throat and brealt are 
ferruginous red inftead of black; belly the fame. The 
male and female are commonly feen together ; and chiefly 
in thickets or bullies, not in woods, though woods abound 
in the canton through which runs the river Duywenhock, 
where Vaillant firfl met with them ; and he continued to 
fee them all the way as far as the country of the Auteni- 
quois, where he never met with one. M. Vaillant was 
not however fo fortunate as to find either neft or eggs, 
the pairing-feafon not being arrived when he was in that 
quarter. One of the natives informed him that they built 
in thickets, which is very probable ; and that their eggs 
were white, and fix in number. They feed on caterpillars 
and infers. 
hi. Mufcicapaprint, the pririt fly-catcher. The name 
is taken from the note or cry uttered by the male. This 
fpecies is common to both the eafl and weft coafls of 
Africa ; on one fide, about the great Fifh River and 
throughout CafFraria; on the other, among the Great 
Namaquois, and efpecially in the mimofa-woods which 
fkirt the Great River on both fides, but more abundant 
on the eafl. This bird is about the fize of the preceding; 
and the male is alfo diflinguifhed by a large black breall- 
plate. The throat and front of the neck are entirely 
white, which reaches far back like a collar. All the under 
parts of the body, including the under tail-coverts, are 
alfo white, but with fome black on thofe parts of the fides 
which are concealed by the wing. The top of the head 
is dark bluifh-grey; along the forehead runs a white line, 
which goes over the eye like an eyebrow; from the corner 
of the mouth on each fide runs a black fpot, which, going 
acrofs the eyes, widens over the ears, and runs to the back 
of the neck, where the two are feparated by a white fpot. 
The mantle is flate-colour, inclining to black on the fca- 
pulars, the wing-coverts, the back, and upper tail-coverts; 
Fome irregular black lines, like pencil-marks, appear on 
the rump. The tail, which is a little rounded, is black, 
the tvvolateral feathers edged with white, the others tipped 
with white; the wing-quills are black, edged with white, 
the white edging increafing in breadth from the firfl quills 
to the lafl; a white fefloon fringes the end of the great 
coverts, forming a white fpot acrofs the wing. The bill, 
feet, and nails, are horn-colour; the eyes pale yellow. 
The female is rather fmaller than the male ; the throat 
and breafl are faint red, much lighter on the fides of the 
throat and middle of the neck, fo that the red of the breafl 
and the fpot on the throat are enclofed as it were in a 
yellowilhframe. Thefront and top of the head are grey, 
as in the male ; flie has alfo a black fpot from the corner 
of the mouth acrofs the eyes; but it does not extend lb 
far, and is terminated by the black line which enclofes 
the grey of the top of the head. She has alfo a kind of 
white eyebrow, like the male. The top of the mantle is 
light red fhaded with brown, and the lower part of the 
fame is black mixed with white. The rump is mottled 
white and black, but the white is prevalent. The under 
part of the body is white, in fome parts inclining to grey; 
the tail is black, tipped with white; wings the fame. The 
uell Vaillant was not able to procure; he could only dis¬ 
cover, therefore, that they feed on infedls, caterpillars, 
and fpiders; that the male is generally accompanied by 
his female, the male emitting one uniform note, pririt, 
pririt; and, laflly, that they are more fhy than the pre¬ 
ceding fpecies, and more nimble alfo; fo that to procure 
them was no eafy matter, though they are very plentiful. 
As a concluding remark upon this genus, Vaillant ob- 
ferves, that the birds of different genera in Africa, which 
feed entirely upon infeSls, are extremely numerous in¬ 
deed in comparifon with thofe in Europe; witnefs the pre- 
fent genus of fly-catchers, the fpecies of which are found 
from the entrance of the Cape, of Good Hope quite to 
271 
the tropic. He aflerts that we have in Europe but twenty- 
fix birds that live entirely upon i-nfefts, among which he 
reckons four fpecies of the Lanius or butcher-bird, two of 
the Mufcicapa or fly-catcher, one Sitta or nuthatch, four 
of the Tetrao or partridge kind, two of the Certhia or 
creeper, one Promerops or hoopoe, five of the Hirundo or 
fwallow, one Caprimulgus or goatfucker, &c. But in' 
Africa there are not only many more of each of thefe 
genera, (as perhaps of fly-catchers alone more than forty,) 
but alfo many others, which, though they feed entirely 
upon infefts, cannot, he fays, be reduced to any of the 
genera we have. But, as this ingenious and diligent tra¬ 
veller is fatisfied with plentifully abiding our fyllems with¬ 
out lubflituting any of his own ; fince he “ oppofes every 
thing, and propoles nothing;” all that we can do, con- 
fiftently with our own plan, is to place his new fpecies in 
thofe genera they teem moll nearly allied to. 
112. Mufcicapa drongo, the drongo. This bird is the 
firfl of a feries which Vaillant has coile£led into a new ge¬ 
nus, which he calls drongo, from the name of this fpecies at 
Madagafcar. His general remarks upon this new genus 
(in which he fays Ihould be included feveral fpecies of the 
Lanius, Corvus, and Mufcicapa) are as follow: The 
drongos have more ftrength in their jaws than moll of the 
butcher-birds; they have Hi ff hairs at the gape, like the 
fly-catchers; they have a notch in the upper mandible, 
but not fo large as in the butcher-bird; the noilrils are 
very large, and entirely covered with briltl.y feathers, as 
in the Corvi; the legs are fliort and ftrong, nails large and 
hooked ; the hind toe is the largeit; it is broad and flat, 
as well as the bale of the other three. Some of the fpecies 
are very large; but all have the tail forked, at leaft as lon«- 
as the body, and confifting often quills. As thefe birds 
feed upon infedls, and chiefly upon bees, we have thought 
bell, for reafons before afllgned, to place them here. 
The prefent fpecies, then, as Vaillant aflerts, has been 
deferibed and figured by Briflon under the name of the 
Great crefted fly-catcher of Madagafcar; but Buffon, he 
fays, placed it at the end of the butcher-birds. It is com¬ 
mon in CafFraria; frequenting the large forelts, and afiem- 
bling in fmall companies. Its chief nourifhment is bees, 
which it catches on the wing as the other fly-catchers do 
the common flies, &c. But it is chiefly in the evening 
after funfet, and in the morning before funrife, that the 
drongo hunts thefe induftrious infedts ; fmall companies 
of them range themfelves along the wood, perched on fo- 
litary trees either withered or having many leaflefs branches, 
the better to feize the moment when the bees depart from 
the wood, or return with their booty. Sometimes as many 
as thirty may be feen together in motion upon the fame 
tree, fome flying oft', others returning, forming a very bufy 
feene, and by no means a quiet one; each inceflantly re¬ 
peats a cry which may be exprefi'ed by pia-griach, griack. 
From the cry of thefe birds, while thus employed after 
funfet, and their being of a black colour, the colonifts at 
the Cape call them duywels voogel, devil-birds ; and Vaillant 
fays his Hottentots always confidered them as birds of ill- 
omen, and entreated him not to flioot at them, and efpe¬ 
cially when they were thus collected and performing their 
magic rites as they thought, left fome misfortune Thould 
befal the company. But Vaillant explained to them the 
nature of the employment of thefe birds, after he had 
made himfelf fully acquainted with it. When the ni°Fit 
fets in, the nodturnal birds of prey drive thefe bee-eaters 
to their retreats. 
The drongo has a creft Handing upright upon the fore¬ 
head ; the feathers are narrow and ftifF, fo as never to lie 
flat upon the head ; but are inclined forward : the front 
feathers are but a few lines in length, but the hinder ones 
two inches. Size nearly of the thrulh ; plumage entirely 
black, with a green tint in certain pofitions; the eyes are 
dark brown. _ The wings when extended are fifteen inches 
from tip to tip; yet when at reft they reach but one third 
the length of the tail. The tail conlifts of ten feathers, 
the lateral ones two inches longer than the intermediate 
ones. 
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