Birdcatcher

“ A comparison between Birdcatcher and his nearest Herod contemporary, Bay Middleton, works out with much the same result. Birdcatcher’s pedigree contains four crosses of Eclipse and nine crosses of Herod; Bay Middleton six of Eclipse and thirteen of Herod. Yet we have to go to France to find any prominent representatives of the Bay Middleton male line; while two Birdcatcher horses (Isinglass and Gallinule) are top of the list of winning sires to-day. ”

“ When a large catch is determined on for preservation and the obtainment of feathers, a number of bird hunters assemble and construct a sort of hedge or fence a short distance from the beach, and just before daybreak, when the birds, about to proceed to sea to feed, are out of their retreats, a sudden rush is made by the whole assembled party of birdcatchers who, with the most hideous yells and cries, drive the throngs of waddling, flapping victims, who cannot rise from the ground to fly, towards the centre of the fatal barrier, where a deep pit has been prepared for their reception. ”

“ It is impossible to mistake the paradise flycatcher. There is no other bird like it. It is a denizen of orchards and shady groves and may always be seen during the hot weather in the beautiful wood on the bank of the Ravi between the bridge of boats and the railway. A cock paradise flycatcher, in the full glory of his white plumage, as he flits like a sprite through the leafy glade, is a sight never to be forgotten. The movements of his long tail feathers as he pursues his course are as graceful as those of the folds of the gossamer garments of a skilled serpentine dancer. ”

“ It must, therefore, be obvious to any sane person that neither natural nor sexual selection can be directly responsible for the colouration of many species of fly-catcher.
Another interesting characteristic of the fly-catchers is the total absence of green in the plumage of any of them. They are birds of a variety of colours; they display many shades of blue, yellow, orange, red, grey, and brown, also black and white; but not one carries any green feathers. ”

“ No sooner does he take to flight, exhibiting the sharp-pointed, wonderfully conspicuous, black and white wings, than the beauty is revealed. The flight is rapid, and as he wheels round the intruder in a wide circle he utters a succession of cries, somewhat like those of the golden plover and curlew in character, but shriller and more vehement. The oyster-catcher is a resident species, to be met with throughout the year in all suitable localities on the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland. ”

“ But the big, clumsy woodpecker merely slid one side a little, to avoid the onslaught, and calmly went on dressing his feathers as if no small flycatcher existed. This indifference did not please the olive-sided, but he alighted on a branch below and bided his time; it came soon, when the goldenwing took flight, and he came down upon him like a kingbird on a crow. I heard the snap of the woodpecker's beak as he passed into the thick woods, but nobody was hurt, and the flycatcher returned to his perch. ”

“ But, we must bear in mind that a bird that behaves thus is not necessarily a flycatcher. Other birds, as, for example, king-crows and bee-eaters, have discovered how excellent a way this is of securing a good supply of food. The beautiful verditer flycatcher (Stoparola melanops) must be familiar to everyone who has visited the Himalayas. The plumage of this flycatcher is pale blue—blue of that peculiar shade known as verditer blue. There is a little black on the head. The plumage of the hen is distinctly duller than that of the cock. ”

“ The brown flycatcher (Alseonax latirostris) is a bird that may pass for a small sparrow if not carefully looked at. Of course its habits are very different to those of the sparrow; moreover, it has a narrow ring of white feathers round the eye. The grey-headed flycatcher (Culicicapa ceylonensis) is a species of which the sexes are alike. The head, neck, and breast are grey; the wings and tail are brown; the back is dull yellow, and the lower plumage bright yellow. ”

“ This habit of skimming along the ground and announcing their approach beforehand, is turned to good purpose by the bird-catcher, who imitates their note, attracts the whole flight to sweep down into his neighbourhood, and captures them in his net, a hundred at a time, or, when they are within range, has no difficulty in killing from twelve to twenty at a shot. ”

“ The king-bird, or tyrant fly-catcher, might serve as the type of the order.
The common pewee excites the most pleasant emotions, both on account of its plaintive note and its exquisite mossy nest.
The phœbe-bird is the pioneer of the fly-catchers, and comes in April, sometimes in March. It comes familiarly about the house and out-buildings and usually builds beneath hay-sheds or under bridges.
The fly-catchers always take their insect prey on [237] the wing, by a sudden darting or swooping movement; often a very audible snap of the beak may be heard. ”

“ He is so unsuspicious that he observes the snare being laid, and then foolishly falls into it, when the bird-catcher has moved only a few steps from it; he will even allow himself to be led to it when at a little distance, if in a gentle manner. A bird-catcher may thus, in a few hours, depopulate a whole district of these delightful songsters. ”

“ I am acquainted with only four of the other nine Eastern members,—crested flycatcher, kingbird, wood pewee, and chebec,—and each of these has some redeeming attribute besides the habit of catching flies.
They are all good nest-builders, good parents, and brave, independent birds; but aside from phœbe and pewee—the latter in his small way the sweetest voice of the oak woods—the whole family is an odd lot, cross-grained, cross-looking, and about as musical as a family of ducks. A duck seems to know that he cannot sing. A flycatcher knows nothing of his shortcomings. ”

“ Flycatchers, which are found only in America and chiefly in the tropics, are insect-eating birds, generally having a grayish colored plumage, sometimes adorned with a slight crest or a coronal mark of orange, red, or yellow. ”

“ This knowledge of bird language is, of course, of great value to him as a bird-catcher, and accounts for his success at seasons seemingly the most inopportune, and in localities the most unlikely, that an ordinary bird-catcher would probably search in vain for a single specimen of goldfinch or aberdevine, linnet or redpole, or anything else in the shape of a valuable song-bird. In passing and repassing our place, this wonderful bird-man, as our servant girl styles him, always calls with such bird news and rare specimens as he thinks most likely to interest us. ”

“ The Nilgiri blue-flycatcher (Stoparola albicaudata) is stoutly-built and a little larger than a sparrow. The male is clothed from head to tail in dark blue; his wife is more dingy, having a plentiful admixture of brownish grey in her plumage. Blue-flycatchers often occur in little flocks. They have the usual habits of their family, except that they seem sometimes to eat fruit.
A pretty little bird, of which the head, back, tail, and wings are deep blue, and the breast is orange fading into pale yellow towards the abdomen, is Tickell's blue-flycatcher (Cyornis tickelli) . ”

“ Having secured the object of their sortie—and this they never fail to do—they return to their perch. A fly-catcher will sometimes make over a hundred of these little flights in the course of an hour; the appetite of an insectivorous bird appears to be insatiable. All fly-catchers obtain their food in this manner, but all birds which behave thus are not members of the fly-catcher family. As fly-catchers are characterised by rather weak legs, and, in consequence, do not often descend to the ground, they are of necessity confined to parts of the country well supplied with trees. ”

“ It then plunges toward the ground or the water, and, like a true Flycatcher, snatches its prey unawares from the tops of the grasses, or whilst flying over the shallow green-mantled pools.
Few birds are more gentle than this delicate species is at times; for, apparently unaware of danger from the vicinity of man, it allows him to approach within a few yards, whether it be on wing or on the ground. ”

“ I have watched fly-catchers closely for several years, and have on two occasions only seen them chase butterflies or moths. Five years ago in Madras I observed a paradise fly-catcher chasing a small butterfly, and recently, in the Himalayas, I saw a grey-headed fly-catcher drop down from a tree and seize a moth that was resting in the gutter. The reason why fly-catchers do not often attack butterflies is obvious; these insects offer very little meat and a great deal of indigestible wing surface. ”

“ Flycatchers are birds which feed exclusively on insects, which they catch upon the wing. Their habit is to make, from some perch, little sallies into the air after their quarry. It must, however, not be forgotten that birds other than flycatchers, as, for example, the king crow and the wagtails, also hunt for insects in this manner; so that it is not safe to set down a bird as a flycatcher merely because it makes little sallies into the air after insect quarry.
A considerable number of species of flycatcher occur in India, but the great majority of them are confined to the hills. ”

“ You can tell a flycatcher at sight by the way he collects his dinner. Perhaps he will be sitting quietly on the limb of a tree or on a fence as if dreaming, when suddenly off he dashes into the air, clicks his broad bill sharply over a winged insect, flutters an instant, then wheels about and returns to his favourite perch to wait for the next course to fly by. ”

“ Another curious habit of my versatile guest was his fly-catching. It is already notorious that the golden-wing is giving up the profession of woodpecker and becoming a ground bird; it is equally patent to one who observes him that the red-head is learning the trade of fly-catching. Frequently, during the weeks that I had him under observation, I saw him fly up in the air and return to the fence, exactly like the kingbird.
All the time I had been making this pleasing acquaintance I had longed in vain to find the red-head's nest. ”

“ The British flycatcher, according to White, is a silent bird, while our species, as the phœbe-bird, the wood pewee, the kingbird, the little green flycatcher, and others, all have notes more or less lively and musical. The great crested flycatcher has a harsh voice, but the pathetic and silvery note of the wood pewee more than makes up for it. White says the golden-crowned wren is not a song-bird in Great Britain. ”

“ Every now and then a bird-catcher comes along decoying the finches from the hedges, for sale as cage-birds in London. Some of these men, without any mechanical assistance, can imitate the ‘call’ note of the bird they desire to capture so as to deceive the most practised ear. These fellows are a great nuisance, and will completely sweep a lane of all the birds whose song makes them valuable. ”

“ This bird belongs to a small group of Fly-catchers, containing not more than five or six species, all of which are inhabitants of either Western North America, Mexico, or the southern portion of this continent. They appear to possess the habits of true Fly-catchers, and are remarkable for their slender but active forms, in which the long and ample tail and the elongated feathers of the head, capable of being erected into a handsome crest, are generally conspicuous. ”

“ The great family of Flycatchers are distinguished by their depressed beak and rictal bristles, and by their general habit of capturing flying insects on the wing, and returning to a resting place to swallow them. The species, before us, however, a bird of remarkable elegance, both of form and colour,—combines with this habit, those of the Warblers; Wilson’s assertion to the contrary notwithstanding. It is particularly restless, hopping from one twig to another through a wood, so rapidly, that it is difficult to keep it in sight, though conspicuous from its brilliant contrast of colours ”

“ So, too, the tyrant flycatcher loves to build his larger nest, often interwoven with waste string till it looks as if he had tied it on. He seeks the very tip of the level limb and the blunt, sturdy, spreading twigs invite his confidence as they do that of the chipping sparrow. This bold exposure of eggs and nestlings invites thieving jays and murderous crows, hawks and owls, but the king-bird's dinner flies by while he waits, and he does police duty while he watches for it. ”

“ Audubon states that this Flycatcher reaches the Florida Keys about the first of April. He describes their usual flight as performed by a constant flutter of the wings, except when in chase, when they exhibit considerable power and speed. He noticed them pursue larger birds, such as Herons, Crows, Cuckoos, Grakles, and Hawks, following them quite a distance. They did not molest the Doves. They built their nests in a manner similar to the Kingbird, on the horizontal branches of the mangrove, almost invariably on the western side of the tree and of the island. ”

“ The adult cock paradise fly-catcher, with his long, white, satin-like tail feathers, is the most striking of birds, while the brown fly-catcher is less conspicuously attired than a hen sparrow. This is not the only difficulty presented to the theory of natural selection by fly-catchers. In some species, as, for example, the paradise fly-catcher, the sexes are altogether dissimilar in appearance, while in others the [182] most practised eye cannot distinguish between the cock and the hen. ”

“ The Fly-catchers are not larger than the Warblers. They are birds of passage, and various species of them are spread over the whole surface of the globe. Some are natives of Europe, among which we will name the Spotted Fly-catcher (Fig. 267) , and the Pied Fly-catcher. ”