Flycatcher

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In this vicinity, I met with the Long-billed Flycatcher, which, coming with his larger and more conspicuous fellow-travellers, to which I have alluded, appears to be a more transient visitant, performing the duties of incubation on this the northern district of his range, and soon retiring southwardly to the West Indies. This bird much resembles in manners and appearance the Red-eyed Flycatcher of the Northern States, but is not, I think, its equal as a vocalist. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Some few of our American Flycatchers lisp and sigh rather than cry aloud, but of those which shout the Olive-sided Flycatcher is easily dean. And it is as an elocutionist only that most of us know this bird, even tho our opportunities may have stretched along for decades. On a morning in mid May, as surely as the season comes around, one hears a strong insistent voice shouting, “See here!” There is not much to see, save a dun-colored bird seated at an impossible height on the summit of a tall fir tree. ”

“ When at rest both sexes constantly move their tails vertically, a habit common to the Whinchat and other birds. In its mode of feeding this species differs in several respects from the Spotted Flycatcher. Although I watched them for hours at a time, I never saw a Pied Flycatcher return to the same twig after darting out to catch an insect on the wing. The bird usually alights on a different branch, and often in another tree. Sometimes it clings Tit-like to a tree-trunk for an instant, and often feeds upon the ground. ”

“ When chasing each other in play or anger these birds have a harsh note like “Thish-thish,” not altogether agreeable. Extensive timber land is shunned by this Flycatcher, as it prefers more open country, though it is often seen in the edges of woods. It is not often seen on the ground, where its movements are rather awkward. Its amiability and social disposition are observed in the fact that several pairs will breed close to each other in perfect harmony. ”

“ The wild Irishman of them all is the great crested flycatcher, a large, leather-colored or sandy-complexioned bird that prowls through the woods, uttering its harsh, uncanny note and waging fierce warfare upon its fellows. ”

“ They are mostly in dull colors, and they have a way of raising the head feathers which gives them a little crest. Then they have rather thick necks, and they sit up very straight on the perch.
They catch living flies, as you see by the name, and they have their own way of doing it. No flycatcher ever scrambles around like a fussy little warbler, snatching a fly here and there. Far from it! It is a dignified family, and none of them ever seems to be in a hurry.
The true flycatcher way to get a dinner is to sit still and wait. The very babies in the nest are patient little fellows. ”

“ The common lark sometimes hovers for a few moments low down over the young green corn, as if considering upon what spot to alight. The flycatcher contrives to suspend itself momentarily, but it is by a rapid motion of the wings, and is done when the first snap at the insect has failed. It is the rook that hovers by the assistance of the wind as he rises with his broad, flat wings over a hedge and meets its full force, which counterpoises his onward impetus and sustains him stationary, sometimes compelling him to return with the current. ”

“ From its conspicuous black and white plumage, the Pied Flycatcher is a much more attractive species than the commoner bird. Strange to say, although of similar habits, and living on similar food, it is by no means so common as a species, nor so generally dispersed. Its presence in Scotland is always looked upon as an uncommon occurrence, and in Ireland, until recently, it was quite unknown. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Myiarchus cinerescens Lawr. Ash-throated Flycatcher.—Specimens were obtained at Tombstone, Tucson, and Camp Lowell. In the latter locality the bird was common through June and was presumably breeding, although no nests were actually found. At all the points in Arizona where they were observed these Flycatchers frequented the timber in valleys and along streams, none being seen among the denser forests of the mountains. ”

“ They have likewise another and unique preying-habit, intermediate between the Plover-like habits of Agriornis, Myiotheretes, and Muscisaxicola, and the Swallow- or Flycatcher-like habits of the true Tyrants. The bird perches itself on an elevation—the summit of a stalk, or bush, or even of a low tree—to watch like a Flycatcher for its insect prey ”

“ This species was first detected within the United States by Colonel McCall, who obtained it in California in 1852. Its habits, as he observed them, partook of those of the true Flycatcher. They are said to be remarkable for their slender, active form, in which their long and ample tail, and the elongated feathers of their head, capable of being erected into a crest, are conspicuous features. Colonel McCall first met with them in a clump of trees on the borders of a mountain brook, between Valliecita and El Chino. A number of them were together actively engaged in the pursuit of insects. ”

“ The flycatcher immediately proceeded to build anew, but before he had fairly commenced, the pugnacious wren made another raid and despoiled his nest again. This happened a third time; then the flycatcher and his mate took turns in watching and building. While one went out in search of building material the other remained on guard just inside the door. The situation now became exceedingly interesting, and at times ludicrous. Jenny Wren is a born fighter, and can whip most birds twice her size, but she seemed to consider the flycatcher more than a match for her. ”

“ Such nests are often seen in farmhouses placed as an ornament on the mantelpiece. Spiders have filled the window with their webs, and to these every now and then during the day—there is no door to the summer-house—come a robin, a wren, and a flycatcher. Either of these, but more particularly the two last, will take insects from the spider’s web.
The flycatcher has a favourite perch close by, and may perhaps hear the shrill buzz when an insect is caught. The flycatcher is a regular summer visitor: in the orchard, garden, and adjacent rickyard at least three pairs build every year. ”

“ The Hooded Flycatcher is one of the liveliest of its tribe, and is almost continually in motion. Fond of secluded places, it is equally to be met with in the thick cane brakes of the high or low lands, or amid the rank weeds and tangled bushes of the lowest and most impenetrable swamps. ”

“ The Yellow-bellied Flycatcher is a migrant in mid-spring and early autumn, not found during summer, save at one or two high altitudes, where it nests rarely. It is always rather noticeably yellow below and is found in low, thick woodlands, not often far from the ground. ”

“ She moves her head freely about and seems entirely at her ease,—a circumstance which I have never observed in any other species. The nest of the great-crested flycatcher is seldom free from snake skins, three or four being sometimes woven into it. ”

“ Although placed among the Oscines, where, as an excellent singer, it clearly has a good right to be classed, it is yet also a true Flycatcher in habits and manners. It is a lively, active bird, ever on the wing, and continually in pursuit of insects. In this pursuit it never awaits the approach of its prey, but, espying them at a distance, darts with great velocity in pursuit, and the continued clicks of its bill attest the rapidity and frequency with which it will overtake and catch insect after insect. ”

“ 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) . ”

“ One which I shot in October did not display it at all, while one in January had the hue very brilliant, but only at the bases of the coronal feathers; exposed or concealed as in some of the Tyrants. As far as I have observed, the manners of this bird are those of a Flycatcher, capturing minute insects on the wing, and returning to a twig to eat them. The stomach is usually filled with a black mass of minute flies. ”

“ The Least Flycatcher is a bird of open aspen copses or orchards. Its energetic che-bec, which is given with a violent toss of the head, is always characteristic and is responsible for its common name. Look for the bird during migration in May and in September. As a summer resident it occurs chiefly in the more northern counties, where it builds its deep nest in the crotch of some low tree. ”

“ The Crested Flycatcher lives in eastern North America; breeds from southern Canada to Florida, and winters in Mexico and northern South America. He is a common summer resident of the Middle and Southern States especially. Though louder-voiced than his relatives, the kingbird, phœbe, and wood pewee, he is not so well known because he is shyer. He is not so pugnacious as the kingbird, but he is known to fight fiercely for a mate. ”

“ In habit and appearance the bird combines Crow, Jay, Woodpecker, Flicker, and Flycatcher. It is perhaps as flycatcher that we know him best, as we see him sail out from the summit of a cottonwood or towering pine-tree and make connection with some object to us invisible. If the insects are flying freely, the bird may conclude to remain aloft for a few minutes, fluttering about in great watchful circles, ready for momentary dashes and adroit seizures. ”

“ The adult cock paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi) is one of the most beautiful birds in the world. As he is described in another essay it is only necessary for me to state in this place that he is a white bird with a black-crested head. He is not much larger than a sparrow, but his two median tail feathers are twenty inches in length and float behind him like streamers of white satin as he flits from tree to tree. ”

“ For although the habits of the typical species evince a marked affinity to the Fantailed Flycatchers of Australia, the construction of their wings is totally different. The disposition of the black and crimson colours on our bird, will remind the Ornithologist of the Red-bellied Flycatcher of Latham, of which, in fact, it is nearly an exact prototype. But this resemblance, however strong, appears to us to be one of analogy, rather than of affinity. ”