THE SPOTTED FORKTAIL
Enicurus maculatus Vigors
Description:-
Length 11 inches, including a long, deeply-forked tail of 6 inches. Sexes alike. A patch on the forehead and crown, a large patch on the rump, and the lower plumage from the breast downwards white ; remainder of body plumage black, with round white Spots on the hind neck, and lunate white spots on the back; feathers of the lower breast spotted with white ; a broad white bar across the wing ; the inner flight-feathers marked with white ; tail black, the feathers white at the base and broadly tipped with white, and the two outer pairs entirely white.
Iris dark brown ; bill black ; legs white.
Field Identification:-
A Himalayan bird with a peculiar loud call, found on mountain streams in forest; pied black and white, with a deeply-forked tail which droops at the end, and is incessantly swayed up and down. The markings on the upper surface form in life a white St Andrew's-Cross on a black ground.
Distribution:-
The Spotted Forktail is found throughout the Himalayas, and farther eastwards through Assam and Siam to China. It is divided into several races, of which two are Himalayan. The typical race is found throughout the Western Himalayas from 3000 to 12,000 feet from the extreme North-western Frontier to Nepal. From Nepal eastwards to Sikkim and Assam, and still farther east, it is replaced by E, m. guttatus which has no white spots on the breast. This race is found in the Himalayas between 2000 and 8000 feet. A resident species, though it probably changes its elevation slightly at different seasons.
The Slaty-backed Forktail (Enicurus schistaceus), common in the Eastern Himalayas, is of the same type with a long forked tail. The crown to the lower back are slaty blue-grey. The Little Forktail (Microcichla scouleri), however, found throughout the Himalayas, has a very short tail, but little more than half the wing in length.
Habits, etc:-
The Forktail is a water-bird, strictly confined to running streams in hill ravines, preferably those that flow under fairly thick forest. It feeds on insects which it obtains from the water and the stream-bed ; it walks sedately over the stones along the margins of the water, feeding with a quick pecking motion rather similar to that of a chicken ; and as it goes the black and white plumage blends marvellously with the glint of flowing water and the dark shadows amongst the stones so that it is seldom noticed till it takes to flight. It has a habit of frequently and unexpectedly turning at right angles or from side to side, and now and again it advances with little tripping runs, the white legs passing over the slippery stones with a sure-footed celerity. Standing and moving, the beautiful forked tail is always a characteristic feature, slowly swaying upwards and downwards.
The call is a loud, rather plaintive cheeer, uttered both on the ground and in flight, and it is usually the first intimation of the presence of the bird that flies up from the bed of a stream that one is slowly climbing and settles again by the water some fifty yards or so above ; again one disturbs it and the manaeuvre is repeated. Then as one reaches the limit of its territory it leaves the stream, and slipping through the neighbouring forest regains the water below one and starts to feed again ; occasionally for a few minutes it perches on a bough of a tree, but this is seldom.
The breeding season lasts from April till June.
The nest is a most compact and heavy cup of green moss mixed with fine roots and a good deal of clay; the cavity is lined with skeletonised leaves. It is placed near the water, in a niche of rock or a hollow of the bank, or amongst the roots of a tree.
The clutch usually consists of three eggs, but four are sometimes laid. The egg is a rather elongated and pointed oval, fine in texture with very little gloss. The ground-colour is pale greenish or pale stone-colour, and the markings consist of fine spots and freckles of yellowish- or reddish-brown, evenly and often thinly distributed.
The egg measures about o.68 by 0.75 inches.
FIG. 15-Spotted Forktail (1/3 nat. size)
Enicurus maculatus Vigors
Description:-
Length 11 inches, including a long, deeply-forked tail of 6 inches. Sexes alike. A patch on the forehead and crown, a large patch on the rump, and the lower plumage from the breast downwards white ; remainder of body plumage black, with round white Spots on the hind neck, and lunate white spots on the back; feathers of the lower breast spotted with white ; a broad white bar across the wing ; the inner flight-feathers marked with white ; tail black, the feathers white at the base and broadly tipped with white, and the two outer pairs entirely white.
Iris dark brown ; bill black ; legs white.
Field Identification:-
A Himalayan bird with a peculiar loud call, found on mountain streams in forest; pied black and white, with a deeply-forked tail which droops at the end, and is incessantly swayed up and down. The markings on the upper surface form in life a white St Andrew's-Cross on a black ground.
Distribution:-
The Spotted Forktail is found throughout the Himalayas, and farther eastwards through Assam and Siam to China. It is divided into several races, of which two are Himalayan. The typical race is found throughout the Western Himalayas from 3000 to 12,000 feet from the extreme North-western Frontier to Nepal. From Nepal eastwards to Sikkim and Assam, and still farther east, it is replaced by E, m. guttatus which has no white spots on the breast. This race is found in the Himalayas between 2000 and 8000 feet. A resident species, though it probably changes its elevation slightly at different seasons.
The Slaty-backed Forktail (Enicurus schistaceus), common in the Eastern Himalayas, is of the same type with a long forked tail. The crown to the lower back are slaty blue-grey. The Little Forktail (Microcichla scouleri), however, found throughout the Himalayas, has a very short tail, but little more than half the wing in length.
Habits, etc:-
The Forktail is a water-bird, strictly confined to running streams in hill ravines, preferably those that flow under fairly thick forest. It feeds on insects which it obtains from the water and the stream-bed ; it walks sedately over the stones along the margins of the water, feeding with a quick pecking motion rather similar to that of a chicken ; and as it goes the black and white plumage blends marvellously with the glint of flowing water and the dark shadows amongst the stones so that it is seldom noticed till it takes to flight. It has a habit of frequently and unexpectedly turning at right angles or from side to side, and now and again it advances with little tripping runs, the white legs passing over the slippery stones with a sure-footed celerity. Standing and moving, the beautiful forked tail is always a characteristic feature, slowly swaying upwards and downwards.
The call is a loud, rather plaintive cheeer, uttered both on the ground and in flight, and it is usually the first intimation of the presence of the bird that flies up from the bed of a stream that one is slowly climbing and settles again by the water some fifty yards or so above ; again one disturbs it and the manaeuvre is repeated. Then as one reaches the limit of its territory it leaves the stream, and slipping through the neighbouring forest regains the water below one and starts to feed again ; occasionally for a few minutes it perches on a bough of a tree, but this is seldom.
The breeding season lasts from April till June.
The nest is a most compact and heavy cup of green moss mixed with fine roots and a good deal of clay; the cavity is lined with skeletonised leaves. It is placed near the water, in a niche of rock or a hollow of the bank, or amongst the roots of a tree.
The clutch usually consists of three eggs, but four are sometimes laid. The egg is a rather elongated and pointed oval, fine in texture with very little gloss. The ground-colour is pale greenish or pale stone-colour, and the markings consist of fine spots and freckles of yellowish- or reddish-brown, evenly and often thinly distributed.
The egg measures about o.68 by 0.75 inches.
FIG. 15-Spotted Forktail (1/3 nat. size)
