Details
Calcutta School, circa 1880
Paradise Flycatchers and a Redbilled Blue Magpie
inscribed 'Tchitrea Paradisi./Paradise Flycatcher./Gondah.27 Sept 80./aged 2/Found throughout India but chiefly in/forest and highly wooded districts. Does not/ascend higher than 3000 feet. It is very restless/never stopping long on one perch, the flight is/somewhat undulating the long tail moving in/curves and jerks. Feeds chiefly on small flies/and cicadellae, almost always capturing them/on the wing, and not yet seen to settle on the/ground. It makes a neat nest of moss and/lichens lined with hair and wool and is/said to breed in bamboo jungle. I shot/one at 3000 ft elevation on the/Himalayas which had just/captured a very large dragonfly./The phases of plumage are/not yet correctly known,/I believe the young one/of first year is chesnut/without the 2 long/tail feathers which/it gets in the/2nd year, be-/-coming/white as/at top/in 3rd/year. Tchitrea Paradisi./Paradise Flycathcer. J. 288/haini Jal. 22 June 79./aged 3. Urocissa sinensis./Redbilled Blue Magpie. J. 671./mupoorie. 17 June 81./Found in the lesser ranges of the/Himalayas from the far north west to/Nepal. Builds on trees making a loose nest of twigs. Lays 3 to 5 eggs of a dull/greenish ash-grey, blotched and spotted with brown dashes confluent at the/larger end. Feeds almost entirely on the ground, eats raw meat, young/or small birds, insects..Several of them will often follow a/leopard for more than a mile, perching on the trees and bushes/above it and keeping up a continual screeching.'; pencil and watercolour heightened with bodycolour and gum arabic
23¼ x 18½in. (590 x 470mm.)
Paradise Flycatchers and a Redbilled Blue Magpie
inscribed 'Tchitrea Paradisi./Paradise Flycatcher./Gondah.27 Sept 80./aged 2/Found throughout India but chiefly in/forest and highly wooded districts. Does not/ascend higher than 3000 feet. It is very restless/never stopping long on one perch, the flight is/somewhat undulating the long tail moving in/curves and jerks. Feeds chiefly on small flies/and cicadellae, almost always capturing them/on the wing, and not yet seen to settle on the/ground. It makes a neat nest of moss and/lichens lined with hair and wool and is/said to breed in bamboo jungle. I shot/one at 3000 ft elevation on the/Himalayas which had just/captured a very large dragonfly./The phases of plumage are/not yet correctly known,/I believe the young one/of first year is chesnut/without the 2 long/tail feathers which/it gets in the/2nd year, be-/-coming/white as/at top/in 3rd/year. Tchitrea Paradisi./Paradise Flycathcer. J. 288/haini Jal. 22 June 79./aged 3. Urocissa sinensis./Redbilled Blue Magpie. J. 671./mupoorie. 17 June 81./Found in the lesser ranges of the/Himalayas from the far north west to/Nepal. Builds on trees making a loose nest of twigs. Lays 3 to 5 eggs of a dull/greenish ash-grey, blotched and spotted with brown dashes confluent at the/larger end. Feeds almost entirely on the ground, eats raw meat, young/or small birds, insects..Several of them will often follow a/leopard for more than a mile, perching on the trees and bushes/above it and keeping up a continual screeching.'; pencil and watercolour heightened with bodycolour and gum arabic
23¼ x 18½in. (590 x 470mm.)