Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS

THE SONG BIRDS

THE FORK-TAILS

(Family Enicuridm)
The systematic position of this small group, which comprises only three genera and a dozen species, has long been a matter of uncertainty. They have often been placed near or among the Wagtails {Motacillida), which they certainly much resemble in appearance and habits; other writers, notably Dr. Sharpe, have regarded them as an aberrant group of the Babbling Thrushes (Timeliida), but later they have been placed by him among the true Thrushes (Turdida), while Dr. Stejneger has recorded his suspicion that they are not oscinine birds at all, but may ultimately find a resting place in the neighborhood of the Pittas. This confusion can only be resolved by a careful anatomical examination, pending which they are accorded family rank and placed tentatively next the Timeliidee.
The Fork-tails are trim, dainty birds, between six and eleven inches long, with stout, straight, usually rather long bills, long and strong legs, and moderately rounded wings in which there are ten primaries, the outer (tenth) being long and well developed, while in the typical forms the tail is very long and deeply forked, though in Scouler's Fork-tail (Microcichla scoukri) the tail is much shorter and nearly square; in several the head is provided with a short crest. The coloration is mainly black and white, — in two species the hind neck and back are rufous, while another has the crown dull chocolate,—the disposition of which is often in the form of spots or bars, though in several the rump and under parts are pure white, as are the outer pair of tail-feathers.
In distribution the Fork-tails range throughout the Himalayas to western China and down the Malay Peninsula to Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Philippines. They are generally shy, wary birds, avoiding the vicinity of human habitations and frequenting the rocky beds of mountain torrents, where they are seen running along with alacrity or hopping from stone to stone, moving the tail incessantly, and picking up their food of mullusks, worms, and insects in or near the water. The Bornean Fork-tail (Enicurus bomeensis), a species recently discovered on Mount Kina-Balu, at elevations of one to three thousand feet, seems to prefer the deep gorges where little or no sunlight; enters. According to Mr. Whitehead,”it is very shy, flying out of shot, or more often out of sight into the forests which border the stream. The note is a pleasant whistle, which is always uttered when the bird is alarmed, before taking flight. I have often seen three or four flying after each other up these dark gorges, and the tail seems more like a streamer, waving up and down with every motion of the bird."
The nests of the Fork-tails, which are large for the size of the bird, are placed on the ground under an overhanging bank, in a niche among the rocks, or occasionally on tree stumps, and are concealed by overhanging ferns and other vegetation. They are composed of grass, moss, rootlets, etc., and lined with finer rootlets, hair, and dead leaves; the four or five greenish white eggs are sparsely spotted with reddish brown.

previous bird species next bird species