Chats and flycatchers | Muscicapidae

Vliegenvangers | Papamoscas y afines

What these birds share outwardly is limited: they are grouped together chiefly on skull structure and hereditary data, which is why the flycatchers now sit in one family with the wheatears, redstarts and nightingales formerly placed among the thrushes. The common ground is a small body with a thin pointed bill bristled at the base, and insect catching from a lookout: one kind darts up after a flying insect, another drops from a low perch onto the ground. A striking number carry colour in the tail — rufous, white sides or a black-and-white pattern — and flash it with a jerk on landing. They nest in holes and crevices or in a well-hidden cup, and nearly all European species winter in Africa.