Description

John Cassin (1813-1869)
Plate 29, The Black Flycatcher
From: Illustrations of the Birds of California, Texas, Oregon, British and Russian America
Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1856
Chromolithograph
Paper dimensions: 6 x 10
Framed dimensions: 12 x 21

With text below image:
The Black Flycatcher is a small passerine bird native to open and lightly wooded areas of eastern and southern Africa. This species has a large range, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 4,000,000 square kilometres (1,500,00 sq mi). The global population size has not been quantified but the bird is listed by the IUCN as being of “least concern”. The southern black flycatcher is entirely black, with a black beak and black legs. The iris of the eye is brown and this, along with the square-cut tail, helps distinguish it from the otherwise similar fork-tailed drongo, which has a red iris and long forked tail.