WATTLE-EYE

also called Puffback Flycatcher, any of a number of small, stubby African songbirds of the subfamily Platysteirinae, family Muscicapidae (q.v.); some authorities retain them in the flycatcher subfamily, Muscicapinae. Most species have bright, fleshy eye ornaments, or wattles: in the genus Platysteira they are found above the eyes in both sexes, while in Dyaphorophyia they are above and below the eyes in males and sometimes in females also. In Batis, however, the wattles are lacking. The plumage typically is black and white, and there is often a chest band; females have, additionally, reddish brown touches. All species have long rump feathers, which are raised in moments of excitement. Wattle-eyes, catching insects in forests and gardens, audibly flick their wings and snap their beaks. Examples are the scarlet-spectacled wattle-eye (P. cyanea) of transequatorial distribution; the chestnut wattle-eye (D. castanea), of west central Africa; and the Cape puffback flycatcher (B. capensis), a familiar garden bird of the east and south.