1881-82.] Edinburgh Naturalists' Field Club. 11 



body swallowed or taken to tlie nest. Entomologists may say the 

 insects should be allowed to live ; but many of us will be of opinion 

 that they should at any rate be kept within reasonable bounds, as 

 nature intended, by the birds, and that we prefer the vegetables 

 minus the grubs. 



Much as I like and value the Flycatchers, truth compels me to 

 admit that they will occasionally give their young a few Red 

 Currants ; but considering the great service they render to the 

 gardener, I never grudged them these, and it is only very rarely 

 that they deviate from their habit of being purely insectivorous. 



A pair of Flycatchers had their nest for many years in the same 

 fork of a Pear-tree in my garden. There was another nest in an 

 Apricot-tree against the wall, too near the ground to be safe from 

 cats, so in the winter I cut out half a brick higher up to make a 

 suitable nesting-place for my feathered friends on their arrival in 

 the spring. But to my surprise, before the migrants arrived a 

 Eobin took possession of the hole, and had young nearly fledged 

 when the Flycatchers appeared. As soon, however, as the Robins 

 flew, I cleared out the nest, and had the satisfaction of seeing the 

 Flycatchers rear their young in the same hole that summer, and 

 for many consecutive summers afterwards. Many curious places 

 have been chosen by these birds for nidification— for instance, one 

 in the ornamental crown top of a lamp in the office of the Woods 

 and Forests, Whitehall, London ; another in the stove of the late 

 President of the Horticultural Society, who noticed that during 

 incubation, when the thermometer indicated a higher temperature 

 than 72°, tlie bird often left the nest for a considerable interval ; 

 and I once saw a nest on the top of a Cactus in our vicar's con- 

 servatory in England. This Cactus was of very irregular growth, 

 and there was a cavity just under the Flycatcher's nest, in which 

 a Wren built her nest, and the two birds reared their respective 

 young ones in close contiguity in perfect amity. 



In conclusion, I will merely remark that if these rough notes 

 should in some degree prevent the destruction of birds so useful to 

 both gardeners and farmers, and so interesting in their habits to 

 ornithologists, my object will be attained ; and I trust many will 

 hesitate before they give credence to an accusation so unjustly 

 made against our " most mute and most familiar " little friend, the 

 Spotted Flycatcher. 



