NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. 91 



reaches the h'mits of its western migrations early in 

 May. It is a shy, skulking Httle bird, fond of retire- 

 ment, and very apt to be overlooked even in districts 

 where it is fairly abundant, owing principally to its 

 partiality for the summits of lofty trees. 1 do not 

 find any gregarious tendency in this species during 

 summer, eich pair living isolated by themselves. The 

 favourite nesting haunts of this Flycatcher are forests 

 of beech and hornbeam. The bird possibly pairs for 

 life, as many of its congeners do, and returns to one 

 locality each year to breed. The nest is either placed 

 in some convenient hollow in a tree-trunk or on a branch 

 or bunch of twigs close to the stem, in just such a situa- 

 tion as the spotted Flycatcher so frequently selects. It 

 is a cup-shaped structure, small and neat, and composed 

 externally of moss studded with a few scraps of lichen, 

 or one or two small feathers, and lined with dry grass 

 and hair. The bird is a close sitter, often allowing itself 

 to be taken on tlie nest. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement ; 

 The eggs of the Red-breasted Flycatcher are from five 

 to seven in number. They are very pale bluish-green 

 in ground colour, mottled and freckled with reddish- 

 brown and with underlying markings of grayish-brown. 

 Considerable variation occurs amongst them. On some 

 the markings are evenly distributed over the entire 

 surface of the ^g^, on others they are chiefly collected 

 in a zone round the larger end, others are so clouded or 

 washed with pinkish-brown as to hide almost all of the 

 ground cokur. Average measurement, '63 inch in length 

 by "5 inch in breadth. Incubation is performed chiefly 

 by the female, but the duration of the period is appar- 

 ently unknown. 



Diagnostic characters : The eggs of this Fly- 

 catcher cannot readily be confused with any other Euro- 



