66 Order I 



The five pretty eggs are spotted with rufous on a 

 greenish-white or even a green ground, and he in 

 a mossy nest, hned with warm materials, and often 

 adorned with lichen. This species does not breed in 

 the Hebrides, Orkneys, or Shetland. 



That much rarer bird the Pied Flycatcher (M. atri- 

 cainlla) has a more restricted range abroad, where it only 

 extends southward in its various forms to north Africa 

 and eastward to Persia and Palestine, while, being a 

 particularly arboreal species, it is decidedly local. In 

 Britain, where it remains from May to August, it breeds 

 chiefly in the west, from south Wales to Cumberland, 

 irregularly in Scotland, but not in Ireland. Artificial 

 boxes in our shrubberies have proved a great attraction 

 to this bird, a somewhat curious fact, as it naturally fre- 

 quents water and seldom leaves the sides of open shady 

 streams, where it makes a pretty picture as it flits, 

 Warbler-like, from oak to alder or ash, often uttering 

 its sweet little song, and the male in particular exhibiting 

 his bright black and white colours in contrast to the 

 brown female relieved by dusky white. The insect-food 

 is very commonly taken on the wing and conveyed 

 straight to the brooding hen. The nest is composed 

 entirely of roots and grass lined with hair, and thus 

 can easily be distinguished from that of the Redstart, 

 which has precisely similar pale blue eggs. It is 

 always in a hole, and generally in a tree. 



Family HIRUNDINID-^, or Swallows 



Three members of this family are common and 

 well known in Britain, the Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 

 with long streamers or outer tail-feathers, chestnut 

 throat and buff under parts separated by a metallic 



