140 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



Waxwing {Ampelis garrulus) had been caught at Rams- 

 gate at the beginning of December, 1903, by a Mr. Young. 

 One of the birds having died, was forwarded, on Decem- 

 ber 8, to the Natural History Museum {Bulletin, vol. xiv., 

 p. 31, 1904). 



Family MUSCICAPID^. 



Genus MUSCICAPA, Linnsus. 

 SPOTTED FLYCATCHEE. 



Muscicapa grisola, Linnaeus. S.N., i., p. 328 (1766). 

 Post Bird. 



The Spotted Flycatcher is not an abundant species 

 during the summer in Kent, being a more or less solitary 

 bird, and only to be seen in pairs during the breeding 

 season. When once they take up a position on the 

 outskirts of, or in, a wood, they may always be found 

 darting off after insects from a dead branch and returning 

 to a similar one close at hand. 



In his notes on the birds of Rainham in 1868, Mr. 

 F. D. Power says: "Flycatchers remained about the 

 orchards in considerable numbers until September 26, 

 when all disappeared." Captain Boyd Alexander, in 

 1896, writes : " Around our gardens a few families of 

 Spotted Flycatchers are still to be met with. These are 

 the late broods. Although the majority of the young 

 can look after themselves, yet in each family there are 

 one or two wearing the spotted livery of first youth, that 

 have still to depend upon a mother's care. The task of 

 feeding these devolves solely upon tfie female parent. 



