io6 ENGLISH BIRD LIFE 



as he seizes a fly, and returns to his post like a 

 sentinel. 



Then from his nest, built, it may be, in the 

 jasmine or the rose-tree which climbs about the 

 verandah, within a few feet of the door, he brings 

 out his mottled little ones, and here they sit upon 

 some trailing bough, lifting their little wings 

 eagerly when the ever alert parent appears with a 

 fly, happy in their new world of leaves and flowers 

 and sunshine. 



The Pied Flycatcher is also a summer visitor, but 

 is much less common than the Spotted. Its dis- 

 tribution is irregular in England, the species 

 occurring most frequently perhaps in Westmor- 

 land and Cumberland. Its nest is usually placed 

 in a hole in a tree at a low elevation, and more rarely 

 in a wall. Often the stumps in wood clearings are 

 utilized. Here, on a bedding composed mainly of 

 oak-leaves lined with dried grass, the six or even 

 nine eggs of uniform pale-blue are laid. 



The length of the Pied Flycatcher is a trifle less 

 than that of the Spotted, but the former is much 

 more striking in plumage. Indeed, the clear black 

 and white markings of the adult male give it the 

 appearance of a miniature Magpie. 



On migration it is often found in localities which 

 would appear to offer few attractions to a woodland- 

 loving bird. When seal shooting in August at the 

 Vee Skerries — a detached reef of rock w^ell-nigh 

 submerged at high tide which lies far to the west 

 of the Shetlands — I saw several small birds flitting 

 about amidst the boulders. These were easily 



