PIED FLYCATCHER. 243 



the Goldfinch made use of, and the remains of a Swallow's on 

 a beam is not infrequently transformed. Odd sites, such as an 

 old cap or, like the Wren, the body of a former enemy suspended 

 on a gibbet, are recorded. The nest itself is slight and usually 

 loosely put together ; it is composed of grass and moss and at 

 times decorated with cobwebs and lichens. Four to five eggs, 

 dull white with reddish spots and blotches (Plate 84), are 

 seldom laid before the beginning of June, and though second 

 broods are said to be rare, I have known two reared in one nest, 

 and have seen a hen sitting in August. By the end of September 

 most of the birds have gone. 



The upper parts of the adult bird are hair-brown with darker 

 brown stripes on the crown ; the under parts are greyish white, 

 but the flanks and breast are sandy brown, and on the latter 

 there are noticeable striations. The bill is brown, the legs 

 black, and the irides dark brown. The young are more deserv- 

 ing of the title spotted, for their backs are mottled with bufi". 

 Length, 5*8 ins. Wing, 3*4 ins. Tarsus, '55 in. 



Brown Flycatcher, Miiscicapa latirostHs Raffles. 



In May, 1909, a Brown Flycatcher was obtained in Kent, and 

 as it is an unHkely species to have escaped from captivity it has 

 been admitted to the British list. It is an eastern Asiatic 

 species, and winters in India and Ceylon. In plumage it 

 roughly resembles an unstreaked Spotted Flycatcher, or an 

 immature Pied without white in the wing. Length, 5-5 ins. 

 Wing, 2'8 ins. Tarsus, -5 in. 



Pied Flycatcher. Muscicapa atricapUla Linn. 



Throughout most of Europe the Pied Flycatcher (Plate 99) 

 is either a summer visitor or a bird of passage to and from 

 winter quarters in Africa. In Britain its breeding area is 



