523 MUSCICAPA GRISOLA. 



a neighbouring station, to watch its prey. This is the charac- 

 teristic action of all the Myiotherinse, but, of course, is not ab- 

 solutely peculiar to them, various allied species of the Sylvianae 

 exhibiting the same artifice. 



The nest is placed in a hole of a wall or tree, or on a branch, 

 especially of a fruit tree, or of ivy, against the wall, in which 

 latter case it is usually incomplete at the back part, the inner 

 layer however being perfect. It is small, compact, and hemi- 

 spherical, its greatest diameter measuring four and a half 

 inches, the inner two and a quarter. The exterior is composed 

 of moss, straws, and fibrous roots ; within which is a layer of 

 finer straws, moss, and hair ; while the interior is composed of 

 feathers, generally of domestic birds. The eggs, four or five in 

 number, are of a longish oval form, nine-twelfths of an inch in 

 length, six and a half twelfths in breadth, bluish- white, or very 

 pale greyish-blue, clouded and spotted with light brownish-red 

 and purplish-grey, the markings more numerous toward the 

 larger end. They are very similar to the eggs of Lanius Col- 

 lurio, although much smaller, being about equal in size to 

 those of the Redstart. 



My friend Mr Durham Weir, whose observations regarding 

 the feeding of Thrushes have already been recorded in the 

 second volume of this work, having instituted a similar inves- 

 tigation of the habits of this species, has communicated to me 

 the results. " Boghead, 22d December 1887.—' The Spotted 

 Flycatcher is rare in Scotland, if indeed it at all reaches that 

 country.*' So says Mr Mudie in his Feathered Tribes of the 

 British Islands, Vol. I, p. 240. In this neighbourhood three or 

 four pairs make their annual appearance. In my garden a male 

 and a female have nestled for twelve successive years. Upon the 

 lowest branch of one of the wall trees, at seven o'clock on Thurs- 

 day morning, the 22d of June 1837, I observed them begin to 

 build their nest. Its construction occupied them little more than 

 a day and a half, for early on Friday afternoon it was finish- 

 ed. On Thursday the 27tli the female began to sit upon four 

 eggs, and on the 24th of July the young were ripe. Next day 

 I made the following observations, it being very warm and 

 sunny. At twenty-five minutes before four o'clock, they com- 



