1 62 RED-BREASTED FLY-CATCHER. 



sparingly in North-eastern Germany and in the St. Petersburg 

 district ; south of which, in Central Europe, it hecon\es more plenti- 

 ful in summer, though very local. To the south-east of France it is 

 an occasional visitor ; and, from the accurate description of a careful 

 observer, I have little doubt of its irregular occurrence, during winter, 

 in the south-west of Spain. Though only a migrant to Italy, the 

 islands of the Mediterranean, Greece, and the Black Sea region, it 

 breeds in Southern Russia, the Caucasus and Northern Persia ; while 

 eastward, it occurs in Turkestan, and in Siberia as far north as 

 Yeneseisk, and eastward to Lake Baikal, where it probably nests. 

 In winter it visits India, as far south as Mysore, and in Africa its 

 migrations extend to Nubia. 



The Red-breasted Flycatcher arrives in Northern Germany in May 

 (generally leaving early in Septeml:)er) ; and it appears to be partial to 

 woods of beech and hornbeam, or those where beech and fir are mixed. 

 The nest, built early in June, is rather deep and cup-shaped, neatly 

 formed of moss and a few lichens, with a lining of dry grass and 

 hair. It is usually placed in a hole in the trunk or some rotten 

 branch of a beech-tree, but occasionally in a fork against the stem, 

 from six to ten feet from the ground. In appearance the eggs, 5-7 

 in number, are intermediate between those of the Redbreast and the 

 Spotted Flycatcher ; having a very pale greenish ground-colour, with 

 mottlings of rusty-brown : measurements -63 by -5 in. The young 

 are hatched towards the end of June, and their food, like that of the 

 adults, consists of insects, in search of which the birds soon leave 

 their breeding-grounds in the forests for gardens and orchards in 

 the vicinity. The habits of this species are lively and active, and in 

 pugnacity, as in plumage, the male resembles our Redbreast. It has 

 a pleasant song, resembling the syllables tivi several times repeated, 

 while the alarm note is a c\td.r piiik^ pink. 



The adult male in breeding-plumage has the cheeks ash-grey ; 

 crown and nape browner grey ; upper parts in general wood-brown ; 

 tail (of twelve feathers) rather darker brown, with conspicuous white 

 bases to the four outer pairs ; chin, throat and upper breast reddish- 

 orange ; belly white ; sides and flanks pale buff ; bill brown ; legs 

 dark brown. Length 5-1 in. ; wing 2-8 in. The female has no ash- 

 grey on the head and her throat is merely reddish-buff. The young 

 bird has a spotted nestling-plumage, and later the wing-coverts and 

 secondaries become tipped with buff ; otherwise it resembles the 

 female. The male pairs in the immature plumage of the first year; 

 the orange-red on the throat does not extend to the breast until 

 the third moult. 



