-84 



British Birds. 



THE 

 FLYCATCHERS 



Family 

 MUSCICAPID.E. 



The Flycatchers have distinctly spotted young, and hence 



the_v show their alliance with the Thrushes. Many of 



them, however, though not moulting entirely in the spring 



as the Warblers do, gain their summer plumage by a 



change of feather without moult, therein differing from the 



majority of the Tiirdidtt'. The Flycatchers are essentially ' snappers,' and catch 



their insect prey on the wing, returning to their original perch from whence they 



sally forth again. The bill is much flatter than in the Thrushes and is furnished 



with very distinct rictal bristles. 



This little bird arrives in Great Britain after the bulk of 



' the summer migrants, as if it timed its arrival when the warm 



FLYCATCHER. 



{MriSLica/^a i^risoln. ) 



weather might be 



expected to have 

 set in in our uncertain climate, so that 

 it is hardl}' to be expected before the 

 early part of May. It then spreads 

 over the whole of Great Britam and 

 migrates south in autumn, after the 

 moult is completed, to Western and 

 Southern Africa. The breeding-range 

 of the species extends to the Yenesei 

 valley in Siberia, and the eastern 

 examples apparently winter in Persia 

 and North-weslern India. 



The colour of the Common or 

 ' Spotted ' Flycatcher, as it is often 

 called, is a plam brown, with the under 

 surface white, except for a tinge of 

 isabelline-brown on the breast and sides 

 of the body, which are streaked with 



dark brown. It frequents every kind of situation where its insect food is assured, 

 and is to be found in parks, orchards, and gardens, even in the suburbs and parks of 

 London, where it may be seen sitting on railings or the lower branches of trees, 

 from which vantage it sails out after any passing insect, which it secures, and again 

 takes up its former position. In the case of large flies, which are often captured, 

 the hard portions of the bodies are thrown up by the birds in the shape of pellets, 

 which form small iridescent particles on the ground near the nest. The young 

 birds, in spotted plumage, generally take up their seats, side by side, on a rail 

 or lawn-tennis net in the autumn, and are assiduously fed by the parent birds 

 till the moult is complete and they are strong enough to perform their long 

 southern journc\'. 



-The Common Flycatcher. 

 ; — The Pied Flycatcher. 



