RED-BREASTED FLVCATCHER. 227 



German ornithologists state that it has not been observed 

 for some years past in the locahty where he first found it. 

 It arrives, say those who have observed its habits in Central 

 Europe, in May and departs in August, chiefly frequenting, 

 either singly or in small bands, the beech forests of the 

 more mountainous districts and their outskirts, but some- 

 times also the smaller woods of the more level country. It 

 is described as a restless little bird, keeping always among 

 the tree-tops, perching on a dead twig and flitting through 

 the leafy shade in the pursuit of insects, so that, to any one 

 not well acquainted with it, it might pass for one of the 

 Willow- Wrens, to the call-notes of some of which its own 

 has a resemblance, though its song is said to be somewhat 

 like that of the Pied Flycatcher. Towards the end of May, 

 having paired, it begins to build. The nest is cup-shaped 

 and rather deep, small and neat, composed of moss and 

 wool, with a lining of hairs, and is placed either where a 

 rotten branch in falling off has left a hole, or between the 

 trunk of a tree and an obliquely ascending bough. The 

 eggs are from five to seven in number, french white, closely 

 mottled with fine streaks of pale rusty, sometimes so as 

 almost to hide the ground colour, and measure from "65 to 

 •61 by from '51 to '47 in. The young are hatched in June 

 and fed by their parents with small beetles, which are not 

 only caught in the air but sought for on the ground. 



Von Nordmann in his ' Observations sur la Faune Pon- 

 tique' (p. 198) remarks that this species breeds commonly 

 in the mountain region of Abasia, very probably in that of 

 Bessarabia and perhaps even near the steppes. The young 

 arrive in the botanic garden at Odessa towards the end of July, 

 and remain there until the end of October. At that time 

 they do not keep, like the adults as described in Germany, to 

 the tree-tops, but frequent the middle branches and often 

 come to the ground for food. Each bird has its own station, 

 and when two meet one is furiously pursued by the other 

 with piercing cries which he likens to the clicking noise of 

 small castanets. In the spring the adults in full plumage 

 stop only a short time in the gardens. The liveliness of their 



