The Red- Breasted Flycatcher 29 



Berwickshire one, and Yorkshire one, which last was shot at Scarborough, October 

 23rd, 1889, the same day of the month as the Irish example in 1887. Since 

 that date one was shot at Wells in 1900; a specimen is recorded for 1904, a 

 third for 1905, three for 1906, all from Norfolk ; three were seen in Yorkshire 

 in 1907 ; in Cheshire one was seen in June 1903 ; in the Shetlands several were 

 seen and three shot in 1906. It would therefore appear that this little Flycatcher 

 is likely to occur, especially late in the autumn, upon our coasts ; and, inasmuch 

 as one example on an average has lost its life, in addition to those seen, every 

 two years (taking the dates from 1863 to 1907), the importance of admitting the 

 species into the present work will be recognized. 



This elegant little species has a curious resemblance to our Robin, and Seebohm 

 expresses the opinion that it is " a connecting-link between the Robins and the 

 Flycatchers" ; his description of the bird is so satisfactory that, in the present 

 instance, I shall quote it iu full: — '"The Red-breasted Flycatcher has the general 

 colour of the upper parts, except the crown, nape, and sides of the head and neck 

 which are bluish-grey, olive-brown ; central tail-feathers blackish-brown ; the outer 

 ones white at base, and broadly tipped with blackish-brown ; throat and breast 

 orange-chestnut ; rest of underparts white, suffused on the flanks and under tail- 

 coverts with buff; beak brown, paler at the base; irides hazel; legs, toes, and 

 claws dark brown. The female in general colouration resembles the male, except 

 that the rich orange-chestnut throat is replaced by buff, and the bluish-grey is 

 wanting on the head and sides of the neck. 



Males of the j'ear scarcely differ from the female, and breed in the following 

 spring in immature plumage (M. mituita). In the second year the chestnut appears 

 on the throat (M. leucura) ; in the third year the chestnut appears on the 

 upper breast (M. parva) ; and in the fourth year it extends also on to the lower 

 breast" {M. hyperythra). "Young in first plumage are spotted on the breast and 

 upper parts, as in all the allied species." 



I believe that this is by no means the only species which has received a 

 different name for each plumage : I have already noted * that examples of Munia 

 atricapilla which I received in young plumage in 1887, did not acquire the distinc- 

 tive black ventral band until the second moult ; but a more curious change occurred 

 in the spring of 1896, when one of my old examples of Quelea quelea assumed 

 the breeding-plumage of Q. ri<sst, the black mask being wholly lost, and I have 

 since proved that the little Cardinal (Paroaria ccrvicalis) is only an incomplete 

 plumage of P. capiiata. 



This species appears to be more essentially a forest-haunting bird than our 



* Foreign Finches iu Captivity, p. 24y. 

 Vol. II. I 



