PIED FLYCATCHER. 



MUSCICAPA ATRICAPILLA. 



Family Passerid.^. Sub-family Turdin^. Genus Muscicapa. 



Goldfinch. 



The Pied Flycatcher may be considered everywhere 

 in our island a scarce visitor. It is more likely to be 

 met with in Yorkshire and the Lake District than 

 anywhere else. In its habits it very much resembles 

 the Spotted Flycatcher, though its appearance is quite 

 different. It is rather smaller than its namesake ; 

 the head is black, and has a patch of white on the 

 forehead, the back is also black ; the chin, throat 

 and breast are white ; wings and tail brownish black 

 edged with white. Its food consists chiefly of flies, 

 gnats, and other insects. 



The nest is generally placed in a hole in a tree — 

 the oak or birch for preference, it is said — and is made 

 of moss, grass, leaves, straw, and bark, and lined with 

 hair and feathers. Sometimes the hole of a Wood- 

 pecker or Tit will be used, and it is said that like the 

 Nuthatch these birds will fill up the hole, if it is too 

 big, with clay until it is small enough to just admit 



