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Dr. E. Hopkinson,



singers, for he is a wonderful mocker. Some foreign species,

namely, Blyth’s Beed Warbler (A. dumetorum), of North-East

Russia and Asia, Savi’s Warbler, from Southern Europe and also

Holland, and others occasionally appear in the bird-market, but are

of but little actual interest to the ordinary bird-keeper. There are

also many other species hitherto entirely unknown as cage-birds,

which I can pass over, more particularly as there is little likelihood

of any of them being, like the Marsh Warbler, valuable for their

song.


The Flycatchers can only be of interest as cage-birds to a few

exceptional fanciers, as they are mostly plainly coloured, or, at any

rate, not particularly beautiful, although in freedom they are cer¬

tainly among the most useful of our birds. If one wishes to keep a

Flycatcher flying loose in a room to destroy the flies or merely to

enjoy its charming ways, its manners will be found excellent, as it

will select a stake stuck in a flower-pot or some plant as a perch,

whence it will take flights all over the room, but make no mess at all

except at this spot. They are, however, in general, frail and delicate,

and so come but rarely into the market, while most species are prac¬

tically impossible to obtain at all. I know no instance of their

breeding in confinement, though, of course, it is a common thing for

people to entertain and attract these visitors by hanging up nest-

boxes for them. Our Common or Spotted Flycatcher is a little

bird of unassuming plumage, with no song beyond a few feeble

chirps. The Pied Flycatcher is, however, quite a pretty bird, and

quite as lively as the last, which is easily tamed and becomes quite

confiding, and which sings diligently a song very like that of the

Redstart. The White-collared Flycatcher (ill. collans), w’hich is

more especially a native of the south-east, is a prettily marked bird

with a loud, changeful tune like the Bluethroat’s. As an extra¬

ordinary rarity, we are very occasionally offered by the Bohemian

bird-dealers the dear little Red-breasted Flycatcher (M. parva),

so like the Robin but smaller, whose song consists of a gentle

twittering suggestive of the sound of little bells.


Although the Wagtails in a state of nature will always be

admired and beloved by all for their grace and charm, as cage-birds

they have comparatively little value, as they can scarcely be called



