168 
naturalist. I know of no bird which is so utterly fearless of man 
as the Pied Flycatcher ; they actually built before us when only a 
few yards distant. You have only to keep quiet, and they go on 
with their nesting operations quite unconcernedly. ‘There were a 
number of nests in a very short space of ground, and all of them 
were built in the holes of trees, from three to fifteen feet up. I was 
much amused with the pertinacity of a blue tit, who disputed the 
occupancy of a nesting hole with the flycatcher. There were two 
entrances to the hole, and it was very amusing to see the flycatcher 
pop in at one hole, and the blue tit chase him out at the other, 
reminding one very much of the clown and pantaloon business in 
the Christmas pantomimes. We used to go and examine their 
nesting holes, and the females in some instances sat on the nests 
without laying any eggs for above a week. Some of the females 
allowed us to lift them off their nests and put them back again 
without appearing the least alarmed. The nest is composed of dry 
grass, leaves, fine roots, and a few hairs ; the number of eggs being 
from five to six, of a uniform light pale blue colour,—indeed, some 
of them were nearly white ; they much resemble the eggs of the 
redstart, only they are a shade less, and of more elegant form. 
Macgillvray says: “The manners and habits of the pied flycatcher 
have considerable affinity to those of the redstart ; they come about 
the same time, associate together, and often build in the same 
holes, for which they contend. On one occasion we found a~ 
female redstart on the nest of a pied flycatcher containing two 
eggs; and at another time when both these species had nests 
within a few inches of each other, upon the redstart’s being 
removed, the female redstart took forcible possession of the fly- 
catcher’s nest, incubated the eggs, and brought up the young.” 
I may here state, that I have the pleasure of knowing that 
in several nests of this bird, the young have been brought up 
during the last two years without molestation. ‘Thus we may hope 
that this rare and local bird will be encouraged to frequent the 
district. 
It is an-exceedingly handsome bird. The upper part of the 
body is glossy black ; a part of the forehead, a patch on each wing, 
