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once more found my path set with sycamores, whose stems, though not so great in 

 girth, were clad in the very same exquisite harmony of tints that had so delighted 

 me at Engelberg ; and there too, as if no less delighting in the colours, the water, 

 and the shade, were again the Pied Flycatchers ! 



Nor is it only in Switzerland and in Wales that I have seen the Pied 

 Flycatcher in beautiful scenery. In April last I was walking one sunny morning 

 m the forest near Wiesbaden, when I came to the edge of a steep sunny slope, 

 crowned by old gnarled oaks, as well as by the beeches which there abound. In 

 the trees above me I heard a song which I did not recognise ; I had, of course, 

 to desert my companions, and at all costs to discover the singer. This was no 

 easy matter, for though 1 could see a bird rapidly flitting about the upper branches 

 of the trees, it took me a long time of painful staring upwards to fi.K him even for a 

 moment with my glass. Sometimes he would pop into a certain hole high up in an 

 oak-on which hole my glass would be ready fixed to catch him popping out again; 

 but in vain, for his movements were so rapid that I could only see a momentary 

 glimpse of brown and white. At last, however, I secured a better look, and no doubt 

 I ought to have recognised him as a Pied Flycatcher ; but there were two points 

 which puzzled me, which I shall take leave to mention, as showing how much 

 there always is to be learnt, even by an ornithologist of some little experience, 

 and how liable even the experienced eye is to delusion as regards colour. Here is 

 my note, made within half an hour after seeing the bird :-" Length perhaps 

 about that of a Willow-wren. Tail rather broad and forked. Head like a Fly- 

 catcher's in pose, but red or reddish brown on the crown. Upper parts hi-own as 

 far as I could see. Much black in tail and wing quills ; the latter were long and 

 sat swallow-like when folded. Neck, breast, and all under parts bright pure 

 white ; legs, black ; flight, very quick and fluttering. Song, .something of the 

 robm and redstart kind, fragmentary rather than warbling, and ending a little like 

 the chafiinch." The next day I was to leave for England ; but you may be sure 

 I was ofif early m the morning to try for another look at the mysterious birds 

 I soon heard the song, and this time found a pair ; both let me this time have a 

 good look at them. They were settling on the hole in the oak for a nesting place 

 and while one was inside the other would cling to the mouth of the hole like a 

 swift, showing me every feather in his back an,l tail. The long wings and the 

 white patch on them made me pretty sure that they were Pied Flycatchers, but 

 there were two puzzling points, as I said just now-(l) the reddish head; (2) the 

 fact that both birds, i.e., both sexes, were almost exactly alike ; and I had always 

 supposed that it was only in the female that for the full-dress of magpie-like 

 black and white, was substituted a more modest .suit of white and hrovm. Now 

 as regards the reddish head, 1 am convinced that it was nothing in the world but 

 an ocular delusion, caused perhaps by the strong sunlight falling upon brown 

 feathers through the branches of the trees, which were just beginning to redden 

 into bud. The effects of sunlight under various conditions are somewhat 

 startling, and may perhaps account not only for this illusion but for some of the 

 many extraordinary descriptions of birds which have from time to time been given 

 me by persons unaccustomed to observe them carefully. The other difficulty, the 



