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and the relation it stands in to the world of small birds generally. In the list of 

 the " Birds of Europe " it stands at the very tail of that immense series of tooth- 

 bill birds (oscines dentirostres), which includes the Thrushes, the Robins, the Chats, 

 the Warblers, Wagtails, and many others, the great majority of which feed on 

 grubs and insects, and not on seed. The Flycatchers stand at the tail of this long 

 list ; then come the wide-billed insect eaters, the Swallows and Martins, before 

 we reach the great host of hard-billed birds — Sparrows, Finches, and the like, which 

 are armed with a powerful engine for crushing grain. The Flycatchers then and 

 the Swallows are next-door neighbours in classification, and this is chiefly because, 

 of all the birds which have the tooth-shaped bill, they are the ones which have it 

 widest at the base, and therefore most approaching in shape to the broad, short 

 bill of the swallows. It is, in fact, a cavity for the reception of cargoes of flies. 

 And not only the bill, but the long wings, and in some degree even the flight of 

 the Flycatchers, reminds us a little of the swallow. Repeatedly this summer, in 

 which the endless rain has kept the swallows flymg low for many days together, I 

 have stood under the trees and watched the swallows and martins gliding up and 

 down close to the grass, when no other bird was visible but the little spotted 

 Flycatcher, modestly taking his share of the abundant insect-life open to him. 

 The European list contains only four species of Flycatchers, and one of these so 

 exactly resembles our Pied bird, that it would be hard to distinguish it from its 

 cousin without special knowledge. All the other three are British birds ; 

 though one, the little Red-breasted Flycatcher of Northern Europe, has only 

 occurred two or three times by accident in Cornwall and the Scilly Islands. 

 Travelling on the Continent will not, in fact, teach us much more about the Fly- 

 catcher family than we can learn in our own gardens and fields, where the 

 commoner bird abounds, or in the hill regions of Wales and Cumberland, which 

 the subject of this paper has chosen as his favourite summer haunt. It is a good 

 study to compare the two, both in habits and appearance. They both leave us in 

 September, and pass the winter, as far as we know, in Africa ; both have long 

 wings, short legs, and wide beaks thickly furnished with hairs, to enable them to 

 keep their captured fUes safe while they hunt for others. Yet to the inexperienced 

 eye they are as different as they can well be— the one greyish brown, and quite 

 insignificant looking ; the other apt to catch the eye at once by his brilliant 

 contrast of black and white. The one is to be found in every county and in every 

 parish ; the other is so choice in his tastes as apparently not to have selected this 

 richest of counties as a breeding haunt. But I should not be surprised to hear, 

 after all, that this is not quite true, and that the woods and hills of Herefordshire 

 are not wholly destitute of such a living ornament as the Pied Flycatcher. 



