PASSERES. ( 133 ) MUSCICAI'IDAi.. 



THE PIED FLYCATCHER. 



Muscicapa atricapilla. 



IV/ien Afay is in his prime, and youthful Spring 

 Doth clothe the trees with leaves, aiid ground ixiithjlotoers, 



And time of year reviveth everything. 



And lovely Nature sjniles a?id nothing hnoers. 



Thomas Watson, 



This pretty bird is not a regular spring visitor to the 

 county, several years sometimes elapsing between its visits ; 

 and when it does make its appearance, which is generally 

 about the middle of May, it seems to be only crossing the 

 district on the way to its breeding quarters. There is no 

 record of the nest having been found in Berwickshire, 

 but it has been discovered in the adjoining county of 

 Northumberland. ^ 



The Pied Flycatcher appears to be a local bird in Eng- 

 land, only frequenting certain districts, the lake country 

 being a favourite resort. 



Mr. Gray mentions that Dr. Smith, of Edinburgh, had 

 informed him that a male bird of this species was shot by 

 Mr. Stevenson in a garden near Duns, in the first week of 

 June 1855, and that another male was seen in the same 

 place, in June of the following year.^ 



In the second week of May 1872, I saw a male Pied 

 Flycatcher in a plantation by the side of the Tweed at 



1 The Birds of Northumberland and Durham, by John Hancock, p. 79. 



2 Birds of the West of Scotland, p. 69. 



