-MUSCICAl'ID.E. 



149 



THE SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. 

 MusciCAPA GRisoLA, Linnceus. 



The Spotted Flycatcher is often said to be one of the latest 

 spring-visitors to our islands ; nevertheless it has been observed 

 exceptionally in our eastern counties as early as April 23rd, and at 

 Carlisle one day earlier, while the usual date of its appearance 

 in the south is about the first week in May ; and even in this 

 remarkably cold backward spring of 1888, I watched an evidently 

 new arrival feeding in Kensington Gardens on the istof that month. 

 During the summer it is generally distributed throughout Great 

 Britain, becoming rarer towards the north ; although even there it 

 has been found nesting in Sutherland and Caithness, and to as far 

 westward as Skye. At present it appears to be merely a wanderer to 

 the Orkneys and Shetlands. Mr. More states tliat it is a regular 

 summer-visitor to Ireland, but on the west side it does not arrive 

 before the latter half of May. 



The Spotted Flycatcher breeds as far north as Troniso in Norway 

 and Archangel in Russia ; while southward it is tolerably abundant 

 throughout Europe, nesting down to the northern shores of the 

 Mediterranean ; also on the African side, and in Asia Minor, Pales- 

 tine, Persia, Turkestan, and Siberia as far as Irkutsk. In winter it 

 visits India, Arabia, and Africa to the Cape of Good Hope. It 

 leaves our islands and the northern portion of Europe in Sep- 

 tember, but in the south the al)undance of insect food enables it to 



