152 PIED FLYCATCHER. 



pears to be on the increase. In Scotland it is much rarer, but it 

 is said to have bred as far north as Inverness-shire, and it has 

 occurred in the Orkneys on migration. In Ireland an adult female 

 was shot by Mr. R. Warren at Moyview, co. Sligo, on April 19th 

 1875, and in the autumn of 1886 two examples were killed by 

 striking against lighthouses. 



A wanderer to the Faeroes, the Pied Flycatcher breeds regularly 

 up to 69" N. lat. in Scandinavia, 65° in Finland, and about 60° 

 in Northern Russia to the Ural Mountains ; southward, in suitable 

 wooded localities, throughout the greater part of Europe down to the 

 centre of Spain ; and eastward, as far as Palestine ; while it has been 

 met with in Northern Persia. In Algeria it is said to be a resident 

 species, its migrations extending to the Canaries, and down the west 

 side of Africa to the Gambia, as well as on the east side to Egypt. 



The nest is generally placed in a hole in a tree in rather thin 

 groves of old oaks, birches or aspens, the same spot being resorted 

 to in successive seasons ; occasionally holes in walls are utilized. 

 It is made of dry grass and roots, with a lining of hair ; the eggs, 

 6-9, laid from the middle of May to the first week in June, are pale 

 blue, with, occasionally, a few fine specks of reddish-brown : average 

 measurements "68 by "52 in. Like its congener, the Pied Fly- 

 catcher feeds principally upon insects, but it does not so often catch 

 them on the wing, preferring to take up its position at the extremity of 

 a dead bough, whence it can dart upon them in the grass beneath ; 

 and it is frequently to be seen among the highest branches of forest 

 trees (Macpherson), The song resembles that of the Redstart. 



The adult male in breeding-plumage is black on the upper parts, 

 with a white frontal band, conspicuous white outer margins to the 

 secondaries, and an obscure band of grey across the rump ; under 

 parts white; bill, legs and feet black. Length 5 in. ; wing 3-1 in. 

 Less mature males show some white on the outer margins of the 

 two exterior pairs of tail-feathers. After the autumn moult the 

 upper parts are somewhat browner, but the white frontal patch is 

 always present. In the female the frontlet, wing-patches and under 

 parts, are buffish-white, and the upper parts are olive-brown. The 

 young bird in nestling-plumage is mottled on the back like the 

 Spotted Flycatcher, but the white on the wings is very conspicuous 

 in the male. The upper figure represents a male in breeding- 

 plumage ; the lower one a young male killed in September. 



The White-collared Flycatcher, M. colldris, w^as introduced by 

 Gould to the British list, but there is no proof of its occurrence in 

 England. The male has a white frontlet and collar. 



